Research shows that creatine can be even more beneficial for women than it is for men. Traditionally thought of as a bodybuilding or sports supplement, we now know the benefits of creatine and women’s health go far beyond this.
As a dietitian, I’m reluctant to recommend any supplement unless I think it’s truly helpful, and this is one that I truly believe is worth considering.
So, what makes creatine such a powerhouse for women?
For starters, it can help boost energy levels and improve exercise performance. This means those gym sessions might feel a bit easier, and you could see better results from your workouts.
But that's not all! Creatine has also been linked to improved brain health and can even help with aging. It does this by helping us maintain muscle mass as we get older. It’s like a little boost for both body and mind.
Jump to:
- What is Creatine
- Why Focus on Creatine for Women?
- Creatine Supplements Vs Creatine From Food
- Benefits of Supplementing Creatine For Women
- Creatine and Pregnancy
- How to Supplement with Creatine
- Best Creatine Supplements for Women
- A Dietitian's Top Tip for Supplementing with Creatine
- FAQ's
- Summary
- More Nutrition Articles to Check Out
- Check out These Nourishing Recipes
What is Creatine
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound made by our own bodies. Most of it is stored in our muscles, with a small amount in the brain.
Its not an anabolic steroid or a synthetic hormone or anything along those lines.
What does creatine do?
Creatine helps maintain the energy supply to your muscles, especially when they’re under strain. It also helps speed up recovery by reducing muscle cell damage and inflammation.
So, while creatine itself doesn't directly make you bigger, fitter, or faster, it supplies your muscles with more energy to do more work. This, in turn, helps you achieve your goals of becoming stronger, fitter and faster. It's particularly effective for short, high-intensity movements, like lifting weights, bringing the grocery shopping inside, or carrying your child up the stairs.
Why Focus on Creatine for Women?
Females store 70–80% less creatine in muscle tissue compared to men. Frustrating, I know! To top it off, we also tend to get less creatine from our diets.
So, you could argue that the benefits of creatine have the potential to be even greater for us women. It can allow us to:
- Lift heavier weights
- Build more muscle
- Burn more calories
And that’s just scratching the surface. Research is uncovering even more benefits for women, especially as we age. Creatine has been shown to support mood, cognition, and even help with post-menopause symptoms.
So, even if you're not a regular exerciser, my position as a practitioner is that creatine holds potential benefits for all types of women, whether you're sporty or not.
Creatine Supplements Vs Creatine From Food
Some foods naturally contain creatine, primarily meats, fish, and dairy—so yes, your diet does contribute to your overall creatine levels.
However, the average diet, even one that includes meat, typically provides only small amounts of creatine each day, and even less if you're a flexitarian. Women, in general, tend to eat less meat than men—at least, that's definitely true for me and many of the women I know.
For context, you'll get about 1-2 grams of creatine per pound of uncooked meat. To match the creatine content in just one scoop of powder, you'd have to eat roughly 1.3 kilograms (almost 3 pounds) of beef! That's neither realistic nor healthy for most of us on a daily basis.
Benefits of Supplementing Creatine For Women
So lets look at what creatine can really do.
Benefit 1: Get More from Your Workouts
The most obvious benefit of creatine supplementation is that it helps you get more out of your workouts. In practical terms, this means you might squeeze in those last few extra reps at the gym, lift heavier weights than usual or simply maintain your energy longer during exercise. If you’re someone who struggles to build up the energy and motivation to work out, creatine may help give you that extra boost.
Post workout it can also help your muscles recover faster.
Benefit 2: Build and Maintain Muscle Mass
Creatine supplementation can significantly aid in building and maintaining muscle mass. If you've watched any of my YouTube videos, you'll know how crucial this is for:
- Metabolic Health: Simply put, the more muscle tissue you have, the more calories your body burns.
- Healthy Aging: After the age of 30—yes, 30!—the body naturally starts to lose 3-5% of muscle mass per decade. We want to do everything possible to preserve muscle mass for a long, healthy life.
BUT, it's important to remember that supplements like creatine are the cherry on top. You need to nail the basics first. The basics for building and maintain muscle are engaging in some resistance training and eating enough protein.
If you don't know how much protein you should be consuming, read my complete guide to protein article here.
Benefit 3: May Help with Weight Loss
Creatine may also assist with weight loss, though many women are wary of it due to the association with bodybuilding and the fear of achieving a "bulky look." However, studies on female athletes have shown that creatine supplementation significantly increases strength without resulting in significant weight gain or bulking.
If weight loss is your goal, creatine can actually support your efforts in two ways:
- Short-term Fat Loss: Enhanced workouts powered by creatine can help you squeeze in those extra reps, leading to a short-term loss of fat.
- Increased Lean Muscle Mass: Building lean muscle helps burn more calories overall, supporting a healthy metabolism.
Benefit 4: Menopause
Post-menopause, with estrogen levels at an all-time low, it becomes more challenging for women to build or maintain muscle. Menopause also accelerates bone loss, and osteoporosis is four times more common in women than in men.
To combat these effects, it's crucial to stick to the bone health basics of:
- eating enough calcium
- eating enough protein and
- engaging in resistance exercise,
But beyond these essentials, studies have found that combining whole-body resistance training with creatine supplementation in postmenopausal women helps maintain healthy bone mass and increases strength. Thus, creatine is indeed a viable option for menopausal women.
Benefit 5: Mental Health & Mood
Women experience depression at twice the rate of men, and research suggests that low brain creatine levels are linked to more severe depression. Creatine supplementation has been shown to help restore this balance. When used alongside antidepressants, it can even accelerate the medication’s effects.
This could be especially beneficial during times when changes in mood are more common, such as puberty, postpartum, and menopause.
Benefit 6: Creatine and Cognition
Creatine isn't just helpful for mood—it may also support overall brain function. Research indicates that it can reduce mental fatigue, improve memory, and enhance cognitive performance, particularly during stress, sleep deprivation, or demanding tasks like solving math problems (or doing your taxes!).
Interestingly, vegetarians, who typically have lower creatine levels than meat-eaters, may experience even greater cognitive benefits from supplementation.
Creatine and Pregnancy
Creatine supplementation benefiting pregnant women is another popular concept. This stems from findings that creatine levels naturally decline during pregnancy. This is because the fetus relies heavily on the mother’s creatine stores for development throughout gestation. Low maternal creatine levels have been linked to outcomes such as preterm birth and low birth weight.
While there isn’t yet concrete evidence from human studies during pregnancy, research in animals shows encouraging results, particularly in supporting brain development in offspring.
Given creatine's established safety and benefits, it’s worth considering—especially for vegetarian mothers, whose diets may naturally be lower in creatine. However, please always be careful when choosing supplements, particularly when pregnant! Always opt for a reputable brand that has undergone rigorous third-party testing to ensure safety and quality.
How to Supplement with Creatine
If you are ready to give creatine a go, let's look at the best ways to add it to your routine.
There are two main approaches, and both are effective—it's really about which one fits best with your lifestyle and goals.
Approach #1: Creatine Loading
With this method, you begin with a 5-7 day "loading phase", followed by a daily maintenance dose. The goal here is to saturate your muscles with creatine as quickly as possible.
Pros:
- You reach peak creatine stores much faster—usually within a week.
- You'll feel the benefits sooner if you're aiming for a quicker boost in performance.
Cons:
- You need to take a larger amount of creatine in the first week, which can be tricky to remember.
- There’s a slightly higher chance of experiencing side effects, like bloating or digestive discomfort, during the loading phase.
How to Creatine Load Effectively:
Loading Phase:
- Take 0.3 g/kg of body weight per day, spread over 4 doses (about 20g/day for most people).
- Do this for 5-7 days.
Maintenance Phase:
- After the loading phase, reduce your intake to 0.03 g/kg per day, taken in one dose (typically 3-5g/day).
- Continue this daily dose for long-term maintenance.
Approach #2: Skip the Loading Phase and Go Straight to Maintenance
For this method, you simply skip the loading phase and start with the maintenance dose right away. This is a great option if you prefer a gentler approach and want to avoid potential bloating or other side effects.
Maintenance Dose:
- Take 0.03 g/kg of body weight per day, which usually translates to 3-5g per day for most people.
- You’ll take this daily dose consistently to see the benefits, though it may take a little longer to reach peak creatine stores compared to the loading phase.
Both approaches work well, so it really comes down to whether you want quicker results (loading phase) or prefer a more gradual approach (maintenance phase). Either way, the key to success with creatine is consistency, so just pick the method that feels best for you!
Best Creatine Supplements for Women
I have a full post on my favorite creatine supplements for women, but some of my favorites are listed below. I always recommend choosing supplements that are third party tested, or to look out for the NSF or the Informed Choice logo.
- Thorne Creatine - this is NSF certified and reasonably priced. I like this supplement because it dissolves well in water, and contains only one ingredient - creatine.
- Optimum Nutrition Micronized Creatine Capsules - This is a good option if you would prefer to take creatine in a capsule form. This supplement also carries the Informed Choice logo.
- MyProtein Creatine with Creapure® - available as both capsules or a powder. I like this supplement because it uses Creapure® which is one of the highest quality and purest forms of creatine.
- Womens Best Creatine - I like this supplement again because it uses Creapure®. Its also available as both a powder and capsules.
A Dietitian's Top Tip for Supplementing with Creatine
- Consider whether you’d prefer taking capsules or buying a powder that you can mix into your protein shake or another beverage.
- Avoid mixing with hot drinks as creatine will break down if heated to high temperatures.
- You can take creatine supplements anytime of day on a full or empty stomach—what’s most important is consistency over time. You need to take it on active days and rest days, for best results.
- It’s important to stay hydrated when taking creatine supplements, as creatine pulls water into your muscles.
FAQ's
Creatine doesn’t make women “bulky.” It helps your muscles hold onto water, which might cause a slight increase on the scale, but this isn’t fat gain. It’s just temporary water retention, and it’s not something to stress about!
Yes, creatine is perfectly safe for women when taken in recommended doses. It's one of the most researched supplements, and studies consistently show it’s effective for improving exercise performance and helping with muscle recovery.
Yes, but avoid mixing it with hot drinks like tea or coffee as creatine will break down if heated to high temperatures.
Creatine monohydrate is the most effective and well researched form. I would not recommend creatine ethyl ester or creatine HCL, even is they are cheaper.
Summary
Creatine is a powerful supplement that’s not just for bodybuilders—it offers fantastic benefits for women's health too!
I’m planning to add creatine to my routine in 2025 as part of my wedding prep diet. If you decide to try it, I’d love to hear how it goes—so please leave a comment below and keep me updated! And if you have any questions, just ask—I’m here to help. 😊
I hope you enjoyed this article and learned something new! If so, I would love to connect. Please leave me a comment below or find me on YouTube and Instagram....I LOVE knowing there’s people out there reading my articles. 🙂 IG: @marialuceyrd_dietitian
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