Benefits of Creatine Supplements for Women

Creatine is one of the most researched supplements in the industry today, but is heavily marketed for men and its muscle-building properties. However, creatine has many other potential benefits beyond muscle building that are important to everyone, especially women. Let's see what the research says!

Creatine Benefits Backed by Science

Improve Cellular Energy

Creatine helps your cells produce more adenosine triphosphate (ATP), one of the body's main sources of energy. This is the energy that makes your muscles contract during exercise. By taking creatine supplements, you can make your body efficiently produce more ATP. By effectively increasing this cellular energy, you can do more weight and/or more reps, especially if you're doing high-intensity, short-duration workouts. When we do more reps and/or heavier weights, we are essentially creating more lean muscle and burning more calories, which means it's beneficial no matter what your goals are.

Supports Brain Health

Because creatine is the body's main source of energy, it's also a source of energy for the brain! During mental activity, creatine levels in the brain naturally drop, and just as muscles fatigue, so does the brain. This is why supplementing with creatine is important.

In one study, 33 women took 5 grams of creatine or a placebo for 18 weeks. At the beginning of this time frame, participants took an intelligence test to see how fast their brains were processing, and then again every six weeks. From start to finish, the group of women who received creatine showed a significant increase in the test (Caroline et al., 2003). In another study, it was shown that even five days of creatine supplementation directly reduced mental fatigue and increased oxygen use in the brain (Watanabe et al., 2002).

Research is promising when it comes to taking creatine and aiding cognitive function. Along with recent research, there is also evidence that creatine may help reduce age-related neurological disorders. In these studies, creatine appeared to help prevent loss of motor neurons while helping to restore brain function in people with these conditions.

Minimize the effects of aging

Aging is a part of life, especially for women, which means they can go through many different stages, including premenopause, pregnancy and postmenopause. During these phases, hormones in the body fluctuate, which also correlates with creatine levels in the body. More specifically, as women age, estrogen levels begin to decline. When this happens, there is more oxidative stress and increased inflammation, which are factors that lead to muscle loss, lower bone density and lower strength. Creatine has been shown to combat these and actually help women minimize these effects as they age (Smith-Ryan et al., 2021). To further strengthen this point, another study was conducted in postmenopausal women (50-65 years) with osteoarthritis who received creatine supplementation while performing resistance training. Their findings showed that creatine improved these women's physical performance, increased leg muscle, and improved quality of life (Neves, 2011). As you can see, research shows that creatine supplements may play an important role in helping you feel and stay youthful.

Rumors busted, let's see what rumors are there

There are a few rumors that will cause concern for anyone considering taking creatine. However, we are busting these myths for good.

Myth: Creatine causes bloating/unwanted weight gain

Fact: This is probably one of the most talked about myths when it comes to creatine. Head coach Sam Sweeney also had this to say: "Bloat or weight gain is a myth. I should reiterate this, creatine helps generate energy [specifically ATP] in the body, for this It also draws water into the cells [intracellular water]. Water ingested by the cells can cause the muscles to look more "puffy" and can cause a weight change of a pound or two. So yeah, when you first start taking creatine You may see a change in the scale when you're on the mend, but it doesn't necessarily mean fat gain or bloating."

Creatine in the body is hydrophilic - meaning it attracts water and holds it in, so you may see some water retention; however, that's not a bad thing. Keeping your muscles hydrated is important, especially during exercise. Also, if you look at the research, it actually shows that most women don't see the same water retention as men when they supplement with creatine (Lemon, 2002). Other things to consider in order to counteract water retention are making sure you drink plenty of fluids throughout the day to ensure your entire body is hydrated and reduce your need for fluids.

Myth: Creatine Causes Too Much Muscle Mass

Fact: While creatine does help you gain lean muscle, it won't make you look like those intimidating bodybuilders. Women have significantly less testosterone, the hormone primarily responsible for muscle growth, which makes it difficult to add large amounts of muscle. You also have to eat a lot of calories. Finally, even if you don't want to gain weight, creatine will improve your overall workout!

Myth: Creatine is hurting my kidneys and liver

Fact: There is a lot of confusion about this myth because one of the blood tests to check kidney function is creatinine levels. Fortunately, taking creatine supplements was not directly associated with higher creatinine levels. In fact, a systematic review of 14 studies of women taking creatine from supplements showed no significant differences in kidney and liver function (De Guingand, 2020). If you add these studies to the hundreds of studies done on men, there are still very few side effects reported on kidney and liver function.

When it comes to taking creatine, there are a few different ways to do it. Some suggest that you take 15-20 grams per day for 5-7 days followed by 3-5 grams. The idea behind this is to maximize your creatine levels as quickly as possible. However, this is not required and doing so may result in more temporary water retention. Others recommend consuming only 3-5 grams per day, and within a month, you can still maximize your creatine levels. There is also no need to stop creatine.

Research on the timing of creatine varies, and there is no specific benefit of taking it at any particular time. Consistency is key - take it at about the same time each day. If you exercise around the same time each day, we recommend taking it before training.

final thoughts

Creatine has been and is constantly being researched for all of its benefits. Definitely worth the investment and cost-effective when all potential benefits are considered. I highly recommend you check it out and try it out today!