Limited evidence. Direction: Benefit.
C Limited
Rubric condition met: The positive meta-analysis signal is concentrated in older adults and the largest preregistered RCT is borderline, so C for healthy adults
A meta-analysis of 8 RCTs in healthy people found a small memory benefit (SMD = 0.29) with high heterogeneity; the effect was concentrated in older adults (SMD = 0.88) and absent in people aged 11-31 (SMD = 0.03). A second meta-analysis (16 RCTs) found a memory effect with moderate GRADE certainty but mixed healthy and clinical participants. The largest preregistered RCT (n = 123) found only a borderline effect on one memory test, and smaller trials in young adults were null. No meta-analysis restricted to healthy younger adults is positive and no preregistered independent RCT is positive on its primary outcome, so the grade is C.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rawson 2008 | 2008 | RCT | 22 | result not recorded |
| Avgerinos 2018 | 2018 | systematic review | 281 | result not recorded |
| Sandk 2023 | 2023 | crossover RCT | 123 | result not recorded |
| Prokopidis 2023 | 2023 | meta-analysis | not recorded | result not recorded |
| Xu 2024 | 2024 | meta-analysis | 492 | result not recorded |
Rawson ES, Lieberman HR, Walsh TM. Creatine supplementation does not improve cognitive function in young adults Physiol Behav, 2008. PMID 18579168
Sandkühler JF, Kersting X, Faust A. The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive performance-a randomised controlled study BMC Med, 2023. PMID 37968687
Avgerinos KI, Spyrou N, Bougioukas KI. Effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function of healthy individuals: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials Exp Gerontol, 2018. PMID 29704637
Xu C, Bi S, Zhang W. The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis Front Nutr, 2024. PMID 39070254
Prokopidis K, Giannos P, Triantafyllidis KK. Effects of creatine supplementation on memory in healthy individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Nutr Rev, 2023. PMID 35984306
Search (): creatine[ti] AND (cognition[tiab] OR cognitive[tiab] OR memory[tiab]) AND (meta-analysis[pt] OR systematic review[pt])
