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DATE: September 10, 2026 at 02:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Creatine improves muscle mass and cognitive function in older adults even without exercise
A study involving healthy adults between 45 and 65 years of age with a sedentary lifestyle found that 12 weeks of taking creatine monohydrate supplements increased their lean tissue mass, strength, and muscular endurance, while promoting favorable changes in markers of cognitive function and memory. The same supplementation combined with an exercise and weight-loss diet program additionally resulted in body fat percentage reduction. The paper was published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that helps cells rapidly produce energy, particularly during short periods of intense activity. The human body makes creatine mainly from the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine. It can also be obtained from foods such as meat and fish.
Most of the body’s creatine is stored in skeletal muscles, where it is converted into phosphocreatine. Phosphocreatine helps regenerate adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the primary molecule cells use as an immediate source of energy. Because this energy system is especially important during brief, high-intensity efforts, creatine has long attracted interest in sport and exercise science.
Creatine can also be taken as a dietary supplement. Such intake allows the body to increase the amount of creatine stored in muscles. The most widely used supplemental form is creatine monohydrate, in which creatine is combined with a molecule of water. Creatine monohydrate is inexpensive, stable, and by far the most extensively studied form of creatine supplementation. Research has linked it to improvements in strength, power, training capacity, and gains in lean body mass. Interest is also growing in its possible effects on brain function and health.
Study author Jisun Chun and colleagues examined the effects of 12 weeks of creatine monohydrate supplementation on body composition and cognitive function in healthy, untrained middle-aged and older adults. The researchers compared participants who maintained their usual lifestyle with those who engaged in a structured diet and training program aimed at promoting weight loss.
They note that as people age, the fat tissue in their bodies progressively increases while the mass of their skeletal muscles decreases. This condition, known as sarcopenic obesity, is associated with heightened health risks and various functional impairments.
The authors hypothesized that creatine monohydrate supplementation would support improvements in the health-related outcomes of exercise and diet, and would enhance improvements in body composition induced by training. They also expected that this supplementation would favorably influence the cognitive performance of individuals taking it.
Study participants were 64 adults between 45 and 65 years of age. Their average age was 55 years, and 40 of them were women.
Participants were divided into four groups. Two groups received creatine monohydrate supplementation (two 5-gram foil sachets per day, to be dissolved in water or a flavored beverage, taken once in the morning and once in the evening), and two groups received a placebo (identical-looking sachets containing maltodextrin, taken in the same way). While participants were randomly assigned to receive either creatine monohydrate or the placebo without knowing which substance they were receiving, they decided for themselves whether they would participate in the training and diet program or not. This created four distinct groups: no exercise with placebo, no exercise with creatine, exercise and diet with placebo, and exercise and diet with creatine.
Participants in the exercise groups participated in a supervised resistance and aerobic training program three times per week. Additionally, they were instructed to follow a diet plan aligned with the American Heart Association’s macronutrient recommendations (55 percent carbohydrate, 15 percent protein, 30 percent fat) to induce a modest energy deficit of approximately 300 to 500 calories per day to promote weight loss. These participants recorded their dietary intake using a smartphone-based application called MyFitnessPal. The non-exercise groups did not follow this diet or exercise program.
Participants completed various measurements at the start of the study, six weeks after the start, and at the end of the 12-week study. These included basic body measurements, resting metabolic rate (how much energy the body uses at rest), body composition measurements derived from dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, or DXA, scans, blood biomarkers, physical activity, cognitive performance, reaction speed tests, muscular strength measurements, cardiopulmonary exercise capacity, and various psychological health measures.
Results showed that creatine monohydrate supplementation without the exercise and diet intervention increased lean tissue mass, strength, and muscular endurance. It also promoted favorable changes in blood concentrations of some lipids and in markers of cognitive function and memory. Creatine supplementation combined with the exercise and diet program additionally resulted in a greater reduction in body fat percentage.
“Creatine supplementation (10 g/d) without exercise training and diet intervention increased lean tissue mass, strength and muscular endurance, promoted favorable changes in selected blood-lipid measures, reduced HbA1c levels [a measure of average blood sugar over the past two to three months], and improved selected markers of cognitive function and memory in middle-aged and older adults,” the study authors concluded. “Creatine supplementation during an exercise and weight-loss diet intervention in middle-aged and older adults promoted a greater reduction in body fat percentage, gains in muscular strength and endurance, and improved selected markers of cognitive function and memory.”
The study contributes to the scientific knowledge about the effects of creatine supplementation. However, the researchers cautioned that the individual cognitive and biomarker findings are exploratory and require confirmation. Furthermore, while participants were randomly assigned to receive creatine or a placebo, they chose for themselves whether they would participate in the training and diet program. This could have introduced systematic differences between those who did and did not choose to participate in the lifestyle intervention, affecting the results.
The paper, “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,” was authored by Jisun Chun, Yuhang Liu, Giuliet L. Kibler, Hudson Lee, Khatereh Babakhani, Nathaniel Rhoades, Ian Bivins, Joungbo Ko, Broderick Dickerson, Drew E. Gonzalez, Ryan J. Sowinski, Chris J. Rasmussen, and Richard B. Kreider.
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