Why creatine is important for women
Creatine is often categorized as a classic sports supplement. However, it is primarily something much more fundamental: a key component of our cellular energy system .
The scientific review by Smith-Ryan et al. (2021) impressively demonstrates why this point is particularly relevant for women – and why creatine should not only be considered in the context of fitness.
For women, it's not about short-term performance enhancement, but about a stable energy supply in everyday life , across different phases of life.
Creatine: not an active ingredient, but an energy system
Creatine is not a hormone and not a stimulus.
It is a molecule that helps the body make energy quickly available when cells need it.
Specifically, creatine is part of the phosphocreatine system, which rapidly regenerates ATP – the cell's immediate energy currency. This system is active wherever energy is needed in the short term.
What does this mean for women?
The smaller the body's own creatine stores, the more limited this energy buffer. This is precisely where its relevance lies: creatine supports a system that helps provide energy even when everyday life is demanding – physically, mentally, or both at the same time.
Why women start with different prerequisites
The review shows that women, on average, have lower creatine stores than men. There are several well-documented reasons for this:
Women generally have less muscle mass – and that's precisely where most of the creatine is stored. At the same time, many women consume less creatine through their diet, as they eat less meat and fish.
In addition, there is another special feature: the female energy metabolism is more strongly influenced by hormonal fluctuations . These affect how energy is produced, used and stored.
What does that mean in concrete terms?
It's not that women are deficient in creatine – but rather that their energy reserves can decrease more quickly as exertion increases. This is precisely why creatine is becoming more relevant for many women in their daily lives than previously thought.
Energy is more than muscle power
An important contribution of the review is the clear distinction from the purely muscular view of creatine.
Creatine is part of an energy system that also plays a role in other energy-intensive tissues.
The authors summarize studies that examined creatine under demanding conditions – such as increased physical or mental stress or limited recovery. The focus is not on short-term effects, but rather on how the body stabilizes its energy availability when reserves are limited.
This is particularly relevant for women because stress in everyday life often does not occur in isolated moments, but over longer periods of time – through work, family, training, mental responsibility or a combination thereof.
Hormonal phases of life change how women manage their energy.
A particularly insightful part of the review focuses on the female life phases and the question of why creatine can take on a different meaning in this context.
The authors describe how female hormones like estrogen not only regulate the menstrual cycle but also deeply influence energy metabolism. They affect how efficiently mitochondria function, how energy is used, and how resilient muscle and nerve tissue are.
These influences are not constant . They change:
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during the menstrual cycle,
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during perimenopause,
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and again significantly in the postmenopausal period.
This is precisely where the criticism of the review comes in: Many creatine studies have long failed to take this dynamic into account – even though energy requirements, regeneration and resilience measurably change.
The authors therefore argue that creatine cannot be considered in isolation. During phases of hormonal change, body composition, metabolism, and mitochondrial efficiency change – and with them, the need for systems that stabilize short-term energy.
Creatine does not have a hormonal effect. This is precisely what makes it interesting: It is part of an energy system that functions independently of hormonal fluctuations and takes effect where energy needs to be available quickly.
Therefore, creatine is increasingly viewed in research as context-dependent – and that is precisely what makes it so exciting for women across the lifespan.
Not a miracle cure – but an underestimated building block.
The review deliberately remains objective and makes no blanket promises.
However, it clearly shows that creatine is not a short-term trend , but is relevant for women across different phases of life – precisely because their physiological conditions are different.
What does that mean for you?
Creatine is not a promise of increased performance, but rather a building block for stable energy when the body is under high stress. It's not a cure-all, but part of a solid energy foundation for everyday life.
Conclusion
The scientific classification by Smith-Ryan et al. shows:
For women, it is worth reconsidering creatine – not as a typical sports product, but as part of an energy system that can play an important role in everyday life, through hormonal changes and over the years.
Sources:
Smith-Ryan AE, Cabre HE, Eckerson JM, Candow DG (2021). Creatine Supplementation in Women's Health: A Lifespan Perspective. Nutrients 13(3):877. DOI:10.3390/nu13030877