This study evaluated the effects of creatine monohydrate (Cr) supplementation on cognitive and physical performance of young, healthy, omnivorous and physically active individuals, before and after high-intensity exercise. Forty healthy volunteers (20 males age 23 ± 5 y and 20 females age 24 ± 5 y) completed three visits comprising a familiarization to all test procedures, followed by 2 main trials separated by 1 week of 20 g/day Cr or placebo (maltodextrin) supplementation in a parallel-group design. Participants performed the Stroop Colour and Word Test 1 and 2 and Trail Test A and B pre- and post- a 30-s Wingate cycling test. Cr improved mean (pre-supplementation: 526 W; 95% CI: 510,542; vs. post-supplementation: 570 W; 95% CI: 554,586; p = 0.002; Effect size ES=0.94) and peak (pre-supplementation: 738 W; 95% CI: 684,791; vs. post-supplementation: 797 W; 95% CI: 743,850; p = 0.002; ES = 0.91) power output, with no sex differences shown. There were no effects of Cr on any of the cognitive tasks. Cr supplementation improved 30-s Wingate performance but did not affect cognitive performance. These data suggest that Cr may be beneficial for those involved in explosive exercise bouts. There appeared to be a learning effect for several of the cognitive tests, which may have masked any effect with Cr.
Silva et al. (Fri,) studied this question.