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# Creatine for two years, 237 women: what it did and did not do
- URL: https://the-longevity-brief.ghost.io/creatine-for-two-years-237-women-what-it-did-and-did-not-do/
- Published: 2026-10-19T10:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-19T10:00:14.000Z
- Description: The largest creatine trial in postmenopausal women, read honestly. The dose, the results, and the label to look for.
- Author: The Longevity Brief

Take creatine monohydrate every day, and pair it with lifting. The dose in the largest trial in postmenopausal women was 0.14 grams per kilogram of body weight, about 9 grams a day if you weigh 65 kilograms.

The two-year trial was published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise in 2023\. It randomized 237 postmenopausal women, average age fifty-nine, to creatine or placebo, and everyone was assigned to lift three days a week and walk six.

Here is what creatine did not do. Bone density at the hip and spine, the trial’s main target, changed the same way in both groups.

Here is what it did. At the narrowest part of the femoral neck, scan-based estimates of bending strength held steady with creatine and slipped with placebo.

That is a measure of bone shape, not of fractures prevented. Fractures were four in each group.

The creatine group also walked a fast 80 meters about a second and a half quicker. Women who completed both years gained roughly 0.7 kilograms more lean mass, though across everyone who started, that difference was not significant.

Strength rose equally in both groups, because the lifting did the heavy work. On average, women took only about half their prescribed creatine, and one author advises a creatine manufacturer, though the trial itself was publicly funded.

So read it plainly. Creatine is not a bone drug, and its gains for muscle and function in women over fifty are small and still not settled.

Kidney, liver and gut side effects did not differ from placebo. The trial screened out women with kidney or liver problems and checked blood and urine every year, so if you have kidney disease, ask your clinician first.

Creatine can also raise blood creatinine, the number labs use to estimate kidney function. Tell your doctor you take it before your next blood panel so the result is read correctly.

On the label, look for creatine monohydrate as the only ingredient, ideally with third-party testing such as NSF Certified for Sport or Informed Sport.

The trial split the dose, half after training and half with a meal, but never compared timings. Take yours at a moment you will remember every day.

The lifting builds the woman you are planning to be. Creatine is a small daily edge on that work, and now you know exactly how small.