The Study
Creatine monohydrate pilot in Alzheimer's: Feasibility, brain creatine, and cognition
This study watched 20 people take a supplement and saw that their brains had more creatine and they did a little better on some memory tests. But because no one else took a fake pill for comparison, we don’t know if the supplement really caused the improvement or if it was just luck or practice.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Scientists gave older adults with Alzheimer's a daily powder called creatine for two months to see if it could help their brains use energy better.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 552 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1These changes are small but meaningful — they suggest the brain might be getting more energy, which could help with thinking tasks like remembering or reading.
- 219 out of 20 people took it correctly.
- 3Their brain creatine went up by 11%.
- 4They got slightly better at remembering things and reading words out loud.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Alzheimer's & Dementia : Translational Research & Clinical Interventions
Year
2025
Authors
Aaron N. Smith, In‐Young Choi, Phil Lee, Debra K Sullivan, Jeffrey M. Burns, R. Swerdlow, Emma Kelly, Matthew K. Taylor
Related Content
Claims (6)
In adults with Alzheimer's disease, higher levels of creatine in the brain after 8 weeks of creatine monohydrate supplementation are linked to better performance in oral reading and crystallized cognitive tasks.
In adults with Alzheimer's disease, taking 20 grams of creatine monohydrate daily for 8 weeks was completed by 95% of participants with no serious side effects.
In adults with Alzheimer's disease, taking 20 grams of creatine monohydrate daily for 8 weeks is associated with an 11% increase in brain creatine levels and small improvements in memory and reading skills.
In adults with Alzheimer's disease, taking 20 grams of creatine monohydrate daily for 4 to 8 weeks increases creatine levels in the blood and also increases creatine levels in the brain, showing that the supplement enters the bloodstream and partially crosses into the brain.
Creatine supplementation is associated with a reduction in the rate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease by up to 30 percent.
Taking 20 grams of creatine monohydrate daily for 8 weeks does not alter kidney or metabolic safety markers in adults with Alzheimer's disease.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.