The Effect of Creatine Monohydrate on Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Every randomised trial of creatine in psychiatry put together comes to 238 people — is that enough evidence to build a treatment plan on, or is it enough to justify an experiment we monitor?
Well-supported by good-quality research. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: The declaration of conflicting interests records that co-author Dr Candow "serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Alzchem and Create (companies that manufacture creatine)" and has received industry creatine research funding and product donations, and that Dr Ostojic "is the co-founder of KRE-ALL, a company which develops food products enriched with creatine" — commercial ties to the intervention being reviewed, which is why independence is marked false despite the review itself being unfunded and its conclusions being cautious. No PROSPERO registration was found on the published page.
Creatine monohydrate is sold in the US as a dietary supplement under DSHEA, marketed overwhelmingly for exercise performance and muscle mass.
Searching to September 2025, the reviewers found only five randomised trials of creatine in people with a diagnosed mental disorder — 126 on creatine and 112 on placebo, 238 people in total across the entire literature, and 26% male. Four concerned major depression and one bipolar depression; two were low risk of bias and three had some concerns. Creatine combined with escitalopram outperformed SSRI plus placebo in one trial and creatine plus CBT outperformed CBT plus placebo in another, but it showed no difference from placebo in female adolescents or in bipolar depression. Two of 17 participants in one trial developed hypomania or mania. No psychiatric condition other than depression has been studied at all.
Worth asking
Every randomised trial of creatine in psychiatry put together comes to 238 people — is that enough evidence to build a treatment plan on, or is it enough to justify an experiment we monitor?
Source
The Effect of Creatine Monohydrate on Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials. — Jeryous Fares B, Zhou C, Fabiano N, Wong S, Stubbs B, Shorr R, Puder D, Candow DG, Ostojic SM, Solmi M. (2026)
Reputable peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.1177/07067437251408171
DOI: 10.1177/07067437251408171
How this was scored
- Study design
- Systematic review of randomised trials
- Funding
- No external funding
- Published in
- Reputable peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- 238
- Preregistered
- No
- Conflicts disclosed
- Yes
- Independent of proponent
- No
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Where we put this study in context
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "strong evidence". Well-supported by good-quality research. It scores 74 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: The declaration of conflicting interests records that co-author Dr Candow "serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Alzchem and Create (companies that manufacture creatine)" and has received industry creatine research funding and product donations, and that Dr Ostojic "is the co-founder of KRE-ALL, a company which develops food products enriched with creatine" — commercial ties to the intervention being reviewed, which is why independence is marked false despite the review itself being unfunded and its conclusions being cautious. No PROSPERO registration was found on the published page. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
The Effect of Creatine Monohydrate on Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials. — Jeryous Fares B, Zhou C, Fabiano N, Wong S, Stubbs B, Shorr R, Puder D, Candow DG, Ostojic SM, Solmi M. (2026). Published in: Reputable peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.1177/07067437251408171. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Systematic review of randomised trials. Funding: No external funding. The researchers were not independent of whoever benefits from the result. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is creatine, creatine monohydrate, crm, creapure, creatine hcl, creatine ethyl ester FDA approved for this use?
No. Its current status is: Not FDA-evaluated for this use. Creatine monohydrate is sold in the US as a dietary supplement under DSHEA, marketed overwhelmingly for exercise performance and muscle mass.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.