This post reviews the many health benefits of taking creatine for women. Creatine isn't just for building muscle, and can help improve health in many different ways including improving energy, improving mood, helping to balance hormones and more.
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Table of Contents
- What is creatine?
- Why women may need to take creatine:
- Health benefits of creatine for women:
- Risks of creatine:
- Will taking creatine make me gain weight?
- How much creatine should I take?
- How to take creatine:
- What is the best type of creatine to take?
- Bottom line: should you take creatine?
- Frequently asked questions:
- Other health information you will want to read:
- Our expertise:
What is creatine?
Creatine is a chemical found naturally in vertebrate animals. It is considered to be a semi-essential nutrient that is critical for maintaining normal energy balance and regulation.
Creatine comes from three amino acids and is mainly found in muscles and the brain. Most people get creatine from eating seafood and red meat but you can also get creatine as a supplement.
Creatine is one of the most commonly used supplements, especially in the sporting world, but taking creatine has been shown to be beneficial for many reasons beyond just improving athletic performance.
Why women may need to take creatine:
There are many reasons why women may need to take creatine.
Females have been shown to consume lower amounts of dietary creatine compared to males, women have 70–80% lower endogenous creatine stores compared to men, and lower levels of brain creatine compared to men.
As well, the physiologic changes that women experience related to their menstrual cycles, during pregnancy, and during menopause, all lead to unique physical changes that creatine has been shown to be beneficial for. As such, in this post we will review the many potential health benefits of taking creatine for women.
Health benefits of creatine for women:
1. Helps muscles produce more energy
Creatine helps increase muscles’ phosphocreatine stores and phosphocreatine aids in the formation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the key molecule that your cells use to make energy. When you exercise, ATP is broken down to produce energy and the rate of ATP re-synthesis limits your ability to continually exercise at maximum intensity, as you use up ATP faster than you can reproduce it.
Creatine supplementation increases your phosphocreatine stores, allowing you to produce more ATP to fuel your muscles during high-intensity exercise which is why creatine supplementation is most effective for high-intensity, short duration exercise or repeated bouts of high-intensity exercise with short rest periods such as jumping, sprinting, and resistance training.
2. Improves exercise performance and increases muscle strength
Many studies have shown that creatine supplementation is effective for increasing strength, power, and athletic performance in women. Even in previously inactive women, taking creatine has been shown to help increase muscle strength when combined with resistance training compared to resistance training alone.
Creatine supplementation has also been examined in female athletes, and the addition of creatine to strength training compared to strength training alone leads to increased strength and power output.
3. Speeds up muscle growth
Taking creatine allows for greater muscle stimulus during training which can lead to physiological adaptations that result in increased muscle mass, strength, and muscle fiber hypertrophy (growth). This change is seen in both men and women who take creatine.
4. May help neurological conditions
One factor that is common to in many different neurological diseases is a reduction of phosphocreatine in the brain. And since creatine can increase these levels, it is felt that creatine could help treat or slow the progression of certain neurological conditions.
When we look at animal studies, creatine supplementation has been shown to be helpful in treating a number of neurological conditions including:
- Huntingtons disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Certain types of strokes
- Epilepsy
- Brain or spinal cord injuries
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
However, it should be noted that human studies of creatine supplementation in these various neurological conditions are lacking, and so far these benefits have only been observed in animal studies. Hopefully in the near future human studies will be done so that we can learn more.
5. May help lower blood sugar levels
Studies have shown that creatine supplements may lower blood sugar levels by increasing the function of glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT-4), a transporter that brings blood sugar (glucose) into muscles.
A human study did show that creatine supplementation can improve glucose tolerance but so far there have not been studies showing improvements in fasting blood glucose or insulin resistance and more human studies are needed to determine whether or not creatine is helpful for those with diabetes.
6. Helps improve brain function
Creatine is important for brain function and health. Your brain needs a significant amount of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) when performing difficult tasks and creatine helps increase the levels of ATP and its regulator, adenosine diphosphate in the brain.
In human studies creatine supplementation has been shown to be helpful for improving brain function and has shown benefits for both working memory and intelligence.
As well, in older adults creatine supplementation has shown to help improve memory and cognitive ability, after only 2 weeks of supplementation.
7. Reduces fatigue
Creatine supplements may also reduce tiredness and fatigue. Creatine supplementation has been shown to decrease fatigue in those with traumatic brain injuries, during sleep deprivation and in athletes during exercise.
8. Improves mood
Females have been shown to have lower levels of creatine in the brain, especially the frontal lobe which helps control mood, cognition, memory, and emotion. As a result creatine supplementation may be even more effective for females when it comes to cognitive function and mood regulation.
In studies, when combined with regular antidepressant use, creatine supplementation has been shown to reduced depressive symptoms in females with major depression. Another small study also showed that creatine can be helpful in those with resistant depression (although not bipolar disorder).
Additionally, dietary creatine intake is inversely proportional with depression occurrence. In other words, those who eat lower amounts of creatine have higher rates of depression.
9. Helps with hormone related changes
Creatine supplementation may be especially important for women due to the hormone changes that happen related to the menstrual cycle. Animal studies have shown that the expression of arginine-glycine aminotransferase (AGAT), the rate limiting step of creatine synthesis, is influenced by estrogen and testosterone levels. As well, estrogen and progesterone have been shown to effect creatine kinase (CK) activities and the expression of enzymes needed for the synthesis of creatine in the body.
Serum CK levels are significantly elevated during menstruation compared to non-menstruating years, and CK levels decrease with age and pregnancy. The lowest levels of CK have been reported during early pregnancy (20 weeks or less).
The highest levels of estrogen occur during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle (which begins just after ovulation and goes through the end of the cycle). Protein breakdown has been shown to be higher during this phase, while carbohydrate storage has been shown to be reduced during this phase. Given the increased protein turnover and use in the luteal phase, it is felt that creatine supplementation may be even more effective and beneficial for women in this phase of the menstrual cycle.
10. Improves reproductive health
Creatine is considered to be crucial for female reproductive health. The ovaries and other reproductive organs (including the placenta) have a high expression of creatine-specific enzymes, transporters and total creatine content, indicating the crucial role of this compound for reproductive health.
The hormonal changes in women influence creatine dynamics, and a recent study investigated the relationship between dietary creatine intake and reproductive health markers in women and found that taking ≥13 mg of creatine per kg of body weight daily showed notably lower risks of irregular menstrual periods, fetal macrosomia, pelvic infections, need for hysterectomy or oophorectomy, and need to receive hormone replacement therapy.
Previous studies have also shown that menstrual irregularities are more common among women who do not include creatine-containing foods in their diet (such as those who follow vegetarian or vegan diets).
11. Helpful for pregnancy
Increased metabolic demand from growth and development during pregnancy, particularly from the placenta, has been associated with a reduced creatine pool. Human studies suggest a dramatic change in creatine homeostasis during pregnancy and a reduction in creatine stores during pregnancy have been linked with low birth weight and pre-term birth.
Many animal studies have shown that creatine supplementation during pregnancy is beneficial, but to date, human studies are lacking. However, it is felt that creatine is safe to take during pregnancy and could be a low cost way of helping to reduce pregnancy and post-partum complications associated with cellular energy depletion.
12. Can be helpful for post menopausal women
During menopause women experience an age-related loss in muscle mass, bone mass and strength and creatine supplementation has been shown to help counteract some of these changes. Specially, creatine has been shown to decrease the menopausal related decline in muscle, bone, and strength by reducing inflammation, oxidative stress, and serum markers of bone resorption, while also resulting in an increase in bone formation (through increased osteoblast activity).
More research still needs to be done in this area, but creatine supplementation looks like it could be a promising treatment option for post-menopausal women, especially when combined with resistance training.
Risks of creatine:
Creatine is a very well studied supplement and has been shown to be a safe and low risk supplement when taken in the recommended doses.
Some side effects that have been reported when taking creatine include:
- Stomach upset and diarrhea
- Dizziness
- Muscle cramps
- Water retention - this is usually only seen with high doses when people first start taking creatine.
There are rare case reports of people experiencing rhabdomyolysis and renal failure when taking very high doses of creatine, so be sure to follow the directions and not take more than the recommended dose.
Also note that if you have kidney disease or kidney failure, liver disease, or high blood pressure it is recommended that you avoid taking creatine.
Will taking creatine make me gain weight?
Interestingly, while men can experience weight gain when taking creatine, studies have shown that in women, taking creatine doesn't usually lead to changes in body weight or cause weight gain.
How much creatine should I take?
Supplementing with creatine can be accomplished using 2 main strategies: a loading phase or a daily dose (both of which ultimately result in the same levels of intramuscular creatine levels).
If you want to do a loading phase you would take 5 grams, 4 times a day for 5 days and then move to the maintenance dose of 5 grams daily. If you use this method it takes about 5 days to increase the intramuscular stores of creatine.
Alternatively, you can just take 5 grams daily without the loading doses. This is the method I personally used when I started taking creatine. Just note that using this method it will take about 3-4 weeks to increase the intramuscular creatine stores, compared to the 5 days with the loading phase method.
Which method you choose will depend on your own personal goals and how quickly you are looking to see results.
How to take creatine:
Skeletal muscle creatine uptake can be affected by insulin availability, and consuming creatine with carbohydrate (~50 g) and protein (~50 g) or glucose, may increase the muscle creatine concentrations compared to taking creatine alone.
However, in women, the additional calories from carbohydrates and protein may not be needed. Specifically, for women who tend to burn fewer calories than men, if additional calories are not needed to meet nutritional needs or goals, the benefit of trying to enhance creatine absorption by consuming more food may not be needed as creatine already has a high bioavailability.
As well, due to the physiologic changes that women experience related to their menstrual cycle, the lower carbohydrate oxidation that is seen in the follicular phase may suggest that adding extra food when taking creatine is not needed.
On workout days it is best to take creatine shortly before or after your workout. On days when you don't work out, the timing of when you take creatine is not important and one strategy is to simply take creatine with a meal or add it to a protein shake. I usually just have it with my other supplements with my breakfast.
What is the best type of creatine to take?
Creatine comes in many forms including powder, capsules, lozenges or in foods such as meat and fish. Studies have shown that the absorption of creatine is best when taken as a solution or liquid rather than the other forms. As such, the best way to take creatine to ensure optimal absorption is to dissolve creatine monohydrate powder in a liquid and drink it.
There are many brands of creatine powder the market. I personally use Kion creatine monohydrate powder (use code DRERIN to get 10-20% off) but you can easily find creatine powder at drug stores and health food stores.
Bottom line: should you take creatine?
Whether or not you should take creatine is a personal decision. It is a very well researched supplement that is considered safe for most people to take, and does have many potential benefits associated with taking it.
Like with any supplement, be sure to discuss it with your doctor or other healthcare practitioner before starting creatine. And if you have underlying kidney disease, liver disease or high blood pressure it is recommended that you avoid taking creatine.
Frequently asked questions:
In most cases yes, creatine has been shown to be safe for teens and adolescents to take. However, I always recommend asking your own doctor or health care provider before staring any new supplements, especially when it comes to children and teens.
Other health information you will want to read:
- Is ceramic cookware safe?
- Is there mercury in your mascara?
- The best non-toxic sunscreens
- Deodorant health risks
Our expertise:
Dr. Erin Carter, MD, FRCPC, is a physician with board certifications in internal medicine and rheumatology. She is passionate about preventative health including nutrition, environmental health and low toxicity living.
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