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Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

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Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#221

Post by fragmede »

foo12bar wrote: post #201
el_benhameen wrote: post #49

Curious if anyone has had hair issues while taking it. I’m aware that there’s no positive evidence for an effect, but there is an at least plausible mechanism. I’ve gone through two periods where I took it and liked the effects, but felt like I shed way more hair and stopped due to that.

I tried getting on it several times, I would feel energized at first but after a two or three days it would do the opposite and I would get very lethargic. My body has a strange reaction to comonly used substances, though. For instance, even a single soda's worth of caffeine causes me to have an extreme 18-24 hour mania phase and then a two day crash afterwards. So, your mileage will definitely vary.

Fun fact! that's most likely caused by your DNA having both the CYP1A2 gene and the ADORA2A gene. Means you can buy a bottle of soda and only drink a shot of it and get the same benefit as others without those genes set.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#223

Post by j45 »

WhitneyLand wrote: post #36

The article made up the claim it’s not from the paper itself. There was some improvement in cognitive scores, but no placebo group. Without a placebo group, there are a lot of explanations for the data.

I can't speak for the Alzheimer piece, but there are other studies about supporting the brain.

Worth looking at the range of studies as well.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#224

Post by wtetzner »

maiti_ma wrote: post #148
mohamedkoubaa wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scalp massages. No seriously

What kind of massages? I'm curious of this really works.

Not sure about the "kind", but minoxidil works by increasing blood flow to hair follicles. So if massages can have a similar effect, I don't see why it couldn't help.

I've also read that maybe massaging the muscles around the scalp to loosen it might help. E.g., a scalp that's too tight can have detrimental effects on the hair follicles.

That being said, I don't know what kind of evidence there is to support either of those things. Seems like a safe enough thing to try though.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#225

Post by omnimus »

firefax wrote: post #220
WhitneyLand wrote: post #36

The article made up the claim it’s not from the paper itself. There was some improvement in cognitive scores, but no placebo group. Without a placebo group, there are a lot of explanations for the data.

Normally I wouldn't ask this, but having seen the effects of Alzheimer's I must ask: is there any evidence that taking creatine will harm my brain? Let's be real: I take a lot of edibles. I smoke sometimes on a hike. Every once in a while I get a Guiness and a gyro. My health is by no means perfect, and if I'm willing to take in literal poison (yes, alchohol is that dangerous that I say such things even about my prec…

Creatine is one of the most studied supplements in fitness and i don't think there ever was evidence it was harmful.

Then again supplements mostly create expensive pee.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#226

Post by lkbm »

WhitneyLand wrote: post #36

The article made up the claim it’s not from the paper itself. There was some improvement in cognitive scores, but no placebo group. Without a placebo group, there are a lot of explanations for the data.

I think you're right.

Confusingly they reference a 2026 article (which isn't included in their citation list) that allegedly includes "placebo-controlled trial", but I think it might just be [0], which is based on the same single-arm trial. If they do have a paper using a placebo-controlled trial, they should definitely include that citation.

[0] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12927926/

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#227

Post by mrsvanwinkle »

pitched wrote: post #188
kbrisso wrote: post #174

I'm 56 and have been experimenting with it. It definitely helps me stay laser focus on a task. I take between 10 to 15 grams a day in multiple doses. It does help with brain fatigue if you don't sleep well either. I'm also on keto diet and it helps me at the gym. Here is the thing everyone's DNA is different - keto works for me because I have tried it on and off. I have way more energy off carbs. I can also tolerate…

I’m still in the 30s but have found it to lower how much energy it takes to start something, rather than helping me stay focused. Same sort of idea, being in a higher-energy state, just pointing out that age doesn’t seem to be a requirement to get any benefit. I do also respond well the low-carb diets and heat that a lot from pro-creatine people so maybe there’s a connection to diet.

if it helps, i did keto fasting for weight loss monitored using a blood ketone meter, ate close to zero calories of korean konjac jelly and zero sugar drinks. and the drastic mental health benefit was a welcome surprise for me. even my physical energy felt infinite. but i experienced exactly what you described after hitting my target weight, very roughly at 15% body fat. at that point the fat burning noticeably slows down and my blood ketone levels drop. important to note that this is at a miraculously stable nondiabetic 70mg/dL glucose level, and zero intake of anything that may induce insulin production. a bite of chicken breast made me lose ketosis and felt the energy loss after a bit so there is that, the biggest confounding var will always be anything you eat that triggers insulin release that instantly halts ketosis, that can only be reactivated hours later. some other "paradoxical" benefit is control of appetite/absence of hunger pangs: https://brainresilience.stanford.edu/news/unlocking-secrets-...

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#228

Post by Aurornis »

firefax wrote: post #220
WhitneyLand wrote: post #36

The article made up the claim it’s not from the paper itself. There was some improvement in cognitive scores, but no placebo group. Without a placebo group, there are a lot of explanations for the data.

Normally I wouldn't ask this, but having seen the effects of Alzheimer's I must ask: is there any evidence that taking creatine will harm my brain? Let's be real: I take a lot of edibles. I smoke sometimes on a hike. Every once in a while I get a Guiness and a gyro. My health is by no means perfect, and if I'm willing to take in literal poison (yes, alchohol is that dangerous that I say such things even about my prec…

There are scattered reports from people who take it and feel worse. Some don’t notice until they run out or forget to take it for a few days and realize their mood improves.

This happens with a lot of popular supplements. I don’t know how common it is, but it’s a thing that happens. There are proponents of every supplement who will tell you it’s perfectly safe and any negative effect is due to impurities or your imagination, but there are a lot of reports from people who believe it’s helping until they stop, and are surprised that they feel better without.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#229

Post by insanitybit »

bluegatty wrote: post #81
king_zee wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work out but I've never taken it. I feel like not everything has to be minmaxed, sometimes some things are better left to nature. Easy come easy go as they say

That's a big odd - because creatine seems to be the universally beloved thing and that it's a bit natural and has positive effects with zero negative side effect. Not a criticism but aside fro proten, creatine seems to be 'the natural thing'. Pun intended.

There's two sides to this.

1. That's because it's true. Creatine is extremely well studied and the studies pretty much all tell you that Creatine is safe, it's great at what we know it's great for, and it turns out it might be good for things we didn't expect. So when people all say "wow it's so amazing" they're right.

2. Because of (1) being so blatantly true, if you want to push some other supplement, it adds a lot of legitimacy to say "Creatine is the number one supplement, but here's something that takes things to the next level". Since the Creatine claim is well supported and you're already marketing to a group that's taking a supplement (Creatine), it is likely good marketing to piggyback on that.

But this doesn't change the fact that Creatine is shockingly well supported as a supplement.

Re: Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

#230

Post by insanitybit »

AngryData wrote: post #135
king_zee wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work out but I've never taken it. I feel like not everything has to be minmaxed, sometimes some things are better left to nature. Easy come easy go as they say

Also a lot of peoples diets have a high amount already. And certain things like energy drinks have a lot if you drink a those. I think a lot of the minmaxed stuff people do working out is mostly placebo because very few people are actually pushing the limits of natural human physiology and hitting some nutrient bottleneck.

You're probably not getting much Creatine from your diet, definitely not supplement levels. I don't think energy drinks have it, maybe pre-workouts. Creatine doesn't dissolve well afaik so it's rare in energy drinks.
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