Creatine supplementation during pregnancy: summary of experimental studies suggesting a treatment to improve fetal and neonatal morbidity and reduce mortality in high-risk human pregnancy
Abstract
While the use of creatine in human pregnancy is yet to be fully evaluated, its long-term use in healthy adults appears to be safe, and its well documented neuroprotective properties have recently been extended by demonstrations that creatine improves cognitive function in normal and elderly people, and motor skills in sleep-deprived subjects. Creatine has many actions likely to benefit the fetus and newborn, because pregnancy is a state of heightened metabolic activity, and the placenta is a key source of free radicals of oxygen and nitrogen. The multiple benefits of supplementary creatine arise from the fact that the creatine-phosphocreatine [PCr] system has physiologically important roles that include maintenance of intracellular ATP and acid–base balance, post-ischaemic recovery of protein synthesis, cerebral vasodilation, antioxidant actions, and stabilisation of lipid membranes. In the brain, creatine not only reduces lipid peroxidation and improves cerebral perfusion, its interaction with the benzodiazepine site of the GABAA receptor is likely to counteract the effects of glutamate excitotoxicity – actions that may protect the preterm and term fetal brain from the effects of birth hypoxia. In this review we discuss the development of creatine synthesis during fetal life, the transfer of creatine from mother to fetus, and propose that creatine supplementation during pregnancy may have benefits for the fetus and neonate whenever oxidative stress or feto-placental hypoxia…
Read the paper
Related studies
- Biportal endoscopic versus microscopic lumbar decompressive laminectomy in patients with spinal stenosis: A randomized controlled trial
- A whey protein-based multi-ingredient nutritional supplement stimulates gains in lean body mass and strength in healthy older men: A randomized controlled trial
- Supplement-based nutritional strategies to tackle frailty: A multifactorial, double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled trial
- A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept trial of creatine monohydrate as adjunctive treatment for bipolar depression
- Creatine supplementation (3 g/day) and bone health in older women: a 2-year, randomized, placebo-controlled trial
- A Multi-Ingredient Nutritional Supplement in Combination With Resistance Exercise and High-Intensity Interval Training Improves Cognitive Function and Increases N-3 Index in Healthy Older Men: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.