Ingredient Evidence Review
Creatine monohydrate
Creatine monohydrate
Last updated 2026-05-19 · 4 primary citations
Mechanism
Creatine is most famous as a muscle supplement. What's less well-known is that the brain uses the same energy system, and head-impact biology depletes brain creatine fast. Supplementing rebuilds the brain's energy buffer — the body of evidence specifically for head-impact populations is now solid enough that the US Department of Defense issued an information paper on it in 2025.
Why we use it
Of every supplement studied for head-impact recovery and resilience, creatine has the most consistent evidence. Athletes who hit their heads have lower brain creatine than non-impact athletes; restoring it is one of the highest-leverage things you can do.
How we dose it
Hericea uses 5,000 mg per serving (per AM stick pack). The clinical trial range that anchors this dose is 3,000–5,000 mg/day.
5 grams of Creapure® — the German pharmaceutical-grade creatine that's the most-tested form on the planet. Standard dose used in almost every clinical creatine trial.
Quality & sourcing
Creapure® AlzChem-licensed; pharmaceutical-grade.
AlzChem (Germany); NSF-CFS-clean.
Cautions
- consult physicianMaintain hydration; consult physician if chronic kidney conditions.
Primary literature
Candow DG et al. (2023)
Sports MedComprehensive review
Reviewed creatine's emerging role in brain health, especially under cognitive stress and aging.
Single source for the broader brain-creatine case beyond muscle performance.
DOI 10.1007/s40279-023-01870-9
Sakellaris G et al. (2006)
J TraumaOpen-label RCT · 39 people · 24 weeks
Creatine for 6 months in children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury reduced complications and improved recovery measures.
The strongest human evidence in brain-injury recovery — but read the population before you read the result. This was children and adolescents recovering from serious TBI, not healthy adults playing contact sport.
PMID 16917445
Giraldo et al. (2025)
J Int Soc Sports NutrScoping review
Reviewed neuroprotective effects of creatine in mild brain injury among contact-sport athletes.
Most recent (2025) systematic review focused on exactly Protect's target use case.
DOI 10.1080/15502783.2025.2533681
TBICoE (2025)
DoD Information PaperNo link yetDefense-health information paper
US Department of Defense Brain Injury Center of Excellence summary on creatine and head injury.
Highest-credibility institutional source — when the DoD writes a paper on creatine for head injury, that's the validation moment for this category.
No PMID or DOI on file yet — you cannot verify this one, and we would rather say so.