Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

thesciverse.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 395 posts

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

#351

Post by ai_fry_ur_brain »

throwmeowaway wrote: post #116
ai_fry_ur_brain wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its changed my life. Im also a long time vegan with MTHFR gene mutations and sleep issues though.

I also have MTHFR gene mutations and sleep issues. What exactly helped you?

As a vegan you dont get any creatine since you're not eating meat, so your body has to make it itself, which requires a ton of methylation and if you're like me and have bad genes for methylation your body had a hard time with it as it is. So by supplmenting creatine you're reducing some of that burden.

As far as sleep goes, high dose creatine has been studied to have an extermely positive effect on brain function during sleep deprevation, better than stimulants/caffine

I think the prescribed dosing for creatine and sleep deprevation is 0.35g per KG, much higher than the typically recommended dose of 5gs a day for muscle. The positive effects on the brain come at much higher doses. Which is perfectly safe for your kidneys, this is a myth (as long as you dont already have poor kidney function).

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16416332/

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

#352

Post by ai_fry_ur_brain »

SoftTalker wrote: post #73
ai_fry_ur_brain wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its changed my life. Im also a long time vegan with MTHFR gene mutations and sleep issues though.

I've heard others say it helps with mood, energy, depression, etc. and if that's the case for some people then great. I don't notice it myself but that's just me. Not everyone has the same body chemistry.

Did you try higher dose. You need to take 0.35g/kg body weight for effects on brain, atleast thats the doses that are usually used in the studies. I believe your body will distribute it to your muscles before any goes to the brain, so you need to take a dose that will saturate your muscles and then have extra left over. I take 25grams whereas the usually reccomend daily dose is 5grams

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

#353

Post by gitaarik »

bluegatty wrote: post #86
twodave wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Others mentioned dissolving it. I find just getting it over with is easier for me. I dump the whole scoop into my mouth and wash it down with a mouthful of water or two. It is flavorless, after all.

Is this a joke? I hope? A) drinking a glass of water is 'the lowest bar' and 2) using creatine means you have to up your water intake. If you don't drink the water, it won't work.

Parent says it's washing it away with water

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

#354

Post by [deleted] »

gitaarik wrote: post #353
bluegatty wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a joke? I hope? A) drinking a glass of water is 'the lowest bar' and 2) using creatine means you have to up your water intake. If you don't drink the water, it won't work.

Parent says it's washing it away with water

[deleted]

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

#355

Post by Paradigm2020 »

Mistletoe wrote: post #128
Silagi wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you increasing your water intake when you do? That sounds like dehydration. Creatine takes a large amount of water to appropriately process, and during the loading phase, your body is pushing substantially more water into your muscles. Anecdotally, if I don't drink something like an extra half gallon of water a day while loading at 15g/day, I show symptoms of dehydration. And I'm already drinking somewhere betwee…

I think I do but I guess I could try.

Something to add to the spreadsheet :)

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

#356

Post by Garlef »

piskov wrote: post #292
hilsdev wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow I have been mixing 5g of creatine in my morning for the past several months, this is terrifying.

You don’t have Parkinson and you probably don’t take that much coffee Usual espresso from 42mm puck is 18g of coffee beans in, something around 40g of total coffee out. This has 90…150 mg of caffeine. The study focused on people having more than 300 mg daily. So don’t drink more than 2 cups per day and you’ll be fine.

> So don’t drink more than 2 cups per day and you’ll be fine.

Easier said than done...

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

#357

Post by FR10 »

TheAceOfHearts wrote: post #330

Does anyone have advice for getting it down? I feel like no matter what I mix it with, it grosses me out and it becomes extremely challenging to get it down. I've tried pouring the dry powder in my mouth and just chugging it down quick as well as mixing it with various liquids, but they sandy texture makes me gag. I've managed to sustain taking creatine for a while but it never gets any better.

Try splitting up your intake to 3-4g/dose. I find that it fully dissolves that way. Hot coffee also helps. I do 5g on hot coffee (I get some undissolved creatine at the bottom sometimes) + 5g on my protein shake.

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

#358

Post by matwood »

mulle_nat wrote: post #245
firefax wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

No sure about brain harm. But I used creatine for a few months and I got cramps in an intensity like I never experienced before. I then decided it was not worth it for a few watts of cycling FTP increase. So I would not consider it harmless for everbody, but this sideeffect seems pretty rare.

Did you up your water intake along with the creatine? Since you say you're a cyclist you may have just been getting dehydrated.

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

#359

Post by matwood »

asdff wrote: post #210
basch wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Per day being a key part of that. 30g at once is going to give a good chunk of people pretty severe cramping or a trip to the bathroom.

I don't think you can even do 30g at once in terms of mixing it. Even 5g in water it seems like theres some that will just stay crashed out of solution no matter what. I have done 25g over the course of a day though for a week long loading phase, and didn't notice any ill effects. I think a lot of the anecdata on creatine is probably from people misplacing confounding issues to the creatine use. People in this thread…

Creatine isn't water soluble. I just take a 5g scoop daily and wash it down with water. I could do 6 scoops in a row without problem, but not sure what the point would be. The latest research fits with the 5g/day no need to load.

When I first started taking creatine in the late 90s (it had already been heavily studied then as one of the only supplements that improved athletic performance), I would mix it with juice. There were some studies that sugar would help the uptake.

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

#360

Post by matwood »

6r17 wrote: post #303
Hatrix wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Water is bad for you if you drink too much.

Yes because taking advice to medicine itself everyday based on an online entrepreneur forum to "boot-yourself" is 100% a good advice that you should take blindly without taking a notice on what you are doing. You are so right.

> based on an online entrepreneur

Creatine is one of the most studied supplements over the last 30+ years. First, it is proven to work for athletic performance and second, it's relatively safe. The AI overview of your Google link even says no evidence of serious harm. If people have underlying health issues and/or they take way more than recommended there can be side effects - just like anything else we put in our bodies.

Post reply on HN