Creatine sharpened memory, but only in vegetarians

Researchers at Swansea University in Wales gave 128 young women, vegetarian or meat-eating, creatine or a placebo for five days and tested memory, verbal fluency and attention.

Vegetarians who took creatine showed better memory than vegetarians given placebo, while meat-eaters, whose diets already supply creatine, showed no such gain. Verbal fluency and attention did not change in either group.

The result suggested the benefit depends on how depleted a person's creatine stores were to begin with, rather than creatine boosting memory in everyone equally. The dosing lasted five days, only young women took part, and only one memory measure moved, so it does not show creatine sharpens memory broadly in people whose diet already includes meat or fish.

A memory boost, but only for the depleted.