Abstract
While the vast majority of research involving creatine supplementation has focused on skeletal muscle, there is a small body of accumulating research that has focused on creatine and the brain. Preliminary studies indicate that creatine supplementation (and guanidinoacetic acid; GAA) has the ability to increase brain creatine content in humans. Furthermore, creatine has shown some promise for attenuating symptoms of concussion, mild traumatic brain injury and depression but its effect on neurodegenerative diseases appears to be lacking. The purpose of this narrative review is to summarize the current body of research pertaining to creatine supplementation on total creatine and phophorylcreatine (PCr) content, explore GAA as an alternative or adjunct to creatine supplementation on brain creatine uptake, assess the impact of creatine on cognition with a focus on sleep deprivation, discuss the effects of creatine supplementation on a variety of neurological and mental health conditions, and outline recent advances on creatine supplementation as a neuroprotective supplement following traumatic brain injury or concussion.
Highlights
This article is an open access articleThe brain is a highly energetic complex organ, consuming approximately 20% of total resting energy despite accounting for only about 2% of total body mass [1]
An important scientific challenge that remains in this research area is to determine the optimal creatine supplementation protocol able to increase brain creatine content in order to better understand the therapeutic role of creatine supplementation in neurodegenerative diseases
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is the second most common mental health disorder in Canada, with a reported prevalence of 2.57% [103], while an estimated 70% of the population has experienced a traumatic event in their lifetime and 33% will experience three or more such events [127], which could lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Summary
The brain is a highly energetic complex organ, consuming approximately 20% of total resting energy despite accounting for only about 2% of total body mass [1]. Over the past few years, there has been an emergence of research investigating the impact of creatine supplementation on a variety of conditions that may be influenced by impaired or altered brain bioenergetics [5] The purpose of this narrative review is to summarize the current body of research pertaining to creatine supplementation on total creatine and PCr content, explore guanidinoacetic acid (GAA; a creatine precursor) as an alternative or adjunct to creatine supplementation on brain creatine uptake, assess the impact of creatine on cognition with a focus on sleep deprivation, discuss the effects of creatine supplementation on a variety of neurological and mental health conditions, and outline recent advances on creatine supplementation as a neuroprotective supplement following traumatic brain injury or concussions. Creatine and Guanidinoacetic Acid (GAA) Supplementation on Brain Creatine and Phophorylcreatine (PCr)
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