Creatine Adds a Small Strength Gain to Training After 60
Graded Moderate — an analysis of eleven trials with random assignment; the strength gain is small, and six trials carried a high risk of bias, mainly from missing data.
- Design
- Meta-analysis
- Participants
- 11
- Duration
- —
- Funding
- The authors report no commercial or financial conflicts.
Healthy adults aged 60 and older gained slightly more strength when they took creatine on top of strength training than with training alone.
Older adults who took creatine alongside strength training gained a little more strength than those who trained alone. The extra gain was small, but it showed up clearly in the pooled data. That matters later in life, because low muscle strength is seen as the key sign of possible age-related muscle loss.
The researchers pooled eleven trials. In each one, chance decided who got creatine and who got a dummy supplement. Everyone was 60 or older, about 67 on average, and mostly healthy. Both groups followed the same training program. A common dose was 5 grams a day for 12 to 14 weeks. Neither the dose, the length of training nor sex reliably explained differences between the trials.
For muscle mass and physical performance, no clear difference was detected, and the evidence there is thin. Six of the eleven trials also had a lot of missing measurements. Frail people and those who had already lost muscle were barely included, so the results cannot simply be applied to them.
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors report no commercial or financial conflicts.
Disclaimer: Research summaries are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your health routine.