A tub of creatine now shares shelf space with protein powder in pharmacies that didn’t stock it a few years ago. A 2021 review in Nutrients, led by University of North Carolina researchers, found that women naturally store 70 to 80% less creatine than men. Menopause brings further changes in how the body uses creatine, exactly when muscle, Strength and brain function need protecting most.
“The evidence does support that it’s a safe supplement to take, especially for women,” says Bonnie Jortberg of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, a dietitian typically sceptical of supplement trends. Her backing of it says something.
Creatine used to sit firmly in gym-bag territory, something bodybuilders scooped into shakers between sets. That’s changed fast enough to show up in the sales numbers: women made up just 18 per cent of creatine purchases in 2020, now 30 per cent, according to GNC. “Creatine is now in more baskets than almost any other supplement we carry,” says Mark Butera, GNC’s vice president of merchandising. Clinical data also supports the shift. A 2026 meta-analysis of seven randomised trials involving more than 600 postmenopausal women found that creatine, taken with resistance training, increased lean muscle mass by 0.37 kilograms and leg-press strength by 7.5 kilograms more than a dummy pill did. The gains were modest but meaningful, given that women lose muscle faster than men after menopause, as falling oestrogen alters how the body uses its own creatine. There’s a brain angle too, and it’s new. Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are running a trial on 51 perimenopausal women to test whether creatine, combined with resistance training, changes brain metabolism and cognitive performance, not just muscle. Early studies have found shifts in reaction time and brain creatine levels during this transition, though findings remain preliminary.
(CNBC TV18)
Monday, September 21, 2026