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The cognitive effects of creatine supplementation in older adults and preclinical models of dementia: A scoping review

Tobias Whitford, Christian Donlon, Aidan Pech, Chase Goldberg, Harris Whiteson, Mill Etienne

Ageing Res Rev 2026 122:103317

Bibliography

PubMed: PMID 42668123
DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2026.103317
Funding: No explicit funding statement was located in the accessible PubMed or publisher records during Biohack Blueprint's 2026-10-02 audit. This is an audit-status statement, not confirmation that the review received no funding.
Competing interests: No explicit competing-interests statement was located in the accessible PubMed or publisher records during Biohack Blueprint's 2026-10-02 audit. This is an audit-status statement, not confirmation that no competing interests existed.

Study snapshot

Design	Scoping review following JBI methodology and PRISMA-ScR
Model	Human
Sample	6 studies across 7 publications: 1 in vitro study, 4 animal-model studies, and 1 human pilot trial (n=20); no dementia RCTs identified
Intervention	Creatine supplementation across older-adult and preclinical dementia-related studies; human pilot used 20 g/day for 8 weeks
Duration	Varied; the sole human pilot used 8 weeks
Endpoints	Cognition; Brain total creatine; Dementia-related outcomes; Preclinical neuroenergetic and inflammatory outcomes

What the study showed, in plain terms

2026 scoping review mapping the evidence for creatine in older adults and dementia models, including the only identified human pilot and the absence of randomized dementia trials.

Key findings

No randomized controlled dementia trials were identified. Evidence was predominantly preclinical. One human pilot in 20 participants reported an 11% increase in brain total creatine with 20 g/day for 8 weeks and an association with improved fluid cognition, but causal clinical efficacy cannot be established.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Scoping review rather than efficacy meta-analysis; evidence is heterogeneous and dominated by animal studies. Only one small uncontrolled human pilot was identified, so the literature does not support creatine as a dementia treatment.

Citation network

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Biohack Blueprint analyses that reference this study in their evidence base.

Oct 2, 2026 Creatine Brain Benefits: Memory, Cognition, Sleep Loss and What Is Still UncertainCreatine and the brain: evidence for memory, attention, processing speed, older adults and stressed states—plus why recent systematic reviews disagree.Read analysis

Editorial review

Reviewed by the Biohack Blueprint research team

Last verified 02 October 2026

Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction