>> Recently, a pilot study (single-arm) by Smith et al., recruited 20 patients (73 years of age) with AD and provided them with 20 grams/day of CrM for 8 weeks [20]. Serum creatine levels were increased at weeks 4 and 8 (p < 0.001), and total brain creatine levels (as measured by H-MRS) increased by 11% (p < 0.001). Clinically, there were demonstrated improvements in cognition on global (p = 0.02) and fluid composites (p = 0.004), as well as List Sorting (p = 0.001), Oral Reading (p < 0.001) and Flanker tests (p = 0.05).

Yeah 20 patients is not a lot. I'm inferring this is a pre-post test. However some of those p-values are pretty good (.001 on reading and and sorting). Very promising pilot study but not conclusive imo.

Just in case anyone is thinking about trying it: 25g seems pretty high. It’s worth it to review what that means for the rest of your body before starting this regime. Kidneys are really useful organs to have working.

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I use it as a supplement because I do weightlifting. 5g/day. I did 20g/day for a week once, and didn't notice it made any difference, so I'm back to 5g now. In terms of stuff like memory, mood, etc. I can't say it's made any improvement but the idea that it might be helping prevent decline is nice.

Do you work out?

If so creatine is supposed to help people push themselves harder and thus build more muscle. As a side-effect of intense exercises you'll create more testosterone. Increased testosterone leads to balding.

I bumped mine from 5g daily to 15 and noticed way less anxiety. It's a must have for me now. Besides that is the regular benefit of being able to squeeze out a few more reps during my kettlebell workouts

There's evidence creatine may raise DHT levels, and DHT causes hair thinning: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19741313/

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.

The plausible mechanism is for male pattern baldness, but increased shedding is not MPB. MPB shrinks the size of the hairs on the top of your head over time. It isn't really affected by shedding which is normal and happens to everyone.

Interesting, I also noticed thinning

Same. Not clumps, but a definite uptick in hair shed. Stopped taking it.

What did you use to determine this?

Ask because many of the online tools I've tried, they will sometimes tag what I've written at 30-40% AI written and sometimes purely AI written stuff is flagged as 60-70% AI

To be clear you're not alleging the journal article published in Journal and Brain Psychiatry is ai-generated right.

Creatine is $10 at Walmart, I don't think they are paying for astroturfing. It's a chemical like salt.

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

A few thoughts

1) It annoys me whenever anybody mentions literally anything (whatever baking soda, potassium, any vitamin) you get a million unhinged comments about how this was a personal panacea.

2) Creatine definitely does stuff, that's scientifically been established by numerous studies for decades. It's been recommended as a supplement for vegetarians for mental reasons and for people trying to build muscle-mass (sort of niche). I'm actually a bit surprised how few people talk about it when it's a standard blood test thing (possibly because it can't be patented).

3) It's dirt cheap and made by tons of difference places. I don't think there's a "big creatine." It's probably like < 25 cents a serving.

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

You tend to see that more for the more high margin and branded supplements.

The profit margins on creatine are not high.

There isn't much money to make from creatine recommendation, it's a well known nutritional supplement that can be found for pretty cheap. You can read more about it here if you want: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317612254_Internati...

Funny because I'm not sure I quite notice it immediately when I stop taking it, presumably since the body retains a certain amount of it. But I definitely notice a difference when taking it the first day after not having had it a little while, especially when taking 20+ grams a day. It gives me so much mental energy and alertness that I won't get a whole lot of sleep, but the next day I end up feeling just fine. If I remember correctly, there have been at least 2 studies that suggested high doses of creatine reduce the side effects of suboptimal sleep, and that definitely seems to be the case in my experience.

What sort of differences beyond gym related?

I feel like it makes me feel like crap and my brain weird every time I try it and searching my spreadsheet shows this effect many times when I forget and read something like the above article and try it again. Anyone else feel like this?

Check this video, that gives you a good overview and the description has a good amount of references you can look at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxZB3Q6EFJU

In short: seems to help with high intensity exercises and post-exercise recovery, helps with muscle development, and a bunch of other benefits.

Isn't that, like, the most common side effect of it? I was just googling for side effects, and different sources vary a bit, but almost all list digestive discomfort

I haven't heard of that but I know creatine causes loads of water absorption. I wonder if you're borderline dehydrated and creatine pushes you over the limit.

Be sure it’s pure creatine, they often mix in all kinds of shit. I take creapure just to be sure.

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.

It’s a flavorless powder you mix into a drink. It unfortunately doesn’t really dissolve, so it can be a little grainy if taken with water but it’s mostly flavorless so outside of that you wouldn’t notice it.

5g/day is the general recommendation and most packaging will come with an appropriately sized scoop, notably this is one of the rare ones where dose doesn’t seem to be adjusted by age or bodyweight. I presume because it’s cheap, well-studied, and there don’t appear to be downsides for overdoing it. They’re testing it at up to and possibly above 25g/day for Alzheimer’s.

Some people recommend a higher “loading” dose for the first two weeks to build up reserves in your body more quickly, but if the goal is to start taking it daily, this is really unnecessary.

I just add to whatever food I'm cooking, I don't notice it

It's often a powder you can mix in to a drink. 5g a day for an adult is pretty normal.

Im 34, 72kg, I take 5g a day. White powder I mix in water, tastes like nothing and has a sandy texture I dislike a bit, but you get used to it.

There is the build up period where you take a higher dose for a week, 8g, in order to saturate the body faster.

I dissolve it in my coffee every morning, it’s flavorless. I believe 5 grams is the standard dose, it’s about a teaspoon.

I wouldn’t bother with the “loading phase” you often see recommended online. Just be consistent.

In water, with a bit of regular or pink salt added for general absorption.

Creatine requires you to increase your daily water intake, and actually do it.

I take 3-5g of creatine monohydrate in a glass of water. People usually take it with their protein shake, which for me contains a 30g serving of Organic low-sodium pea protein powder.

If I take creatine too late in the day, it definitely wrecks my sleep. It is good when taken as early in the day as possible.

As for the age group, I think it could be fine for anyone who is 18 or older.

As for a second dose, that's of possible value for intense exercise, but again be mindful of insomnia.

Note that some sensitive brains, e.g. those with excitotoxicity/inflammation pressure/headache/migraine issues, may not always tolerate creatine well. Such people need to fix their underlying brain issue first before using creatine.

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Try micronised (even finer powder, maxxwell has them) or even in jelly gummy form.

I take 7.5 g every day for a couple of years now and what I definitely noticed is much lower sugar cravings during hard programming days: previously I would eat almost one chocolate every day.

Though YMMV, as I also bench press 140 kg.

I had a lot of issues with stomach when taking creatine until I tried the micronised version. Bucked up makes a good product you can find at Walmart.

What precisely does it mean to "feel crap"? Is that how you would describe it to a doctor? You seem to also be making broad generalizations. Overall your comment is providing zero insight whatsoever wrt creatine.

In my experience, those with creatine intolerance, especially if assuming it's not taken late in the day, have unresolved excitotoxicty/inflammation/pressure/headache/migraine issues in their brain.

Also, be mindful with blends as they can be fairly dangerous. It's best to get an isolated creatine monohydrate product that is not a blend.

Check your blood pressure. It is very possible that there is something else in your blend that is raising your BP.

Creatine is great regardless, just dont get sold by whatever the nonsense article is pushing if anything. Generic creatine the cheapest you can find is likely your best bet.

I have the same struggles with preworkout, they are just overkill for me and make me crash and i feel they impact my sleep because i usually work out at a random time so the caffeine timing may be terrible. Certainly had success with them for a while, but it was when i didn't really care when i went to sleep because when i was younger I'd just sleep for 8-10 hours straight regardless of time of day/night.