Ms Lauren Dewsbury1, Associate Professor Mike Armour1,2, Associate Professor Carolyn Ee3, Professor Birgit Derntl4, Associate Professor Genevieve Steiner-Lim1,5,6,7
1NICM Health Research Institute and Translational Health Research Institute (THRI), Western Sydney University, Penrith, Australia, 2Medical Research Institute of New Zealand (MRINZ), Wellington, New Zealand, 3Flinders Caring Futures Institute, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia, 4Tübingen Centre for Mental Health, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, 5Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany, 6German Centre for Mental Health (DZPG), Partner Site Jena, Jena, Germany, 7Center for Intervention and Research on Adaptive and Maladaptive Brain Circuits Underlying Mental Health (C-I-R-C), Halle-Jena-Magdeburg, , Germany
Biography:
Lauren Dewsbury is a cognitive neuroscientist and PhD researcher specialising in female brain health and the menopause transition. Her work examines menopause as a neurobiological and bioenergetic transition, with a focus on how oestrogen decline influences brain metabolism, cognition, and mood, and how these changes may influence dementia risk.
She is the Principal Investigator of the MENOCOG Trial, a randomised controlled feasibility study evaluating creatine supplementation as a non-hormonal intervention for cognitive and mood symptoms in postmenopausal women with subjective cognitive decline and dementia risk.
Aims:
The MENOCOG Trial is designed to address a critical and long-standing gap in women’s brain health research by evaluating whether creatine is a feasible, acceptable, and safe early-stage non-hormonal intervention for cognition and mood in postmenopausal women experiencing subjective cognitive decline (SCD).
Methods:
A 12-week, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group feasibility study. Eighty-six postmenopausal women aged 45–65 years with SCD and elevated dementia risk will be recruited, and supplement 10 g/day creatine (5g twice daily) or placebo.
Primary outcomes include feasibility, acceptability, and safety. Secondary outcomes include cognitive function, mood, emotional regulation, sleep quality, and menopause-related symptom severity and quality of life. Exploratory blood biomarkers will also be analysed to inform potential mechanisms.
Results:
Primary outcomes will inform feasibility. Exploratory analyses will estimate effect sizes and identify trends for a future large-scale efficacy trial. Recruitment will commence May 2026, results expected in 2027.
Conclusion:
By targeting postmenopausal women with SCD and dementia risk, the MENOCOG Trial advances a novel, non-hormonal therapeutic strategy grounded in brain bioenergetics to support mood and cognitive function in this at-risk population. In doing so, it supports a shift from reactive to proactive care, positioning the menopause transition as a clinically relevant window for early intervention.