Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Mar 8;13(3):877.
doi: 10.3390/nu13030877.

Creatine Supplementation in Women's Health: A Lifespan Perspective

Abbie E Smith-Ryan  1   2 , Hannah E Cabre  1   2 , Joan M Eckerson  3 , Darren G Candow  4
Affiliations
Review

Creatine Supplementation in Women's Health: A Lifespan Perspective

Abbie E Smith-Ryan et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Despite extensive research on creatine, evidence for use among females is understudied. Creatine characteristics vary between males and females, with females exhibiting 70-80% lower endogenous creatine stores compared to males. Understanding creatine metabolism pre- and post-menopause yields important implications for creatine supplementation for performance and health among females. Due to the hormone-related changes to creatine kinetics and phosphocreatine resynthesis, supplementation may be particularly important during menses, pregnancy, post-partum, during and post-menopause. Creatine supplementation among pre-menopausal females appears to be effective for improving strength and exercise performance. Post-menopausal females may also experience benefits in skeletal muscle size and function when consuming high doses of creatine (0.3 g·kg-1·d-1); and favorable effects on bone when combined with resistance training. Pre-clinical and clinical evidence indicates positive effects from creatine supplementation on mood and cognition, possibly by restoring brain energy levels and homeostasis. Creatine supplementation may be even more effective for females by supporting a pro-energetic environment in the brain. The purpose of this review was to highlight the use of creatine in females across the lifespan with particular emphasis on performance, body composition, mood, and dosing strategies.

Keywords: cognition; dietary supplement; exercise performance; female; hormones; menopause; menstrual cycle; mood; pregnancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Abbie Smith-Ryan and Darren Candow serve as scientific advisors to Alzchem, a company that makes creatine. Alzchem had no role in the content or writing of this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A theoretical model for the interplay between creatine kinase and menstrual cycle hormones [6,10,11]. Creatine metabolism and creatine kinase concentrations vary throughout the menstrual cycle and lifecycle. These alterations may also influence metabolic characteristics of protein and carbohydrate oxidation [12], which provides a physiological basis for the potential use of creatine supplementation for females.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The relative effects of creatine supplementation in comparison to placebo for strength performance in females.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The relative effects of creatine supplementation in comparison to a placebo on exercise performance in females.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The relative effects of creatine supplementation in comparison to placebo on sports performance in females.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Kantor E.D., Rehm C.D., Du M., White E., Giovannucci E.L. Trends in Dietary Supplement Use Among US Adults From 1999–2012. JAMA. 2016;316:1464–1474. doi: 10.1001/jama.2016.14403. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Greenhaff P.L., Bodin K., Soderlund K., Hultman E. Effect of oral creatine supplementation on skeletal muscle phosphocreatine resynthesis. Am. J. Physiol. 1994;266:E725–E730. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.1994.266.5.E725. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brosnan J.T., Brosnan M.E. Creatine: Endogenous metabolite, dietary, and therapeutic supplement. Annu. Rev. Nutr. 2007;27:241–261. doi: 10.1146/annurev.nutr.27.061406.093621. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Forsberg A.M., Nilsson E., Werneman J., Bergstrom J., Hultman E. Muscle composition in relation to age and sex. Clin. Sci. (Lond) 1991;81:249–256. doi: 10.1042/cs0810249. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mihic S., MacDonald J.R., McKenzie S., Tarnopolsky M.A. Acute creatine loading increases fat-free mass, but does not affect blood pressure, plasma creatinine, or CK activity in men and women. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 2000;32:291–296. doi: 10.1097/00005768-200002000-00007. - DOI - PubMed