Popular muscle supplement creatine could hold key to clearing menopause brain fog

You walk into a room and suddenly forget why you are there. A familiar name disappears mid-conversation. Or the word you are looking for simply will not come. It is commonly called brain fog.

It’s not a medical diagnosis, but the term is used to describe problems with memory, concentration and thinking.

Associate Professor Emma Devaney, a cognitive neurologist, said patients often describe feeling as though their thinking has slowed.

“It feels like they’re trudging through mud, trying to get to the right answer, trying to finish complex mental tasks,” Devaney told 7NEWS.

Brain fog can have many causes, including poor sleep, stress and low mood. It can also occur following illness, becoming particularly prominent during the COVID pandemic.

“The reality is it’s often multifactorial. There are many, many factors that can contribute to brain fog,” she said.

For women, it is also a common complaint during menopause, when fluctuating and declining estrogen can affect the brain.

Western Sydney University PhD researcher Lauren Dewsbury said it affects a significant proportion of women.

“Studies show anywhere between 44 to 62 per cent of women will experience brain fog during the menopause transition,” Dewsbury told 7NEWS.

The widely available supplement is best known for its use in sport and building muscle, but creatine also plays a role in how cells produce and recycle energy.

“We want to know if we can support the brain’s energy production, could that then support memory and thinking and potentially mitigate symptoms like brain fog,” she said.

The MENACOG study is recruiting postmenopausal women aged 45 to 65 who have noticed changes in their memory and thinking.

Participants can take part from anywhere in Australia, with assessments conducted online.

The initial study will examine whether the treatment and trial design are feasible and whether researchers detect a positive signal for mood and memory. Promising results could pave the way for a larger phase two trial.