Student Highlight
Haley Watters CSCS, CSNS, CISSN, was awarded the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Science’s Outstanding Student Award.
Haley was also selected to speak to her peers during Graduation, Along with these accolades, Haley presented data on one of our numerous projects.
Four weeks of creatine supplementation in trained subjects – effects on measures of cognition
Authors: Haley Watters1, Rithin Manimaleth1, Jaime Tartar2, Jose Garcia1, Paulina Czartoryski1, Paige Napolitano1, Jason Curtis1, Cailey Weaver1, Lia Jiannine,1 Corey Peacock1 , Jose Antonio1
1Exercise and Sport Science, NSU Florida, Davie, FL, 33314, USA; 2Department of Neuroscience, NSU Florida, Davie, FL, 33314, USA
* Corresponding author: Jose Antonio ( Jose.Antonio@nova.edu )
Background
The purpose of this investigation was to determine if four weeks of daily supplementation of creatine would affect measures of cognition in exercise-trained men.
Methods
Twenty-three subjects completed this investigation (age: 22±7 years, body mass: 78±11 kilograms, height: 1.8±0.1 meters). Subjects were randomly assigned to a creatine group (n=16, 5 grams daily) or control (no supplement, n=7). Cognition was assessed via the NIH Toolbox pre and post treatment. Specifically, the following measures were taken: Flanker Inhibitory Control, Dimensional Change Card Sort Test, and Pattern Comparison Processing Speed Test.
Results
There were no changes pre versus post for the Flanker Inhibitory Control or the Pattern Comparison Processing Speed Test. However, the creatine group experienced a significant increase in the Dimensional Change Card Sort Test (pre: 103.6±12.9, post: 116.1±13.4, p=0.0017). The control values were as follows (pre: 117.9±12.8, post: 120.1±8.4, p=0.6494).
Conclusions
Despite the fact that the creatine group experienced a statistically significant increase in the Dimensional Change Card Sort Test, it should be noted that the baseline values for the control were above average for the age-corrected standard scores (i.e., the normative mean = 100). A t-score of 85 or 115 denotes one standard deviation below or above the normative mean. Inasmuch as the control group was a standard deviation above the normative mean, it makes sense that changes in cognition were a fraction of the changes measured in the creatine group (which started out near the normative mean). We would speculate that creatine supplementation might be beneficial to individuals scoring at or below the normative mean for this measure of cognition.