“Creatine helps women keep muscle after menopause.”
Creatine helps women keep and add a little muscle after menopause, mainly when they take at least 5 grams a day and do strength training.
After menopause, creatine can add a small extra muscle benefit when it is paired with strength training. Taken without training, especially at low doses, it has not shown a benefit.
If you strength train and want to try creatine, about 5 grams of creatine monohydrate a day is the dose that showed benefits.
Talk to a healthcare professional if: you have kidney disease and are thinking about taking creatine.
A 2026 review of 7 trials in 608 postmenopausal women found small gains in lean mass and strength, mostly when creatine was paired with strength training. Confidence is limited because the strength result rests on 3 trials with 111 women and most trials had some risk of bias.
Creatine helps women keep and add a little muscle after menopause, mainly when they take at least 5 grams a day and do strength training. Taken alone at low doses, it showed no clear effect.
In the 2026 review, women taking creatine gained about 0.8 pounds more lean mass and lifted about 16.5 pounds more on the leg press than women taking placebo. Trials using 3 grams a day or less without strength training showed no measurable effect. In these trials, creatine did not improve bone density. Side effects were mild and similar to placebo, and kidney measures did not change. The review was not registered in advance, Alzchem, a creatine maker, paid part of its publication fee, and two authors have ties to groups funded by the creatine industry.
- Naddafha S, Antonio J, Kreider RB, Stout JR. Creatine monohydrate for lean mass, strength, and bone density in postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2026;23(1):2668435. DOI: 10.1080/15502783.2026.2668435. PMID: 42141930. PMCID: PMC13182165
- Smith-Ryan AE, Cabre HE, Eckerson JM, Candow DG. Creatine supplementation in women's health: a lifespan perspective. Nutrients. 2021;13(3):877. DOI: 10.3390/nu13030877. PMID: 33800439. PMCID: PMC7998865
- Kreider RB, Kalman DS, Antonio J, Ziegenfuss TN, Wildman R, Collins R, Candow DG, Kleiner SM, Almada AL, Lopez HL. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2017;14:18. DOI: 10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z. PMID: 28615996