Creatine Benefits Muscle and Cognition Even Without Exercise, Study Suggests: Nutritionist Leyla Muedin discusses a 12-week Texas A&M study of 73 sedentary, generally healthy adults ages 45–65 (64 completed) examining creatine monohydrate (5 g twice daily) with and without a supervised exercise program during a calorie-deficit American Heart Association-style diet. Four arms compared creatine vs maltodextrin placebo and exercise vs no exercise. Creatine plus exercise produced the largest improvements in lean mass, strength, and body fat reduction, but creatine alone also significantly improved lean tissue mass, body composition, muscular performance, and selected cognitive and memory measures. The study used 10 g/day partly to target cognition, noting limited creatine crossing the blood-brain barrier. Creatine was well tolerated; urinary creatinine and estimated kidney filtration changes stayed within normal ranges, with cautions for those with renal impairment. Limitations included short duration, small sample, and self-selected exercise participation; longer-term and frailer-population studies are needed.
