Does creatine affect dopamine levels?

In healthy people, creatine has no measurable effect on dopamine in the blood. In a randomised study, participants took five grams of creatine four times a day for seven days and were then kept awake for 24 hours. Blood dopamine levels rose in both groups, but that was due to the sleep deprivation, not the creatine. Creatine performed no better than placebo¹.

In mouse studies the picture looks different. In mice exposed to a substance that damages the dopamine system, creatine protected against the loss of dopamine in a brain region that is central to Parkinson's disease. The loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells was also smaller in the creatine group. These are exclusively findings from animal research and have not yet been confirmed in humans².

When creatine is combined with co-enzyme Q10, the same type of mouse research showed additional protection of the dopamine system. The accumulation of a harmful protein characteristic of Parkinson's disease was also reduced. Whether this additive effect is equally strong in humans is not yet known².

Creatine has been studied in people with Parkinson's disease. A smaller phase II trial showed a positive signal on disease severity, but large phase III results were not yet available at the time of publication in 2011. Whether creatine genuinely influences dopamine in the human brain cannot be determined on the basis of current research².