I had never heard of creatine until my 40s, which feels slightly unfair.
I spent my twenties and thirties worrying about calories, cellulite, whether my jeans were getting tighter, whether I was eating too much, whether I was eating too little and, for a rather large chunk of those years, trying to become a mum. I had my first child just before my 40th birthday, so I didn’t really spend my thirties being a mum. But I did spend six years trying to become one.
Then I finally had my first baby, had approximately five minutes to recover from the shock of becoming responsible for another human being, and then had another one. So now I’m 42, with an eight-month-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old, doing Hyrox, trying to build muscle and suddenly discovering all these things about women’s health that I really wish someone had told me ten or fifteen years ago.
Creatine is one of them.
And I’m slightly annoyed, because now it’s everywhere. I can’t open Instagram, walk into a supplement shop or talk to anyone remotely interested in fitness without hearing about creatine. Apparently everyone got the memo except me.
Where was this information when I was 25?
So… what actually is creatine?
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that your body makes from amino acids. You also get some through your diet, particularly from meat and fish, and most of the creatine stored in your body is found in your muscles.
Its job gets a little science-y, but the basic version is actually quite simple. Your body uses something called ATP as an immediate source of cellular energy. During short, intense efforts – sprinting, lifting weights, jumping, repeated bursts of exercise or voluntarily signing up for Hyrox despite knowing full well what is going to happen to you – your muscles need to regenerate that energy quickly. Creatine helps with that process.
This is why creatine has traditionally been associated with athletes and people who lift very heavy things while wearing very small vests. But researchers are increasingly interested in what it could mean beyond that stereotype, particularly for women. A 2025 review looking specifically at creatine in women’s health looked at research around exercise, muscle, body composition, cognition, mood and different stages of the female lifespan.
There are still plenty of gaps in that research, which is worth saying. I’m not about to claim we’ve discovered the magical powder that solves being a woman over 40. I would absolutely buy that powder, but sadly this isn’t it.
Creatine vs amino acids: what’s the difference?
This was something I wanted to understand because the product I use is called USN 3-in-1 Creatine Monohydrate & Aminos. If it contains both, what’s the difference?
Amino acids are essentially the building blocks your body uses to make proteins. They have roles in muscle repair and growth, as well as a huge number of other processes throughout the body. Your body actually uses amino acids to make creatine, but creatine itself isn’t an amino acid. Rather than being a building block of protein, its main role here is in that rapid energy system I mentioned above.
My USN product combines creatine monohydrate with glycine and taurine. According to USN, a 5.5 g serving contains 5.5 g of creatine, 1.5 g of glycine and 1 g of taurine.
Now, I would love to tell you I chose this particular product after creating a spreadsheet comparing 47 creatine supplements and analysing them according to some elaborate scoring system.
I didn’t.
I chose it because it tastes good.
I use the orange flavour and genuinely enjoy drinking it. This matters more than I think the wellness industry sometimes acknowledges. I have two small children; I do not need another virtuous thing in my life that tastes like powdered sadness. If I’m going to do something every day, making it pleasant dramatically increases the chances that I will actually do it.
Why I’m interested in the benefits of creatine – particularly for women
The strongest evidence for creatine is around strength, high-intensity exercise and muscle. Research suggests that supplementation can increase the amount of creatine stored in muscle, which can help with repeated high-intensity efforts. When combined with resistance training, it may also support improvements in strength and lean mass. A systematic review looking specifically at creatine and performance in active females found some promising results, although it also highlighted how much more female-specific research we still need.
This is probably the biggest reason creatine caught my attention. After having my second child, I’ve become much more interested in strength. I spent a huge part of the last eight years focused on building a family – six of those years simply trying to become one – and now I’m putting some of that attention back into myself.
I’m doing Hyrox once a week, training and trying to build muscle, and I’m paying far more attention to protein and strength than I ever did when I was younger. I don’t particularly want to “get my old body back”. I’d rather build the version I need now: one that feels strong, energetic and capable of carrying both children simultaneously, because apparently that’s a legitimate functional fitness requirement these days.
And I do feel strong. Can I attribute that entirely to creatine? Of course not. I’m training, eating differently and generally taking strength more seriously, so there are approximately 47 variables involved. But given what we know about creatine and exercise performance, I’m prepared to let it take a little of the credit.
This is also why I find the conversation around creatine for women over 40 so interesting. We’ve spent an extraordinary amount of our lives being told how to lose weight. The questions I’m interested in now are different: How do I maintain muscle? How do I stay strong? How do I build a body that still works brilliantly for me in twenty or thirty years?
I want to be able to carry my suitcase, lift the groceries, play with my children and get off the floor at 60 without needing to submit a formal request to my knees.
That’s the kind of ageing I care about.
The benefit I wasn’t expecting: mental clarity
This one surprised me.
Since taking creatine, I’ve noticed that I feel mentally clearer. And when you have an eight-month-old and a two-and-a-half-year-old, this is not an insignificant observation. My brain currently has approximately 83 tabs open at all times. I’m keeping track of feeds, appointments, work, children and the location of various objects that apparently only I possess the supernatural ability to find.
My phone is the exception.
I still lose that constantly.
But I have noticed that I’m better at retracing my steps and remembering where I’ve left things. I used to use the “find my phone” function on my Garmin far more often than I’d like to admit. These days I can usually think back and remember where I had it last.
Is that because of creatine? I have absolutely no idea. And I think that’s an important distinction.
There is genuine research interest in creatine and the brain. A systematic review and meta-analysis looking at creatine and cognitive function found potential benefits in some areas, including memory, but the evidence isn’t nearly as settled as it is for strength and exercise performance.
So I’m not going to tell you that taking creatine will clear your brain fog or stop you losing your phone. That’s far too big a leap. I’m simply saying that I’ve noticed a difference, and the fact that researchers are investigating creatine and cognition makes my experience interesting to me.
Could it be the creatine? Possibly. Could it be exercise? Absolutely. Could it be placebo? Sure. Could any tiny improvement in cognitive function feel miraculous because I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in eight months? Also a very strong contender.
Whatever the reason, I’ll take it.
How much creatine do you actually need?
This was another rabbit hole.
When I started researching how much creatine to take, I discovered the creatine “loading phase”. The traditional approach involves taking around 20–25 g per day for about 5–7 days, divided into several doses, before dropping down to a maintenance dose of around 3–5 g per day. The point is to saturate your muscle creatine stores more quickly.
I researched it quite extensively and eventually came to a very scientific conclusion:
That sounds like a lot of admin.
Fortunately, loading isn’t necessary. Taking a smaller amount consistently will also increase muscle creatine stores; it just happens more gradually. The International Society of Sports Nutrition’s position stand on creatine discusses both approaches.
So I skipped the loading phase and went with the beautifully uncomplicated option of around 5 g a day. There are enough schedules, routines and tiny humans requiring things at particular times in my life already. My supplement does not also need a timetable.
For me, the routine I can actually maintain wins.
Powder, gummies or food: how I get my creatine
Most days, I use my orange USN powder mixed with water, and this has an unexpected bonus: it also helps me with my water goal. I’m aiming for around two and a half litres a day, but I don’t particularly enjoy drinking plain water. Give that water an orange flavour and suddenly I am much more cooperative.
So the creatine drink gets a double score. I get my creatine and make a decent dent in my water intake at the same time. Two birds, one shaker.
But then I discovered creatine gummies.
And I’m really loving them.
The ones I use give me 5 g of creatine in two gummies, which may be my favourite supplement maths of all time. Because what’s better than a gummy?
Two gummies.
Honestly, I look forward to eating them. There is something extremely satisfying about doing something vaguely responsible for my health while feeling like I’ve been given a treat. They’re also ridiculously convenient: no water, no shaker and no powder required.
The only thing I’d watch is the label. Different gummies contain different amounts of creatine, so “two gummies” isn’t a universal dose. Check how much creatine your particular product actually provides rather than assuming the word creatine on the packet means you’re automatically getting 5 g.
You can, of course, also get creatine naturally through food. It’s found predominantly in animal foods, particularly meat and fish, with foods such as herring, beef, pork, salmon, tuna and chicken contributing dietary creatine. A review looking at creatine in food shows that the amount varies considerably depending on the food and preparation.
The catch is that getting several grams every day through food alone can mean eating quite a substantial amount of meat or fish. People who eat little or no animal food also tend to consume much less dietary creatine. Personally, I’m not interested in reorganising my entire diet around hitting a creatine target, so powder or gummies make much more sense for me.
What about weight gain and creatine side effects?
This was obviously one of the things I wanted to know before taking it, because mention “weight gain” to a woman who grew up in the diet culture of the 1990s and early 2000s and watch how quickly you get her attention.
Creatine can cause the number on the scale to increase, particularly when you first start taking it, because it can increase water stored in your muscles. That’s not the same thing as gaining body fat.
This is actually a good example of how my thinking around my body is changing. There was a time when an extra 500 g on the scale would have bothered me considerably more than whether I was getting stronger. Now, if I’m training well, building muscle and feeling physically capable, I’m much less interested in letting a small fluctuation on the bathroom scale ruin my morning.
As for other creatine side effects, creatine monohydrate is one of the most extensively studied sports supplements and is generally considered well tolerated in healthy adults. Some people experience digestive discomfort, particularly with larger doses, which is another reason I’m perfectly happy with my straightforward daily approach rather than doing a big loading phase.
There has also been a long-running concern about creatine and kidney health, but research into the safety of creatine supplementation hasn’t found evidence that recommended doses damage kidney function in healthy people.
That doesn’t mean supplements are automatically appropriate for everyone. If you have kidney disease or another medical condition, take medication that may affect kidney function, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or simply aren’t sure whether creatine is right for you, this is definitely a conversation to have with your doctor or registered dietitian.
Creatine may be well researched.
It’s still not magic orange juice.
My Forever Forty verdict
I think the reason creatine has resonated with me so much is that I’ve discovered it at exactly the point in my life when my relationship with my body is changing.
When I was younger, so much of the conversation was about taking things away: eat less, weigh less, take up less space. I wish younger me had heard a little more about what she could build instead – muscle, strength, fitness and a body capable of carrying her through the decades ahead.
Creatine isn’t responsible for that shift, and it certainly isn’t going to magically transform anyone into a Greek goddess while they sit on the sofa eating crisps. But it’s one small thing I’m using as part of a much bigger goal: getting stronger after spending years focused on building my family.
And I genuinely enjoy taking it. Some days that’s orange-flavoured creatine in a big glass of water. Other days it’s two gummies that I look forward to an embarrassing amount.
I still can’t quite believe I got to 40 before I’d even heard of the stuff.
But better late than never.
And if younger me was busy counting calories while 42-year-old me is doing Hyrox, lifting weights and eating two creatine gummies because obviously two gummies are better than one, I think I know which version of me is having more fun.
Disclaimer: This article is based on my personal experience and my reading of the available research. It’s intended for general information rather than medical advice. Creatine is a dietary supplement, not a treatment for a medical condition. If you have a medical condition, take medication, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or aren’t sure whether creatine is appropriate for you, speak to your healthcare professional before using it.
Frequently Asked Questions About Creatine
What is creatine?
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that your body makes from amino acids. It is also found in foods such as meat and fish. Most of the creatine in your body is stored in your muscles, where it helps support rapid energy production during short, intense activities.
What are the benefits of creatine?
The strongest evidence for creatine relates to strength, high-intensity exercise performance and lean muscle mass, particularly when supplementation is combined with resistance training. Research into potential benefits for women, cognition and healthy ageing is also growing.
Is creatine good for women over 40?
Creatine may be particularly interesting for women over 40 because maintaining muscle and strength becomes increasingly important as we age. Research specifically examining creatine in women is growing, although there is still much more to learn about how it may affect women at different stages of life.
How much creatine should I take?
A common maintenance dose is around 3–5 g of creatine per day. A loading phase of approximately 20–25 g per day for 5–7 days can saturate muscle stores faster, but loading isn’t necessary. Taking around 3–5 g consistently will also increase muscle creatine stores over time.
Do I need to do a creatine loading phase?
No. A loading phase is optional rather than essential. I personally skipped it because, after researching the process, it sounded unnecessarily complicated for my already busy life. I simply take around 5 g per day.
Does creatine make women gain weight?
Creatine can cause some initial weight gain because it increases water stored in muscle. This isn’t the same as gaining body fat. Over time, creatine combined with resistance training may support increases in lean muscle mass.
What are the side effects of creatine?
Creatine is generally well tolerated by healthy adults. Some people experience temporary water-weight gain or digestive discomfort, particularly when taking larger amounts at once. If you have a medical condition or take medication, it’s sensible to discuss creatine with your healthcare professional.
Can you get creatine from food?
Yes. Creatine occurs naturally in animal foods, particularly meat and fish. Red meat, pork, chicken and fish can all contribute to dietary creatine, although the amount varies considerably between foods.
What is creatine monohydrate?
Creatine monohydrate is the most extensively researched form of creatine. It is the form of creatine I currently use in my USN 3-in-1 Creatine Monohydrate & Aminos.
Are creatine gummies effective?
Creatine gummies can be a convenient way to take creatine, provided they contain an appropriate amount of creatine per serving. Always check the label. The gummies I use provide my 5 g daily dose in two gummies – which, frankly, is excellent news because what’s better than one gummy? Two gummies.
Can creatine help with mental clarity?
Research into creatine and cognition is promising but still developing. Some studies have found potential benefits for memory and other aspects of cognitive function, but the evidence isn’t strong enough to say that creatine will improve mental clarity for everyone. Personally, I’ve noticed that I feel mentally clearer when I’m taking it, but that’s my experience rather than proof that creatine caused the change.
When should you take creatine?
Creatine works by gradually increasing the amount stored in your muscles, so taking it consistently is more important than taking it at a particular time of day. You can take it before or after exercise or on a rest day.
Is creatine only for people who work out?
No. Creatine is involved in cellular energy metabolism throughout the body, although the strongest evidence for supplementation relates to exercise performance, strength and muscle. Research is also exploring potential applications beyond exercise, including cognition and women’s health.