Creatine, brain function and oxygen deprivation in people
What it found
In 15 healthy adults, a week of creatine supplements raised brain creatine and stopped the drop in attention caused by breathing low-oxygen air.
Corticomotor excitability also rose.
What they found
Studies in people
Brain creatine rose
After 7 days of creatine, brain creatine in the sensorimotor cortex rose by 9.2% on average compared with placebo.
Attention during hypoxia
Low oxygen worsened attention in the placebo condition, but this drop was restored when participants took creatine. Creatine was especially helpful for complex attention.
Other thinking skills
Low oxygen also harmed memory, psychomotor speed and overall thinking scores. Creatine lessened or prevented these drops.
Brain excitability
During low oxygen, corticomotor excitability increased by 70% with creatine but not with placebo. This increase was linked to better thinking.
Oxygen and heart rate
Arterial oxygen saturation fell by 19% during the low-oxygen air, and heart rate rose by 12% on average. These responses were the same with creatine and placebo.
What the authors conclude
- They suggest further study of creatine as a therapeutic supplement for conditions involving impaired energy metabolism.
How it was done
The brain needs a constant energy supply, and a lack of oxygen harms brain function. Creatine can help supply energy without oxygen, and it protected brain cells in lab tests, so the authors wanted to test it in people for the first time.
Fifteen healthy adults took creatine or a placebo for 7 days each, in a randomised, double-blind, crossover design with a 5 week washout. They then breathed a gas mixture with 10% oxygen for 90 minutes while their thinking, brain excitability and brain creatine were measured.
What it can’t tell you
- This was a short study in 15 healthy young adults breathing low-oxygen air, so the results may not apply to other people or to long-term oxygen shortage.
- The study cannot show whether creatine protects against neurological or neurodegenerative conditions.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- University of Auckland, New Zealand
The paper
- Title
- Creatine supplementation enhances corticomotor excitability and cognitive performance during oxygen deprivation
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Turner CE, Byblow WD, Gant N (2015). Creatine supplementation enhances corticomotor excitability and cognitive performance during oxygen deprivation. The Journal of neuroscience. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3113-14.2015PubMed 25632150DOI
Summary written 29 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error