Welcome to Glossy’s Wellness Week. In daily feature stories, Glossy will break down the trends transforming the way consumers are thinking about, and spending on, wellness. And on Thursday at noon ET, we’ll host the Glossy’s Wellness Leaders Forum, a virtual event diving deep into wellness’s new era. Join us.
Just a couple of years ago, creatine was best known as a chalky powder consumed by gym bros looking to bulk up. But according to experts, the supplement’s hyper-masculine reputation is ill-fitting — in fact, many are recommending it to women.
First things first: Creatine is a compound that we get from foods, like meat and seafood.
“It’s a simple amino acid — actually, three amino acids put together — and it provides an energy source to the body,” said Dr. Laura Kunces, PhD and vp of medical affairs at Thorne, a supplements brand. In short, our bodies use creatine when we do intense physical movements, like reps of weightlifting. That’s why, until recently, the supplement has been most associated with men and bodybuilding.
“[Creatine] is stored in the body as phosphocreatine — 95% of it is stored in the muscles, and only about 5% or so in the brain. But the phosphocreatine system only supplies energy to the body for a few seconds of exercise — it needs to be constantly repleted. So, when you’re lifting weights at the gym [and your arms are tired after] four or five reps, you have to put them down. [But then] after a minute or so, you’re like, ‘OK, I can do that again.’ … That’s your body’s phosphocreatine system replenishing itself,” Dr. Kunces said.
The notion that creatine bulks up the body is a misconception, as is the idea that it can help users shed fat. Rather, according to Emily Hage, MS, RDN, CDN, it “helps enhance performance during exercise.”
New products from supplements brands that primarily cater to women, such as Arrae and Perelel, have recently introduced creatine-based products to the market. According to Grand View Research, the creatine supplements market was valued at $901.2 million in 2023 and is expected to grow by 17.9% per year from 2024 to 2030.
Science suggests that most people consume about one to two grams of creatine a day, but three to five grams is the recommended dosage to see results, Dr. Kunces said. “Because women tend to eat less [of the] meats [that contain creatine] and eat less food, in general — just because of body size — they get less [creatine] than men,” she said.
“Creatine is such an interesting ingredient because it has such a bad rap,” said Victoria Thain Gioia, co-founder of Perelel. Many people say it upsets their stomach or has poor side effects when it comes to digestion, she said, but noted that that’s most likely caused by taking too high a dose. For its latest launch, its Triple-Support Protein ($55), Perelel combined creatine with protein and fiber to cater to its customer base of busy women seeking multifunctional solutions.
The ingredient has also led to some confusion around whether or not it leads to weight gain. But any increase in weight, Dr. Kunces assured, is simply water. “The best way to mitigate some of those side effects is just to take a little bit less — three grams a day instead of five grams a day. … You can still reach muscle saturation by taking a lower dose over time. It will just take a little bit longer,” she said.
When Arrae launched Tone, its Creatine Body Composition Gummies ($49), it heralded the launch with 16 billboards in L.A. that read, “Creatine gummies that bulk tone,” supporting the shift in perception of the ingredient, from one for gym rat dudes to one also appropriate for Pilates Princesses.
Siff Haider, Arrae co-founder, had been familiar with the ingredient because her brother uses it to enhance his weightlifting practice, she said. But when she joined a gym founded by a doctor in Los Angeles, the doctor recommended she add creatine to her routine, as well.
“[While taking creatine] I started to notice I was seeing more definition in my muscles and I was able to recover faster, so I could actually lift harder and harder,” she said. But, she noted, she didn’t like that powders made her drinks taste chalky, and occasionally, she noticed side effects of bloating. So, having founded a supplements brand herself, she got to work, launching a mixed berry-flavored creatine gummy supplement in late January. The formula also contains a branded postbiotic called Slimbiotics to improve the way the product interacts with the gut and ginger root to aid digestion.
“We wanted our messaging to reflect how important it is for women to take [creatine] and [convey] that it’s something they shouldn’t be scared of — that they should be excited to take it because being strong, sculpted, defined and toned … and having pride in our muscles and our strength is really important,” Haider said.
The tides are turning now, though somewhat slowly. According to the BBC, in the early 2000s, just 10% of women engaged in regular strength training. But a 2023 study conducted by the sportswear brand Asics showed the number had grown to 40%.
In New York and Los Angeles, Liftonic and Lift Society have become popular for offering strength training options in the boutique fitness space.
It’s likely, too, that the rise of GLP-1s is correlated with the increased popularity of creatine, as well as plain old protein. Especially when GLP-1s first became more popular, Haider noted, there was immense fear around losing one’s muscle mass. “The facts are that when we lose weight, we lose a percentage of fat and we lose a percentage of muscle mass. So, when we’re losing weight rapidly, of course, we’re going to lose some muscle mass, as well,” she said.
Strength training, Haider noted, is one of our best defenses against lost muscle mass — and, of course, it is aided by creatine.
“The [fear of getting bulky] is so deeply rooted in a lot of women,” Hage said. “There’s still this idea that women have to be small, rather than focusing on strength, but there is definitely a shift happening. … Strength training, preserving bone density, and gaining and maintaining muscle over time are so important for women’s overall health. This is a mainstream concept now, but there is still further to go.”
All that said, improving performance during exercise is not the only benefit of creatine. In fact, recent studies are showing that creatine may play a crucial role in brain health, cognition and possibly even mood regulation. According to Hage, a growing body of evidence indicates that creatine supplementation may enhance working memory and support cognitive function, particularly in populations with lower baseline creatine levels, such as women and older populations. This is for the same reason creatine is beneficial in workouts — it helps produce adenosine triphosphate, which is used as a source of energy for various cellular functions throughout the body. That cellular energy production supports brain functions like cognition and memory. Hage noted that it’s still early days for this research, and more is needed.
Now, creatine is becoming more widely recommended for just about anybody, especially women. “Women naturally have lower muscle stores, and also lower creatine stores endogenously, so it could be beneficial, based on what [the] research is showing, for women to supplement [creatine]. We’re also seeing that aging populations, both men and women, could benefit from supplementing creatine,” Hage said.
Still, she cautioned, “It’s challenging for me to say most people should take anything, because there’s just so much to take into account [about an individual’s health].” She recommended consulting one’s healthcare practitioner before adding a creatine supplement to one’s diet, particularly if a patient has kidney issues, as that could be a contraindication.
Creatine is indeed becoming more popular — so much so that Thorne recently added a supersized tub to its assortment containing 180 scoops ($72), versus 90 ($43). It’s also apparent in the new launches entering the market at nearly the same time.
“For a long time, I was terrified of creatine,” Haider said. “But it’s different now. We really came in at the right time; we joined the conversation at the exact right moment with our products.”
