Women & Creatine: Why is Everyone Talking About it and Do I Need it?

Confident woman doing a lunging exercise in a gym setting.

Bottom line up front: every adult benefits from taking creatine supplements, and for women in perimenopause, you get the double benefit of stronger muscles and a decrease in mood swings and mental fatigue!

The algorithms think I'm a 45 year old woman because of how much time I spend in this space discussing menopause. So, I know that your social media feed is filled with podcasts and clips of experts talking about creatine since May because MY feed has been filled with those same clips. But why now?

The reason is because of the great news we learned in May. For the previous 6 decades, all of the peer-reviewed research about creatine showed that it was great for men to build lean muscle mass. It is literally the single most-researched supplement in the world.

What we learned in May changed everything. For the first time, a peer-reviewed research paper was published showing what creatine does for women in perimenopause. Not only did the women in the study experience better muscle adaptations compared to men, but the participants said that they experienced fewer mood swings, better cognitive focus and literally an improved mood overall. When the women were sleep deprived, they reported that they felt significantly more focused when they supplemented their diet with creatine. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40371844/]

Why does muscle matter? Your body is already losing about 1% of its bone mineral density and its lean muscle mass per year, if you're just living your ordinary life. This puts women at higher risk of sarcopenia and osteoporosis, once you've lost significant muscle and your bones have weakened. You can control this loss and even reverse it with regular resistance training, e.g., lifting challenging weights. The creatine supplementation helps your muscles to have enough energy in them during those workouts, allowing you to create more lean, toned muscle and stay healthy.

Your body produces small amounts of creatine. That production and your normal omnivorous diet give you about 3 grams of creatine per day. If you are plant-based, you get significantly less creatine in your diet. You want to supplement at least 5 grams per day if you only want the physical benefits of creatine, and at least 10 to 20 grams per day if you also want the mood/cognitive benefits. 

Pro Tip: I've been using creatine since 1999. When purchasing it, get the plainest one that you can find: creatine monohydrate, with no other ingredients. It is so widely produced and so inexpensive, that most supplement companies add "proprietary" ingredients to justify charging you more. More is not better in this case. When you go to your favorite health food store and see the supplement aisle, the creatine products with added nonsense will be at eye-level, and they will cost at least $30-$40 per bottle. Look at the bottom shelf, directly under the flashy bottles. In every store, you will see the normal, unadulterated creatine for a fraction of the price in very plain, boring bottles. That is what you're looking for!

johnlewiscoach.com