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Randomized trial · measured other health measures

12-week trial in 64 adults aged 45-65: better strength and some thinking measures

Chun and colleagues · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2026

Original title: Effects of creatine supplementation with and without exercise and diet intervention on body composition, cognitive function, and markers of health in middle-aged and older adults.

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What the study found

Points to benefit

Over the 12-week trial in adults aged 45-65, creatine raised lean mass and strength and improved selected markers of thinking and memory, with or without exercise and diet. The authors call the thinking findings exploratory. It was well tolerated.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
64 people · healthy, mostly inactive adults aged 45-65, with or without an exercise and diet plan
What was tested
2 × 5 g a day of creatine vs placebo (maltodextrin), 12 weeks
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
Daily amount
10 g a day
How long
12 weeks
Trial registration
ISRCTN83081058
Who has a stake
Company stake
One author chairs the advisory board of AlzChem, a creatine maker, and has done industry-sponsored creatine research.
Journal
Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2026
Source
PubMed record 42578920. 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.
  • •Medium size: 64 people.
  • •Lasted 12 weeks.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • –Company stake: One author chairs the advisory board of AlzChem, a creatine maker, and has done industry-sponsored creatine research.
  • •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

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    6

    5 benefit, 1 mixed

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  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 5 papers on the same step: 4 benefit, 1 mixed. This one found benefit. It agrees with most of them.

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 3 fields 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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