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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

#191

Post by frez1 »

softwaredoug wrote: post #51
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 take 10 g a day and have maybe noticed muscles seem to bulk more after a hard strength workout. But other than that I feel about the same.

I've recently started taking it and I've definitely noticed improved cognitive function. obviously all anecdotal and likely other contributing factors too (have been exercising more)..

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

#192

Post by Jach »

computerphage wrote: post #24
cheschire wrote: post #12

Feels like a sign of the times that I expect half the comments here to be paid astroturfing about how amazing creatine is.

That strikes me as a really poorly calibrated expectation. Who benefits? Who's paying? How could I get this job?

I don't know who would be paying, but there are many comments here that are semantically indistinguishable from paid shill comments. I don't have a great explanation for it other than people tend to attribute way too much power to whatever random supplements they're on about (you'll see it in vitamin D or B12 threads too, and especially nootropics (which includes creatine) discussions).

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

#193

Post by avensec »

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.

n=1 here, I noticed considerable shedding and thinning when taking creatine. I've taken it alone for 3 months and noticed thinning and shedding. I took it with Minoxidil and Finasteride for six months and noticed reduced shedding. At one point I stopped Mino and Fin, but kept the creatine and the shedding increased rapidly.

I am now on Minoxidil and Finasteride, with no creatine, and no longer have shedding.

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

#194

Post by jwr »

The 30% figure seems to be completely made up and this whole article is adfarm-bait.

The CABA trial is an 8-week single-arm pilot (no placebo). The study measured cognitive improvement over 8 weeks in a single group — not "slowing of decline versus placebo." There is no 30% figure anywhere in the paper.

I'm glad we have AI to quickly read this kind of stuff and check these kinds of claims for us.

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

#196

Post by dempedempe »

kherud wrote: post #189

Feedback about creatine often seems mixed. Many love it, but many also report problems. Just in this thread there are people talking about heart palpitations and sleep problems. I have the theory that these side effects and mixed experiences come from impurities of lesser quality products. Apparently there are mostly two sources: Creatine mono-hydrate which mostly comes from China and "creapure", which is a patented…

On the sleep deprivation topic, adenosine buildup in the brain is, along with melatonin, one of the brain's core sleep mechanisms. As you expend energy during the day, adenosine builds up, so your brain has an idea of how long you've been awake.

Creatine recycles adenosine back into ATP, so less adenosine builds up. The amount of creatine you find in foods naturally is way less than the amount people are supplementing with.

So it makes sense physiologically why mega doses of creatine might negatively affect sleep.

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

#197

Post by diego_sandoval »

chopete3 wrote: post #187

Most of the human moods, energy levels, immunity, recovery, consciousness can be controlled by chemicals. It is no surprise that continuous use of a chemical will have impact. The worry always is what does that extra chemical destroy as the body doesn't produce it naturally.

Creatine is one of the most studied substances that humans consume.

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

#198

Post by skyberrys »

cobolcomesback wrote: post #120
zug_zug wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can second this, do NOT start at 25g of creatine. If you're too lazy to read the literature a friendly AI tool will summarize it.

Most guidance I’ve seen says to start with a loading phase of 25-30g per day for several days, then go down to 5g per day maintenance.

This sounds intense... I'm a small female and I recently started at 5g a day and now I've dropped down to 2g a day because even at just 5g I was getting signs of dehydration, despite tripling my water intake. It does seem to make a difference in my physical performance so I'm overall happy with it.

Also the NIH fact sheet for creatine specifically recommends against higher starting doses.

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

#199

Post by qnleigh »

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.

They also quote a follow up study that sounds more compelling:

> The 2026 multicenter placebo-controlled trial extending this work enrolled 240 participants with early Alzheimer’s... The intervention group showed slower decline on standard cognitive scales by about 30% versus placebo.

But there's no such study in the references section. Not sure what's going on there but I want to see the data before I believe this.

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

#200

Post by slymax »

pillefitz wrote: post #5

Unfortunately, I get terribly tired and brain-fogged from even small quantities. Anyone else experienced this?

I have the same response. I had it with lots of water but had to stop taking it after a couple of days every time I tried because it made me feel completely zoned-out. Maybe I should try again with a different brand.
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