Creatine, Exercise, & Menopause
Have you heard the hype lately about creatine? It is a heavily researched supplement that seems to be everywhere in the health news. What is it, should you be taking it and can it help with menopause? This blog will answer those three questions so read on for more info!
In this blog, you will learn:
- What is creatine?
- Can creatine help with menopause?
- Should you be taking creatine?
What is Creatine?
Creatine is a natural substance made from the amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. 95% of creatine is stored in muscle tissue and a little is stored in the brain. The muscles and brain use creatine stores for quick energy, during high-intensity exercise and complex thinking.
Dietary creatine is found in animal foods; milk, red meat, poultry and some seafood. Most people consume on average approximately one gram of creatine per day from food. Creatine is also made synthetically as a dietary supplement.
Creatine production declines with age. It can be very beneficial for women, particularly as they age. The body naturally produces about 1 gram of creatine per day and uses about 2 grams a day. The difference can be made up by either eating more animal protein like red meat and seafood or supplementing creatine.
What are the Benefits of Creatine?
Athletic Performance, Strength & Power
Creatine can improve muscle strength and power. It is used by athletes to improve athletic performance and increase lean muscle mass and strength. This is especially the case for high intensity short term exercise, resistance training, weightlifting and sprinting. Women can benefit by using creatine to increase power and strength during resistance training (Candow DG, 2022).
Muscle Mass
Creatine + resistance training increases muscle strength (Candow DG, 2022). It can help build muscle and improve conditions like frailty or sarcopenia in older people (Candow DG, 2022).
Bone Health
Creatine can increase bone strength, lessen the rate of bone mineral loss and influence bone turnover in older adults (Candow DG, 2022). It can help prevent osteoporosis and age-related bone loss (Candow DG, 2022).
Brain Health
Creatine can help cognitive processing, brain function and recovery from trauma (Roschel H, 2021). It provides fast energy for the brain when performing cognitive tasks. It can improve memory, clarity, mental energy and brain fog. In older adults and in people who don’t regularly eat meat, creatine can be used to enhance cognitive function.
Creatine can improve cognitive processing if brain creatine deficits exist (Roschel H, 2021). Creatine deficits may exist as a result of heavy exercise, sleep deprivation, aging or chronic conditions like Alzheimer’s disease or depression (Roschel H, 2021). Creatine may reduce risk of neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s by protecting neurons from damage and increasing energy availability in the brain (Roschel H, 2021).
Mood & Depression
Creatine can enhance mood, well-being and symptoms of depression.
Conventional treatments for depression are not terribly effective for most people. In depression, there are disruptions in brain energy production, storage and utilization. Creatine may improve these disruptions by providing energy for brain tissue with high energy needs (Kious BM, 2019). In this way, creatine can act as an anti-depressant (Kious BM, 2019).
Cancer
Higher creatine intake in from meat is associated with lower cancer risk in older adults (Jiang J, 2025):
- People who ate more creatine in their diet had a 5% lower risk of cancer (Jiang J, 2025).
- People aged 52 and older had the biggest benefits with a 14% lower cancer risk (Jiang J, 2025).
- Men saw more benefit than women. Each 0.09-gram increase in creatine in men was linked with a 7% decline in cancer risk (Jiang J, 2025).
- People with a higher BMI or overweight had an 8% decline in cancer risk with more creatine (Jiang J, 2025).
The mechanism may be that creatine reduces inflammation, supports good immune function and may disrupt certain cancer signaling pathways (Jiang J, 2025).
Creatine & Menopause
Creatine has many benefits for women (Smith-Ryan AE, 2021). Creatine can help with fertility, hormonal changes, bone health, osteoporosis, sarcopenia, cognition, brain health, mood and more (Smith-Ryan AE, 2021):
- Creatine can increase muscle and brain creatine levels which improves strength, exercise performance and cognitive function.
- Combined with resistance training, creatine improves body composition and bone mineral density in post-menopausal women.
- Creatine can improve mood and cognition by restoring brain energy levels.
- Creatine can boost energy and reduce fatigue in menopause.
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Creatine & HRT
Taking creatine while on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is generally considered safe. Creatine does not negatively affect estrogen levels. It might even support hormonal health by reducing oxidative stress, which can disrupt hormonal balance. Taking creatine will benefit muscle strength and function, especially during menopause.
How to Increase Creatine
Grass-fed beef, lamb and pork contain creatine. Wild-caught fish contains less creatine than red meat and pork. Supplementing creatine increases the body’s creatine stores. Taking a creatine supplement can provide the recommended amount of 5 grams/ day for muscle and brain health.
How to Take Creatine
Creatine comes in powder form and is inexpensive and tasteless. It can be mixed into a smoothie, a yogurt bowl, oatmeal or a recovery drink.
It is recommended to take 5 grams of creatine monohydrate per day but 3 grams/ day can be a good starting dose. 3 grams is enough to build muscle and lean body mass. 5-10 grams/ day is needed to get benefits for cognition and bone health.
Is a Creatine Loading Phase Necessary?
A creatine loading phase can quickly saturate and load creatine stores in the body. The loading phase starts with 10-20 grams/ day for the first week. Then the dose should be decreased to 3-5 grams/ day. Muscles will typically get saturated after 3–4-weeks, when they will have taken in all the creatine they can hold. A creatine loading phase isn’t absolutely necessary. But it can speed up the process to get the benefits of creatine right away.
Doing a loading phase and taking larger doses often come with more GI issues from creatine like cramping and bloating. Starting off with 3-5 grams/ day is better tolerated and will give the same benefits over the long run.
Are there Side Effects?
Creatine has been associated with minor side effects like water retention, boating, weight gain, stomach upset and muscle cramps. These side effects are typically mild and rare. Creatine is considered safe when taken in recommended doses. According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition, there is no evidence that short- or long-term use of creatine monohydrate has detrimental effects in healthy people.
The loading phase of creatine is associated with water retention in the first 3 days. Lower doses of 2-5 grams/ day can avoid this issue.
When to Take Creatine?
Creatine can be taken before or after a workout. However, taking creatine post-workout, and especially immediately after, is better for muscle and strength gains (Ribeiro F, 2021). Creatine immediately post-workout gives better results on body composition and strength compared to pre-workout (Ribeiro F, 2021). Creatine post-exercise resulted in a 3% gain in fat-free mass and bench press improvement, compared to a 1.3% increase in fat-free mass when taken pre-exercise (Ribeiro F, 2021).
The differences between pre- and post-workout timing are not hugely significant. More importantly, it needs to be taken every day to truly get the benefits. Consistent daily creatine intake is more important than the specific timing. This maintains creatine saturation. If creatine is not taken daily, the body’s stores will decline as will the muscle and cognitive benefits of creatine (Ribeiro F, 2021).
Because we want to give you the full picture on creatine…. There has been some less glowing news on creatine from a recent study in March 2025. In this study creatine had no additive effect on body composition changes when combined with resistance training (Desai I, 2025).
In the study, one group took creatine and did resistance training and the placebo group just did resistance training. The study showed that 5 grams of creatine supplement/ day did not make a difference to the amount of lean muscle mass people put on while resistance training (Desai I, 2025). It may be that 5 g/day is not enough to see lean body mass growth and that more than 5 g/day is needed long-term for creatine supplementation to have an effect (Desai I, 2025).
Despite this study, there are other benefits to taking creatine such as the cognitive support, bone health and mood improvement seen with creatine.
Creatine is likely very beneficial for managing menopause, building muscle strength and optimizing overall health. Try adding it to your health regime to reap the benefits!
If you are suffering from menopause symptoms, then get in touch with us at the Medicine with Heart clinic. We can help you to best manage and optimize your menopause experience!
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