Once, creatine supplements were thought to be only suitable for young athletes and bodybuilders, but now they have attracted much attention due to their health benefits for middle-aged and elderly people.
From around the age of 30, the human body gradually experiences muscle loss. Muscle mass is lost by 3% to 8% every ten years, influenced by overall health and activity levels. After the age of 40, muscle mass will decrease by 16% to 40%. This age-related muscle loss, also known as “sarcopenia”, can affect an individual’s strength in daily activities.
The American College of Sports Medicine claims that most people have lost 10% of their muscle mass by the age of 50. The rate of this continuous decline in muscle mass accelerates with age. After the age of 70, the decline can reach 15% every ten years.
Although everyone loses muscle as they age, the rate of muscle loss in patients with sarcopenia is significantly faster than that in normal people. Severe muscle mass loss can lead to physical weakness and a decline in balance ability, thereby increasing the risk of falls and injuries. Therefore, maintaining muscle mass is crucial for achieving healthy aging and ensuring the quality of life.
To promote protein synthesis (i.e., the process of muscle building and maintenance), women aged 50 and above need to consume at least 25 grams of protein per meal. Men need to consume 30 grams. Recent studies have shown that creatine can improve age-related muscle loss, decreased bone density, and even cognitive decline.
What is creatine?
Creatine (C₄H₉N₃O₂) is a naturally occurring compound in the human body and an important chemical component. It is naturally synthesized by the liver, kidneys and pancreas and stored in muscles and the brain. Its main function is to provide energy for muscle cells, and creatine is also a key component in the energy supply of brain cells.
The human body can synthesize some of the creatine it needs from amino acids by itself, mainly by the liver, pancreas and kidneys. However, the creatine we produce ourselves is usually insufficient to meet all our needs. Therefore, most people still need to consume 1 to 2 grams of creatine from their diet every day, mainly from animal-based foods such as meat, seafood, eggs and dairy products. In addition, creatine can also be sold as a dietary supplement, available in forms such as powder, capsules and gummy candies.
In 2024, the global creatine supplement market size reached 1.11 billion US dollars. According to Grand View Research’s prediction, its market will grow to 4.28 billion US dollars by 2030.
Creatine is like an energy generator in the human body. It helps produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is the main source of energy for cells. Creatine is also a natural molecule similar to amino acids and is crucial to the human energy system. As people age, the importance of the energy system becomes increasingly prominent. Therefore, in addition to the well-known benefits of creatine supplements for exercise and fitness, they can also bring some scientifically based health benefits to middle-aged and elderly people.
Creatine: Improves cognition and anti-aging
Judging from several articles published this year, most of the research on creatine has focused on its anti-aging effect and improving the cognition of middle-aged and elderly people.
Creatine improves age-related cognitive dysfunction. Higher levels of brain creatine are associated with improvements in neuropsychological function. A recent study has shown that creatine supplements can increase the levels of brain creatine and phosphocreatine. Subsequent studies have also shown that creatine supplements can improve cognitive dysfunction caused by experiments (after sleep deprivation) or natural aging.
An article published in May this year studied the feasibility of 20 patients with Alzheimer’s disease taking 20 grams of creatine monohydrate (CrM) daily for 8 weeks. The research results show that creatine monohydrate is positively correlated with the changes in total creatine content in the brain and is also associated with the improvement of cognitive function. Patients who took this supplement showed improvement in both working memory and overall cognitive ability.
2) Creatine improves muscle loss caused by aging. In the field of health for middle-aged and elderly people, apart from research on cognition and anti-aging, there are also studies on the effect of creatine on sarcopenia. As we age, regardless of whether we are clinically diagnosed with sarcopenia or not, we usually experience a decline in strength, muscle mass, bone mass and balance, accompanied by an increase in body fat. Many nutritional and exercise intervention measures have been proposed to combat sarcopenia in the elderly, including supplementing creatine during resistance training.
A recent meta-analysis of the elderly has shown that supplementing creatine on the basis of resistance training can significantly enhance upper limb strength compared with resistance training alone, specifically manifested as a sustained increase in chest press and/or bench press strength. Compared with resistance training alone, this training method has practical application value in daily life or instrumental activities (such as weightlifting and push-pull). Another recent meta-analysis also indicates that creatine can enhance the grip strength of the elderly. This is very important because grip strength is usually used as a predictor of health outcomes in the elderly, such as hospitalization and physical disability, and is positively correlated with overall strength. In contrast, the effect of creatine on enhancing the strength of the lower limbs is far less significant than that on the upper limbs.
3) Creatine maintains bone health. Creatine supplements combined with resistance training are more effective in increasing bone density and maintaining bone health than resistance training alone. Studies show that creatine can help prevent age-related bone loss by reducing bone breakdown.
A preliminary small-scale study has shown that creatine can effectively increase the bone mineral density of the femoral neck in postmenopausal women during a one-year resistance training program. After taking creatine at a dose of 0.1 grams per kilogram per day, the femoral neck density of female subjects decreased by 1.2%, while that of women taking the placebo decreased by 3.9%. The extent of the reduction in bone mineral density caused by creatine has approached the clinically significant level – when bone mineral density decreases by 5%, the fracture rate increases by 25%.
Another study found that elderly men who took creatine during strength training had a 27% reduction in osteoporosis, while those who took a placebo had a 13% increase in osteoporosis. This indicates that creatine may play a role by promoting osteoblast generation and slowing down osteoporosis.
4) Creatine reduces inflammation levels during aging. Creatine may have a protective effect against oxidative stress on mitochondria. For instance, in mouse myoblasts that have suffered oxidative damage, supplementing creatine can alleviate the decline in their differentiation ability and reduce the degree of mitochondrial damage observed under electron microscopy. Therefore, creatine may be able to reduce inflammation and muscle damage during the aging process by protecting mitochondria from oxidative damage. Recent human studies have shown that supplementing creatine (i.e. 2.5 grams per day) during a 12-week resistance and high-intensity interval training period can reduce the content of inflammatory markers.
The safety of creatine
From the perspective of safety, the most common reaction to taking creatine is that it may initially cause water retention within muscle cells, which is a normal physiological phenomenon and not visible subcutaneous edema to the naked eye. To reduce such reactions, it is recommended to start with a small dose, take it with meals, and appropriately increase daily water intake. Most people can adapt in a short period of time.
In terms of drug interactions, existing clinical evidence indicates that no significant interaction has been found between creatine and common antihypertensive drugs, and their combined use is generally safe.
However, creatine is not suitable for everyone. Because creatine needs to be metabolized by the liver and kidneys, taking creatine may cause problems for people with diseases that affect the liver and kidneys.
Overall, creatine is an inexpensive and safe dietary supplement. The benefits of creatine intake for middle-aged and elderly people are significant. It can improve the quality of life and may eventually reduce the disease burden associated with sarcopenia and cognitive dysfunction.
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Post time: Jan-12-2026