New Review Finds Creatine Shows Promise for Depression With Major Caveats
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Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Flipboard Bluesky Email Copy Link Home → Science → News The evidence is mixed, but brain-energy research has opened a serious question.
Creatine is among the most studied supplements in sports, with evidence that it can boost strength, improve high-intensity performance, and help muscles recover. Now researchers are asking a harder question: Could the same compound that fuels a workout also help treat depression? A new review that appeared in Brain Medicine found the answer, for now, is unsettled: two clinical trials found benefits, three did not, and one study in bipolar depression raised a safety concern.
Depression affects mood, sleep, concentration, appetite, and the ability to feel pleasure. Many people improve with medication or therapy, but many others get only partial relief. That gap has pushed researchers to test add-on treatments that might support the brain in different ways.
Creatine is an appealing candidate because the brain uses enormous amounts of energy. The compound helps cells replenish adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the molecule cells use as fuel. Researchers have also found changes in brain creatine metabolism in some people with mood disorders, though the link remains inconsistent and does not prove cause and effect.
Bassam Jeryous Fares of the University of Ottawa and colleagues reviewed six published reports describing five randomized controlled trials. The studies took place in South Korea, the United States, Brazil, India, and Israel. Together, they included 238 participants at the start: 126 received creatine and 112 received placebo.
The average age was 36, and most participants were women. Four trials focused on major depressive disorder. One studied people with bipolar disorder who were in a depressive episode.
Because the trials used different designs, doses, and patient groups, the authors did not combine the results into one pooled estimate. The strongest positive evidence came from women with major depressive disorder. In one trial, adding five grams of creatine a day to escitalopram, a common antidepressant, produced larger symptom reductions after eight weeks than escitalopram plus placebo.
More participants also reached remission.
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