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Study Shows Creatine & Strength Training Help Improve Bone Geometry With Age

Author:

Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN

November 29, 2024

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

By Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from Texas Christian University and a master’s in nutrition interventions, communication, and behavior change from Tufts University. She lives in Newport Beach, California, and enjoys connecting people to the food they eat and how it influences health and wellbeing.

Woman lifting hand weights in the mirror at a gym

Image by Ivan Gener / Stocksy

November 29, 2024

Aging is inevitable—but the rate at which you experience age-related changes is greatly influenced by lifestyle. For example, it's well known that getting older (especially beyond the age of 50), is linked to losses in muscle mass, cognitive changes, and changes in bone geometry (the shape, size, and structure of the bone).

Strength training 1 can help counteract these less desirable aging effects, and more evidence is emerging that pairing that exercise with a creatine supplement is going to be even more beneficial.

Researchers of a recently published study in Translational Exercise Biomedicine recently scoured the available scientific literature on the topic to provide an update on the importance of these two components for healthy aging. Here's what they found.

Creatine, strength training, and aging

For this review, researchers looked at studies that specifically compared creatine and strength training to strength training alone for adults over 50. Each study also lasted for a minimum of five weeks.

Overall, researchers found that adding creatine to an exercise regimen came with a lot of perks:

Lean muscle mass: Unsurprisingly, this review found that creatine supplementation along with strength training significantly increased lean muscle mass by an average of 2.6 pounds (compared to exercise alone). It also improved upper-body muscle strength.
Cognitive function: More and more evidence is coming out about creatine's role in brain health (the research just isn't currently as developed on this topic as it is for muscle health). Research shows that taking creatine can support brain health in terms of memory, processing, and mood.
Bone geometry: The effects of creatine on bone health is another more recent area of interest for the supplement. While this review didn't reveal a consistent benefit of the supplement for bone mineral density, it improved aspects of bone geometry (especially for postmenopausal women). This term really refers to the architecture of the bone. So with aging, the shape of load-bearing bones like the femur and spine may compress or concave, and some bones can even thin. These changes often contribute to the decrease in strength we see with aging. Preliminary evidence shows that creatine can help improve bone geometry in ways that help reduce the risk of falls and fractures 2.

How much creatine do you need to see a difference?

This review didn't dive deeply into recommended dosing for creatine supplements—although the researchers noted that different benefits may call for different amounts of creatine.

Based on all the available literature, taking 5 to 10 grams of creatine is typically recommended to reap the benefits of the supplement.

A 5-gram dose 3 is linked to improvements in muscle mass, but a larger 10-gram dose 4 may be more beneficial for cognition, bone health, and even strength.

Many creatine powders provide a minimum 5-gram dose per serving (which can easily be increased based on your needs). There are so many creatine supplements on the market that it can be overwhelming to choose an effective one. So we did the work for you and rounded up our top creatine supplement picks here.

The takeaway

Creatine is the most researched supplement available, and studies continuously show there are whole-body benefits 5 to daily creatine supplements for pretty much everyone.

This latest review really highlighted the role creatine plays in healthy aging in not only preserving lean mass but also gaining it while protecting the integrity of bones for older women (who undergo significant changes after menopause).