Creatine supplementation is in widespread use to enhance s****ts-fitness
performance, and has been trialled successfully in the treatment of
neurological, neuromuscular and atheroscl*****c disease. Creatine plays
a pivotal role in brain energy homeostasis, being a tem****al and spatial
buffer for cytosolic and mitochondrial pools of the cellular energy
currency, adenosine triphosphate and its regulator, adenosine
diphosphate. In this work, we tested the hypothesis that oral creatine
supplementation (5 g d(-1) for six weeks) would enhance intelligence
test scores and working memory performance in 45 young adult, vegetarian
subjects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design.
Creatine supplementation had a significant positive effect (p < 0.0001)
on both working memory (backward digit span) and intelligence (Raven's
Advanced Progressive Matrices), both tasks that require speed of
processing. These findings underline a dynamic and significant role of
brain energy capacity in influencing brain performance.
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