Creatine for Older Adults

Why muscle matters as we age

We lose muscle and strength with age, and that makes everyday tasks harder: getting up from a chair, carrying groceries, climbing stairs. Strength training is the proven way to fight it, and creatine may make that training work a little better (Devries & Phillips, 2014).

What the trials show: muscle and strength

• 22 trials, 721 people. Older adults (average age 57–70) who took creatine during resistance training 2–3 days a week for 7–52 weeks gained on average 1.37 kg (about 3 lb) more lean mass and more chest-press and leg-press strength than people who did the same training with a placebo (Chilibeck et al., 2017).
• Everyday function. An earlier meta-analysis of 357 older adults (about 64 years, about 12 weeks of training) found creatine plus training increased fat-free mass and chest and leg press strength, and improved the 30-second chair-stand test more than training alone (Devries & Phillips, 2014).
• Short loading in older women. In postmenopausal women around 65, a 7-day high dose (0.3 g per kg a day) improved lean mass, strength and the sit-to-stand test (Smith-Ryan et al., 2021).

Creatine alone is not enough

In a 2-year trial, postmenopausal women taking 3 g a day without an exercise program did not gain lean mass or bone compared with placebo (Antonio et al., 2021). The ISSN team recommends combining creatine with resistance training to get the greatest benefits in older adults (Antonio et al., 2021). Light weights, resistance bands or machines 2–3 times a week all count.

Bone

In postmenopausal women, 12 months of creatine (0.1 g per kg a day) during resistance training helped preserve bone density at the hip (femoral neck) compared with training alone (ISSN position stand, 2017). In healthy older men, creatine with 10–12 weeks of resistance training increased upper-limb bone mineral content and lowered markers of bone breakdown (Antonio et al., 2021). Results are mixed, though, and creatine is not a treatment for osteoporosis.

Memory and thinking: promising, not proven

The brain uses creatine too, which has led to studies on memory:

• A 2018 systematic review of 6 trials (281 people) found that creatine may improve short-term memory and reasoning, with results for other areas conflicting, and suggested a potential benefit for older and stressed people (Avgerinos et al., 2018).
• A 2023 meta-analysis found improved memory overall and a larger effect in adults aged 66–76 (Prokopidis et al., 2023). A published letter later argued that some data were counted twice, which can inflate results (Nutr Rev letter and reply, 2023).
• A 2024 meta-analysis of 16 trials (492 people) found benefits for memory, attention time and processing speed, but rated the certainty as moderate for memory and low for the rest (Xu et al., 2024).

In plain words: there is a reasonable chance creatine gives your memory a small lift, but the studies are small and short, and nobody has shown that it prevents or treats dementia.

How much creatine for older adults?

The standard 3–5 g a day applies at any adult age (NIH Office of Dietary Supplements). Many trials in older adults used 0.1 g per kg of body weight a day, sometimes combined with protein (ISSN position stand, 2017), and the ISSN team lists 3–5 g or 0.1 g/kg a day as the recommended dosages (Antonio et al., 2021). The calculator shows both. There is no need for a loading phase unless you want faster results.

Safety for older adults

A 2019 meta-analysis found that creatine did not damage the kidneys at the doses and durations studied (de Souza e Silva et al., 2019). But older adults more often have reduced kidney function, diabetes or several prescriptions, so ask your doctor before you start, and tell them you take creatine before any blood test, since it can raise blood creatinine, a common kidney marker (Antonio et al., 2021). Read more in creatine side effects and safety.

Women over 50 may also like creatine for women. Ready? Calculate your dose.