Creatine for Older Adults, Women and Cognition: What Research Shows

Overview

Most creatine research began with young men and athletes. This page is a short map of what researchers have found in four groups people ask about often: older adults, women, vegetarians and vegans, and people interested in memory. Each group has a deeper page, linked below. Everything here describes studies. It is not personal advice, and a clinician or pharmacist is the right person to ask about your own situation.

Evidence labels used on this page: promising but limited (some positive results, but small, short or uncertain), mixed (results point in different directions), insufficient evidence (too little to judge) and Proper evidence not found (we searched and found nothing usable). The main guide is Creatine.

At a glance

Older adults

The 2026 meta-analysis pooled 11 randomized trials in adults aged 60 and over that compared creatine plus resistance training with resistance training alone. [1] Muscle strength rose by a small amount, with moderate certainty of evidence. [1] Differences in muscle mass and physical function were not statistically significant, with low and very low certainty. [1] The authors wrote that these findings should not be extended to frail, sarcopenic or functionally limited older adults. [1]

Training matters. A position paper by creatine researchers (several authors declare ties to companies that sell creatine) concluded that creatine alone, without a resistance training program, is unlikely to give substantial gains in strength and functional performance. [4]

Label: promising but limited, mainly alongside training. For muscle loss and strength in daily life, see Sarcopenia and muscle loss.

Women

A 2026 meta-analysis of 7 trials in 608 postmenopausal women (average age about 62) found a lean-mass difference of +0.37 kg and a leg-press difference of +7.5 kg in favor of creatine. [2] Benefits showed up where 5 g a day or more was combined with resistance training, while trials of 3 g a day or less without training showed no measurable effect. [2] Bone density was unchanged overall. Adverse events were mild and similar to placebo, and kidney measures were unchanged. [2]

Some larger reviews that mix all ages found smaller or non-significant changes in women than in men for several strength and lean-mass outcomes. [5] [6]

For earlier life stages a 2025 narrative overview (not a trial) says early studies often overlooked menstrual cycle variability and that data on perimenopausal women remain limited. [7] For pregnancy, a 2021 position paper said there were no human studies, and a 2025 follow-up said there was still no direct evidence from well-designed trials on safety and tolerability in human pregnancy. [4] [3]

Label: promising but limited (postmenopausal strength and lean mass); insufficient evidence (bone, menstrual cycle, perimenopause); Proper evidence not found (pregnancy safety in humans).

Vegetarians and vegans

Creatine is found mainly in animal foods, and a 2025 review says people who eat vegan, vegetarian or mostly plant-based diets tend to have lower baseline creatine levels. [3] A small 4-week trial of 20 physically active vegan adults found more skeletal muscle mass and body water and better jump performance with creatine, but no change in sprint or strength tests. [8] A larger cognition trial (123 people, about half vegetarian) found that vegetarians did not benefit more from creatine than omnivores. [9]

Label: promising but limited; the vegan trial was small and short.

Memory and thinking

A 2024 meta-analysis of 16 trials (492 people aged about 21 to 76, healthy people and people with specific diseases, all using creatine monohydrate) found a benefit for memory with moderate certainty of evidence. [10] Overall cognitive function and executive function did not improve significantly, and certainty for processing speed, attention and the overall result was low. [10] A 2023 meta-analysis of healthy people (10 trials reviewed, 8 pooled) also found better memory scores, with a significant improvement in the 66 to 76 age group. [11]

A European Food Safety Authority panel looked at a company's application for a claim about cognitive function and concluded that a cause-and-effect relationship has not been established between creatine supplementation and an improvement in cognitive function. [12] It noted that an effect on working memory seen in two studies at 20 g a day for 5 to 7 days was not seen at lower amounts, and that three studies in people with diseases did not support an effect. [12]

Label: mixed. Details are on Creatine and cognition.

Loading and maintenance, as research descriptions

In studies, "loading" usually means oral creatine for 5 to 7 days at 20 to 25 g a day, often divided into smaller servings. [4] A daily "maintenance" phase is then often 3 to 5 g a day. [4] These are study protocols, not instructions. A loading phase typically comes with a 1 to 3 kg rise in body mass, mostly water. [4]

In older adults, the 2026 review did not find that dose, loading phase or study length reliably explained differences between trials. [1] An earlier dosing analysis found that when studies with a loading phase were removed, creatine had no greater effect on chest-press or leg-press strength than placebo. [13] Sources do not agree on whether loading changes results. See Creatine loading and maintenance.