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Systematic review

Review of 9 studies in vegetarians: creatine linked to better memory and intelligence

Kaviani and colleagues · International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020

Original title: Benefits of Creatine Supplementation for Vegetarians Compared to Omnivorous Athletes: A Systematic Review.

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 had no effect on brain levels of phosphocreatine. Brain function (memory and intelligence) improved in vegetarians. Risk of bias was moderate to high. The review mainly covers muscle and sport results.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Systematic review
Who or what was studied
9 studies · vegetarians, many of them athletes
What was tested
Creatine supplements, compared with omnivores or placebo
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
International journal of environmental research and public health, 2020
Source
PubMed record 32349356. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • •Sums up 9 studies found with a set search method, without pooling the numbers.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •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

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a systematic review, and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: memory and thinking

    5

    2 benefit, 1 mixed, 2 no difference

  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
  • Listed with the other papers, but not quoted in the page’s main findings.

Other reviews on this question

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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