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Do older adults need to take creatine?
As you age, you get “sarcopenia.” Sounds terrible, but what it means is that you have a decrease in your muscle mass, strength, and muscle function as you age. Not only does this lead to not feeling as strong, it can lead to falls, which can lead to broken bones.
The way to combat this muscle mass loss is strength training. It’s why you see all the 60 year old women pumping iron in the gym (go ladies!). Resistance training is a key to fight sarcopenia for men and women.
This was out of a study, “Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show?” published in Feb 2021 in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. It was a great article, doing a comprehensive analysis of published studies to try to figure out the hype vs the science for creatine.
For those of you with no attention span or time, the answer is YES, creatine does help build muscle mass, BUT YOU MUST PAIR IT WITH STRENGTH TRAINING.
So what do the studies show?
- Many studies show creatine increased “functionality” = strength, activities of daily living, increasing muscle mass, and delaying fatigue
- Creatine alone, without a resistance training program, is unlikely to result in substantial gains in muscle strength and functional performance, though it may help some with fatigue
- Chronic supplementation alone for over 30 days does not have a big effect on lean muscle mass. (They used an example of a study they did where creatine in post menopausal women who took 3g/day for 2 years did not increase lean muscle mass)
- Short term creatine may make lean muscle mass look better (7 day trials), but this is likely explained by increased water, as creatine can cause water retention.
- In older adults, three systematic reviews showed creatine is more effective when combined with training. They postulate that creatine’s mechanism of action is to enhance training volume and intensity, which then affects proteins, growth factors, oxidative stress, and inflammation, leading to improved muscle.
- Creatine + resistance training may also help bone. One study showed creatine with whole body resistance training lowered the rate of bone mineral loss compared to placebo in postmenopausal women. Another study in men over the age of 50 showed creatine with whole body resistance training for 3 months showed an increase in upper limb bone mineral content.
So what does this mean?
Creatine is likely helpful to fight muscle loss in aging adults, but it MUST be combined with resistance training exercise.
How can Biohackr Health help?
The science on creatine is compelling. Whether you are a young and active and want to improve your training, or you are middle age and want to prevent muscle decline (which affects strength, glucose, dementia risk and more), building muscle is key to health.
We carry micronized German creatine powder (yes, we import it from Germany) due to its purity and quality control. The powder is the most stable form. It is micronized to help absorption and make it palatable. And creatine is safe. Read the creatine blogs.