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Possible Links Between Creatine Use and Aggression
Has Aggressive Behavior Been Linked to Creatine Supplementation?
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It is our obligation to openly discuss all aspects of creatine supplementation openly; the good, the bad as well as those that currently lack scientific validation. These are issues that you won't see posted on most other creatine informational sites, since most have an invested bias in reporting only the good attributes of creatine supplementation.
Anecdotal reports of increases episodes of aggression coinciding with the use of creatine supplements have recently emerged in the popular media. Whether these cases of seemingly spontaneous aggression are truly linked to the consumption of creatine, or merely coincidental with another change in life factor remains to be clearly answered. Unfortunately, to my knowledge no scientific study has specifically looked at the effect of creatine supplementation on levels of aggression.
Two recent studies, however, did find that creatine supplementation enhances cognitive performance and possibly mood during forced sleep deprivation, which is seemingly at odds with the notion that creatine produces aggressive behavior.
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How Might Creatine Use Give Rise to Aggression?
Possible sources of aggression sometimes associated with the use of commercial creatine products.
- Contaminants sometimes present in poorer-quality creatine products.
Since creatine is classified as a nutritional supplement by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) it is not held to the same GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) as the pharmaceutical industry. This relatively innocuous classification, although entirely justified, has opened the way for abuses from certain supplement manufacturers.
Cases of cross-contamination of nutritional supplements other than creatine monohydrate with anabolic steroids have previously been reported in the scientific literature. It is thus possible that consuming creatine products similarly contaminated with anabolic steroids may give rise to episodes of aggression as well as false positive in steroid tests.
- Impurities produced during the commercial synthesis of creatine.
Cutting corners while producing creatine in the laboratory can lead to the presence of impurities of laregly unknown toxicity.
- The use of other nutritional supplements coinciding with creatine use.
Athletes often "stack" supplements for greater anabolic effects. Therefore, increased aggression may be the result of a prohormone, or other anabolic agent, consumed during a period of creatine supplementation, but independently of a creatine product.
- The presence of other nutritional supplements sometimes included in commercially available creatine products.
Commercially available creatine formulations often come combined with other nutritional supplements and/or ergogenic agents. Some of these additives may be derived from anabolic steroids and hence, give rise to secondary side effects including, aggression.
- Hormonal alterations resulting from creatine use.
This possible source of aggressive behavior is the most difficult to explain as it implies that creatine supplementation stimulates the synthesis of our steroidal anabolic hormones, which has never been scientifically shown. On the other hand, the presence of contaminants, impurities, or confounding anabolic agents has been demonstrated, which may (under special circumstances) give rise to incidences of increased aggression.
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Creatine: A practical guide openly discusses the possible sources of contaminants, or impurities, that may be present in poorer-quality creatine products. This informative fitness guide also gives the best international producers of high - quality creatine.
Learn the secrets of the most successful creatine products currently on the market. Click here for more details.
Personal Accounts of Increased Aggression, Anxiety and Mood Swings
Examples of Aggressive Behavior Reputedly Linked to Creatine Use
- "...anxiety - .... - like the one we all experience on the eve of a difficult exam or two seconds before the race starts."
- "My husband uses creatine and I find him to be angry and very violent at times.... He only seems angry while taking this...." (December 14, 2006)
- "Started taking creatine in March. ...within days .... started to attack my partner verbaly..." (May 22, 2002)
- "I have used creatine in very small doses and only before I train. I am convinced it makes me more aggressive." (January 2, 2002)
- "...it made me really aggressive..." (December 2, 2004)
The names of the individuals providing these personal accounts have been withheld to protect their privacy.
Click here for other personal experiences with creatine.
Is There Scientific Proof for Mood Alterations Resulting from Creatine Use?
To date, there is no direct scientific proof that creatine supplementation provokes aggression. Therefore, until validated proof of such events exists (as a result of peer-reviewed studies appearing in the scientific literature) I am inclined to believe that such episodes of aggression are purely coincidental and originate from changes in diet, or other life factors, not directly liked to the ingestion of pure creatine monohydrate.
Next are two scenarios where brain creatine levels may influence mood. First, creatine supplementation has been shown to improve cognitive performance and possibly improve state of mind - a direct effect of supplementation. Secondly, under special circumstances elevated brain creatine levels are associated with increased aggression - an indirect effect of elevated creatine synthesis by the body.
Scientific Studies Demonstrating Effects of Brain Creatine Levels on Mood
Creatine Enhances Mood and Cognitive Performance During Sleep Deprivation.
Sleep deprivation depresses brain creatine levels, which is associated with a deterioration in mood and a decline in cognitive performance. Two recent studies have examined the effects of creatine supplementation over mood and mental acuity during imposed periods of sleep deprivation. These initial reports suggest that creatine supplementation may improve the performance of certain types of fatiguing cognitive tasks and possibly mood.
Selected Scientific References
Creatine Supplementation Counteracts the Negative Effects of Sleep Deprivation over Cognitive Function and Mood.
Below are two studies out of the United Kigdom demonstrating that creatine supplementation improves cognitive function and possibly state of mind during sleep deprivation.
McMorris, T. et al. (2006) Effect of creatine supplementation and sleep deprivation, with mild exercise, on cognitive and psychomotor performance, mood state, and plasma concentrations of catecholamines and cortisol. Psychopharmacology, Volume 185, pages 93–103.
McMorris, T. et al. (2007) Creatine supplementation, sleep deprivation, cortisol, melatonin and behavior. Physiology & Behavior, Volume 90, pages 21-28.
Creatine Supplementation Improves Overall Cognitive Function.
These are two previous studies showing that creatine supplementation enhanced cognitive resilience during mentally fatiguing tasks.
Rae C. et al. (2003) Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves cognitive performance; a placebo-controlled, double-blind cross-over trial. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London - Biological Sciences, Volume 270 (1529), pages 2147-2150.
Watanabe A. et al. (2002) Effect of creatine on mental fatigue and cerebral hemoglobin oxygenation. Neuroscience Research, Volume 42, pages 279–285.
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The implications of these studies are that: 1) some creatine penetrates the Blood Brain Barrier and reaches the Central Nervous System (CNS) when consumed in the diet; 2) creatine supplementation improves CNS energy status; 3) creatine supplementation may help in the performance of cognitive tasks involving short-term memory and the ability to solve problems under time constraints and; 4) creatine supplementation may improve emotional state of mind after 24 hours of staying awake, but not after longer periods of sleep deprivation.
Recall that creatine (Cr) is activated within cells by an enzyme known as creatine kinase. Creatine kinase catalyzes the transformation of creatine into phosphocreatine (PCr) - the form of creatine that fuels cellular processes. The next section discusses the possibility that the amount of phosphocreatine made available to the brain via the actions of creatine kinase influences mood as well as intelligence. Therefore, although brain creatine levels were implicated in the finding of this study, the effect of creatine supplementation per se on mood and intelligence was not examined.
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View our recent Creatine Newsletter detailing the effects of creatine supplementation on indices of human intelligence.
Possible Link Between Brain Phosphocreatine Levels and Aggressive Behavior
Earlier studies examined the possibility that the levels of creatine (more precisely, phosphocreatine) in the brain might alter mood. These studies found a correlation between aggressive behavior and levels of creatine kinase in mice (reference 1) and men (reference 2). Since, creatine kinase is the enzyme that transforms creatine into phosphocreatine within cells, these results suggested that naturally high (unsupplemented) levels of phosphocreatine give rise to states of aggression.
Selected Scientific References
Evidence for a relationship between phosphocreatine levels and aggressive behavior.
Elevations in creatine kinase are associated with states of aggression in mice (reference 1) and humans (reference 2).
Reference 1: Matte, A. C. (1975) Effect of isolation induced aggression in mice on serum creatine kinase. Psychopharmacologia, Volume 42 (2), pages 209–210.
Reference 2: Hillbrand, M. et al. (1998) Creatine kinase elevations and aggressive behavior in hospitalized forensic patients. Psychiatric Quarterly, Volume 69 (1), pages 69-82.
Creatine kinase is necessary for learning and memory.
Mice lacking the brain form of creatine kinase were slower at learning mazes. It was hypothesized that other forms of creatine kinase, not unique to the brain, my help compensate for the deficit.
Reference 3: Jost, C. R. (2002) Creatine kinase B-driven energy transfer in the brain is important for habituation and spatial learning behaviour, mossy fibre field size and determination of seizure susceptibility. European Journal of Neuroscience, Volume 115, pages 1692–1706.
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Although these early studies might be interpreted to indicate that elevated levels of phosphocreatine in the brain somehow lead to aggressive behavior, it is difficult to draw any definitive conclusions about these results. First, the brain is a very complicated structure, subject to multiple levels of feedback regulation and intercommunication. Therefore, a change in a single biochemical pathway will profoundly influence several metabolites. Secondly, cause and effect is not resolved in this situation; it is not clear whether aggressive behavior stimulated endogenous creatine synthesis (inducing the production of creatine kinase), or, on the other hand, if aggressive behavior was a downstream consequence of elevated creatine synthesis from the onset. In other words, which came first the creatine (chicken) or the aggression (egg)?
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