Supplementation with creatine-based substances as a means of enhancing athletic performance has become widespread. Until recently, however, the effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive performance has been given little attention. This study used a new form of creatine – creatine ethyl ester – to investigate whether supplementation would improve performance in five cognitive tasks, using a double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Creatine dosing led to an improvement over the placebo condition on several measures. Although creatine seems to facilitate cognition on some tasks, these results require replication using objective measures of compliance. The improvement is discussed in the context of research examining the influence of brain energy capacity on cognitive performance.
aDepartment of Pharmacy, Health and Well-being, University of Sunderland, Sunderland
bSchool of Medical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol
cDivision of Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Correspondence to Dr Jonathan Ling, PhD, Department of Pharmacy, Health and Well-being, University of Sunderland, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Sunderland SR1 3SD, UK
E-mail: jonathan.ling@sunderland.ac.uk
Received 20 February 2009 Accepted as revised 18 August 2009
