Creatine for health, aging and disease: a systematic review
What it found
Creatine supplements may help with muscle strength, thinking, blood sugar and recovery, especially alongside exercise.
The authors say more research is needed in many areas.
What they found
Studies in people
Muscle and strength in older people
In older adults, creatine taken with resistance training led to greater gains in muscle mass, strength and balance than training alone. Some studies also found benefits for bone density in postmenopausal women.
Thinking and memory
Creatine increased brain creatine content by 5 to 15 percent and improved some measures of memory, mental fatigue and reaction time, especially in older people. Not all studies showed a benefit.
Blood sugar and diabetes
In people with type 2 diabetes, creatine supplementation improved glucose tolerance and lowered HbA1c levels. It also increased a protein that helps cells take up glucose.
Studies in people and animals
Heart health
In dogs, giving phosphocreatine into the blood reduced heart rhythm problems during restricted blood flow to the heart. In people with heart failure, oral creatine during rehabilitation showed some benefit in several studies, but not all.
Brain and spinal cord injury
In rats and mice, creatine given before injury reduced brain damage by 25 to 50 percent and improved recovery after spinal cord injury. In people with spinal cord injury, creatine improved exercise capacity and strength during rehabilitation.
Pregnancy
Creatine needs increase during pregnancy, and animal studies suggest supplementation may help the baby if oxygen is low at birth. Human studies are limited, so the authors advise caution about recommending it in pregnancy.
What the authors conclude
“Based on this analysis, it can be concluded that creatine supplementation has several health and therapeutic benefits throughout the lifespan.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that creatine supplementation can increase cellular energy availability and support general health, fitness, and well-being throughout the lifespan.
- They state that creatine supplementation, particularly with resistance training, can promote gains in strength and help maintain or increase muscle mass in older individuals.
- They advise that due to the limited studies in pregnant humans, caution should be exercised when recommending use during human pregnancy.
How it was done
Creatine is mostly known as a sports supplement, but researchers have been looking at whether it might also help with health conditions and aging. This review gathered the evidence on those wider uses.
The authors searched the scientific literature and reviewed 1322 articles on creatine supplementation, covering metabolism, performance, health and disease management.
What it can’t tell you
- Many of the findings come from animal or lab studies, which cannot show what happens in people.
- For some conditions, the evidence is mixed or limited, so it is not clear whether creatine helps.
- The review cannot show whether creatine prevents disease or improves long-term health outcomes.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- R.B.K. has conducted industry sponsored research on creatine, received financial support for presenting on creatine at industry sponsored scientific conferences, and has served as an expert witness on cases related to creatine. Additionally, he serves as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for AlzChem who sponsored this special issue. J.R.S. has conducted industry-sponsored research on creatine and other nutraceuticals over the past 25 years. Further, J.R.S. has also received financial support for presenting on the science of various nutraceuticals, except creatine, at industry-sponsored scientific conferences.
- Authors work at
- Texas A&M University, USA; University of Central Florida, USA
The paper
- Title
- Creatine in Health and Disease
- Type
- Systematic review
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Kreider RB, Stout JR (2021). Creatine in Health and Disease. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu13020447Free full textPubMed 33572884DOI
Summary written 29 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error