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Randomized trial · measured the question itself

6-week trial in 45 young vegetarians: creatine improved working memory and reasoning scores

Rae and colleagues · Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2003

Original title: Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Creatine improved working memory (backward digit span) and reasoning test scores (p < 0.0001 for both).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
45 people · young adult vegetarians
What was tested
5 g creatine a day vs placebo for six weeks, crossover
What it measured
The question itself: memory, thinking and brain health
Daily amount
5 g a day
How long
6 weeks
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2003
Source
PubMed record 14561278. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Compared with a placebo, a dummy treatment.
  • –Small: 45 people. Small trials can miss real effects or find chance ones.
  • –Short: 6 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: memory, thinking and brain health.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: memory and thinking

    5

    2 benefit, 1 mixed, 2 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    6

    5 benefit, 1 mixed

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  6. Animals

    1

    1 benefit

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does creatine improve memory and brain health?”

Possibly a small boost to memory.

Confidence: low. Based on 21 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 4 papers on the same step: 1 benefit, 1 mixed, 2 no difference. This one found benefit.

Other papers on the same step

See all 21 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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