Dr. Darren Candow

It also produces creatine.

But the brain is very resistant.

We have the blood brain barrier for a really important reason.

And the brain says, you know what?

Circulation, we don't need creatine in the blood.

We're making our own.

So an individual getting adequate sleep, no chronic disease, no metabolic diseases, no neurodegenerative diseases is producing adequate amounts of brain creatine.

It could be as little as one to three grams.

Now, our brain is small from stature, but it uses 20% of our daily energy.

And of course, as we all know, when you're really tired, sleep deprivation, running around chasing your children, most people that I know are really metabolically stressed, primarily from a cognition perspective.

And that's where creatine seems to have the best lines of evidence.

Sleep deprivation, hypoxia, eye jet lag.

I was up at 3 o'clock this morning and flew down.

So I'll be taking a really high dose today to hopefully offset the chance of inflammation or cognitive decline.

So when we look at the totality of emerging evidence...

It's split.

Some studies don't see any effect.

But the ones that do is in a population where they're either mentally fatigued, sleep deprivation, or during times of aging.

And that's where memory comes into play.

And the common denominator seems to be the more that the brain is stressed, the more creatine seems to come to the rescue.