Do you have to take creatine for menopause signs? Let’s discuss it.
Creatine is the brand new large factor, particularly for girls in menopause. Touted as a miracle for every part from mind fog to bone well being, creatine is displaying up extra incessantly in dietary supplements marketed towards girls over 40. However does creatine truly work? Is creatine good for menopausal girls?
Let’s discover how the scientific analysis stacks up towards the most typical claims.
Declare #1: Creatine Improves Bone Density
Verdict: False
Bone well being is a serious concern throughout menopause. As estrogen ranges drop, bone mineral density (BMD) declines, growing the danger of osteoporosis. Due to this, many dietary supplements declare to enhance bone power or density — and creatine isn’t any exception.
Some have hypothesized that creatine may assist with bone well being by enhancing muscle power, thereby enhancing mechanical loading on the bones. Nevertheless, the medical proof doesn’t help this idea.
A randomized managed trial (PMID: 25386713) involving postmenopausal girls discovered that though creatine improved muscle operate, it had no vital impact on BMD. Equally, a complete 2023 meta-analysis (PMID: 37144634) concluded that creatine doesn’t stop bone loss or osteoporosis.
In comparison with vitamins with well-documented results on bone well being — resembling calcium, vitamin D, and magnesium — creatine lacks a robust physiological mechanism or medical proof for enhancing BMD in menopausal girls.
In abstract, whereas creatine could contribute not directly to musculoskeletal operate, it doesn’t improve bone density and mustn’t change confirmed osteoporosis prevention methods.
Declare #2: Creatine Helps with Cognition
Verdict: Most likely False
Many ladies going by means of menopause report signs like mind fog, reminiscence lapses, and problem concentrating. This has led to rising curiosity in brain-boosting dietary supplements like creatine.
Creatine performs a central position in mobile power manufacturing, together with in mind cells. The idea is that declining endogenous creatine ranges with age may impair mind operate, and supplementation may assist replenish these shops.
A 2018 assessment (PMID: 29704637) checked out creatine’s results on cognitive efficiency and located combined outcomes, with solely modest cognitive advantages in very particular conditions. For instance, some research used extraordinarily excessive doses (as much as 20g/day) and targeted on sleep-deprived or cognitively careworn people. These circumstances usually are not consultant of the final menopause inhabitants.
There’s additionally restricted proof on creatine’s position in enhancing temper or melancholy. A 2024 pilot research (PMID: 39488067) discovered that creatine may improve the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral remedy (CBT) in folks with melancholy. Nevertheless, extra sturdy trials are wanted to substantiate this potential profit.
Different analysis has examined creatine’s results in neurodegenerative illnesses, however findings are preliminary and never instantly relevant to the typical girl experiencing menopause.
In conclusion, creatine just isn’t a confirmed answer for cognitive decline or melancholy in menopause, and any potential advantages are doubtless small and context-specific.
Declare #3: Creatine Helps with Muscle Energy
Verdict: True
Some of the well-documented results of creatine is its potential to improve muscle power and energy, particularly when mixed with resistance coaching.
Menopause usually accelerates sarcopenia, the age-related lack of muscle mass and performance. This contributes to a decline in mobility, metabolic price, and total high quality of life.
A number of meta-analyses help creatine as a helpful ergogenic help for older adults:
- A 2021 assessment (PMID: 34836013) confirmed that creatine supplementation improved upper-body power in older adults.
- One other 2024 evaluation (PMID: 40292479) reported that creatine, paired with resistance coaching, led to larger enhancements in power and lean physique mass than train alone.
Creatine will increase intramuscular phosphocreatine shops, which in flip helps produce extra ATP throughout brief bursts of high-intensity train. This results in higher coaching efficiency, larger workload capability, and sooner restoration.
Though creatine doesn’t instantly construct muscle with out coaching, it does assist improve the advantages of weightlifting, making it a wonderful complement for bodily energetic menopausal girls.
Is Creatine Protected for Menopausal Ladies?
Verdict: Sure
Creatine is among the most extensively studied sports activities dietary supplements and has a robust security profile, together with in older populations.
A 2021 place paper by the Worldwide Society of Sports activities Diet (PMID: 33800439) concluded that long-term creatine supplementation (3–5g/day) is protected for wholesome people. Frequent myths about kidney injury have been disproven repeatedly by medical trials.
Creatine is mostly well-tolerated. Some customers could expertise delicate water retention or bloating early in supplementation, however these results are momentary. Importantly, creatine doesn’t negatively have an effect on hydration standing, liver enzymes, or kidney operate in wholesome adults.
Ladies with kidney illness or different continual circumstances ought to seek the advice of their healthcare supplier earlier than beginning any new complement, together with creatine.
Ought to You Take Creatine Throughout Menopause?
In case you’re questioning whether or not creatine is value including to your complement routine throughout menopause, right here’s the brief reply:
- Don’t take it for bone well being or cognitive efficiency — the proof simply isn’t robust sufficient.
- Do think about it should you’re doing resistance coaching and need a protected, efficient manner to enhance power and restoration.
On this context, creatine is a software to reinforce efficiency, not a magic capsule. However for energetic girls in midlife, it may be a part of a complete technique to take care of muscle, enhance exercise capability, and keep robust by means of menopause and past.
How you can Use Creatine for Finest Outcomes
In case you determine to strive creatine, right here’s how one can use it safely and successfully:
- Dosage: 3–5 grams per day of creatine monohydrate (probably the most researched kind)
- Loading: Not mandatory. Simply begin with the every day dose.
- Timing: Anytime of day is ok, although some proof suggests post-workout could supply slight advantages.
- Hydration: Keep properly hydrated, as creatine attracts water into muscle cells.
- Consistency: Take it every day to take care of muscle saturation, even on relaxation days.
Last Ideas on Creatine for Menopause
Creatine just isn’t a miracle treatment for menopause signs, however it is usually a invaluable software for girls targeted on power, mobility, and total well being.
Right here’s the underside line:
- Creatine doesn’t enhance bone density or considerably increase cognitive operate.
- It could improve temper when paired with different therapies, however extra analysis is required.
- It improves muscle power and efficiency, particularly with resistance coaching.
- It’s protected and well-tolerated in most wholesome people.
In case you’re lifting weights, recovering from exercises, or managing age-related muscle loss, creatine is likely to be value including to your routine.
References:
- Candow DG, et al. (2015). Results of creatine supplementation and resistance coaching on bone mineral content material in postmenopausal girls. PMID: 25386713
- Forbes SC, et al. (2023). Creatine and bone well being: A scientific assessment and meta-analysis. PMID: 37144634
- Avgerinos KI, et al. (2018). Results of creatine supplementation on cognitive operate. PMID: 29704637
- Silva S, et al. (2024). Creatine in adjunct with CBT for melancholy: A pilot research. PMID: 39488067
- Chilibeck PD, et al. (2021). Impact of creatine supplementation throughout resistance coaching on muscle mass and power in older adults. PMID: 34836013
- Candow DG, et al. (2024). Creatine and resistance coaching in getting older: A vital assessment. PMID: 40292479
- Kreider RB, et al. (2021). Worldwide Society of Sports activities Diet place stand: Security and efficacy of creatine supplementation in train, sport, and drugs. PMID: 33800439