 The brain only takes up about 2% of body weight, but may use up to 25% of the body's energy. We have supercomputers in our heads, and they drain a lot of power. That's where this molecule comes in, creatine. It acts as a quick reserve energy boost when your fuel supply, oxygen, and blood sugar is running low. Creatine is naturally produced in our liver, kidneys, and pancreas, and transported to the brain and our muscles, the two places we need the most rapid energy deployment. Now if you were to take a Hannibal Lecter bite out of someone, would that extra creatine you eat on top of what you're already making give your brain a boost? That study might not get past the ethics board, but this one did. The influence of creatine supplementation on the cognitive functioning of vegetarians and omnivores. In this simplified, normalized version of the data, before the creatine supplement was consumed, the memory capacity of the vegetarians and meat-eaters were similar. Vegetarians and white meat-eaters in black. So they started out about the same place. However, after four days of consuming a creatine supplement, memory was better in vegetarians compared to those who consumed meat. Whereas in those who were meat-eaters, the consumption of the creatine supplement was associated with poorer memory compared to baseline. So the vegetarians got a brain boost, but the meat-eaters didn't. This may be because meat-eaters have down-regulated creatine synthesis. Their body doesn't make a whole lot because they get it in their diet by eating muscles. Maybe not this kind of calf, but at least maybe this one. So their body is like, why bother? Whereas the vegetarians are cranking out the stuff all the time, so when they take a creatine supplement, it may be like they're getting a double dose. They're getting what they take in addition to what they already make. Still too early to tell what's really going on, but in the meanwhile, if you eat vegetarian, should you consider taking creatine supplements? Creatine. Are the benefits worth the risk? This is in the context of sports supplementation. That was actually asked more generally of the editors-in-chief of the Harvard Health Letter recently, to which he replied, For now, to be on the safe side, I'd advise against taking creatine, concerned that creatine supplements might contain toxic impurities. Was he just being paranoid? Nope. Levels of organic contaminants and heavy metals in creatine supplements. They tested 33 different brands on the market and found a whopping 50% of them exceeded the maximum level recommended by the European Food Safety Authority for at least one contaminant.