Should You Take Creatine in Perimenopause? What the 2025 Research Actually Shows

If you are already doing strength training in perimenopause and eating enough protein, yes, creatine is worth a second look. 2 studies published in 2025 found real, measurable results: better lower-body strength, better sleep, faster reaction time, and a rise in brain creatine levels, from a supplement that costs about 10 pence a day.

That is not the same as saying creatine is a miracle. Both trials were small, and neither one found a way to skip the training itself. But if the training is already happening, the research now gives a genuine reason to add creatine on top of it, and a clear picture of what it can and cannot do.

Key takeaways

• A 14-week trial published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition gave 15 women (mean age 54) 5g of creatine monohydrate a day alongside 2 strength sessions a week. Lower-body strength went up. So did sleep quality, most visibly in the perimenopausal women in the group.
• The CONCRET-MENOPA trial, a randomised, placebo-controlled study of 36 women aged 40 to 60, found that 8 weeks of low-dose creatine improved reaction time, alertness and processing speed, and raised creatine levels in the frontal brain by more than 16%.
• Women taking a medium dose reported less fatigue and fewer concentration problems. Another group reported a drop in anxiety and improved cholesterol markers.
• Nobody gained body fat in either trial. The early rise some women see on the scale in the first 2 to 3 weeks is water moving into the muscle cells, not body fat.
• The standard dose in both trials, and in most of the wider creatine research, is 3 to 5g of creatine monohydrate a day. No loading phase needed.

Why perimenopause changes what your muscles and brain are asking for

Oestrogen does more than manage your cycle. It also helps regulate blood flow to the brain, how efficiently your cells burn fuel, and how well your muscle recovers after you train it. When oestrogen starts to fall in your 40s, all 3 of those systems come under more strain at the same time. That is part of why perimenopause can feel like your body is asking for more just to do what it always did: lift the same weight on the bar, sleep through the night, hold a thought in your head for longer than 10 seconds.

Creatine sits inside that gap. About 95% of the creatine in your body lives in skeletal muscle, where it gets converted into phosphocreatine, a fast-charging backup battery for the energy your muscles burn through in short, hard efforts: a heavy set of squats, a sprint for the bus, standing up quickly off the floor. The rest sits in your brain, liver and kidneys, doing a similar job for cells that also run on quick bursts of energy rather than a slow, steady drip.

I am 55. I have trained through my own perimenopause and out the other side, and I know what it is to do the exact session I have always done and feel like the recovery cost more than it used to. That is not a discipline problem. It is a supply problem. Creatine will not solve it on its own, but the newest research says it can help close some of the gap.

What the 2025 studies actually found

2 separate trials published in 2025 looked directly at creatine in perimenopausal and menopausal women. Neither is the final word (both were small, and one had no placebo group), but they are the first real data this specific age group has had.

The 14-week strength and sleep trial. Published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition in mid-2025, this trial followed 15 women with a mean age of 54, 5 perimenopausal and 10 postmenopausal. Each took 5g of creatine monohydrate daily and trained twice a week for 14 weeks. The result was a significant increase in lower-body strength, measurable improvements in body composition, and better sleep quality, an improvement that was most visible in the perimenopausal women. There was no placebo group, and 15 women is a small sample, so the findings need repeating in a larger trial before anyone treats them as settled. But the direction of the result lines up with decades of creatine research in other groups.

The CONCRET-MENOPA brain trial. This one, published in the Journal of the American Nutrition Association and led by researchers including Sergej M. Ostojic, was a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, the higher standard of evidence. 36 healthy women aged 40 to 60 were split into 4 groups: a low dose of creatine hydrochloride (750mg a day), a medium dose (1,500mg a day), a combination formula (800mg a day), and a placebo. After 8 weeks, the medium-dose group showed a significant improvement in reaction time, along with less fatigue and fewer concentration problems. The low-dose group improved on alertness, executive control and processing speed. The combination group reported better alertness, faster reaction time, and a significant drop in anxiety. A subset of 16 women also had brain imaging, and every creatine group showed a real rise in brain creatine levels, concentrated in the frontal regions tied to mood, memory and concentration. The placebo group's brain creatine actually dropped slightly over the same 8 weeks. Nobody gained body fat. Blood tests showed no change in hormone levels, and one group saw an improvement in LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.

Both trials are honest about their own limits, and so is the wider research. A 2025 review titled "Creatine in women's health: bridging the gap from menstruation through pregnancy to menopause" pointed out that the standard 5g a day dose most of us have heard about was built almost entirely on trials in men, and called for dedicated dosing research in women at every life stage, including perimenopause. That is a fair and honest gap. It does not undo what the 2 trials above found. It just means the dose that works best specifically for a 47-year-old woman rather than a 22-year-old man is still being worked out.

What the research doesn't tell us yet

Small numbers, short duration, and (in one trial) no placebo arm all mean this evidence is a strong early signal, not a settled fact. Neither trial ran past 14 weeks, so nobody yet knows what creatine does for a perimenopausal woman over a year or more. Neither trial separated perimenopausal from postmenopausal results cleanly enough to say whether one group benefits more than the other. And both trials were done on healthy women without major health conditions, so the results do not automatically apply to women managing kidney disease, liver disease, or other conditions that change how the body processes supplements.

None of that is a reason to dismiss the research. It is a reason to hold it the way Jane holds most fitness claims: real, promising, worth trying if it fits you, and not yet the final word.

How to actually use it, if you decide to

If you are already doing resistance training twice a week, in line with NHS guidance for adults, 3 to 5g of creatine monohydrate a day is the dose used in almost every trial, including both of the ones above. You do not need a loading phase. A steady daily dose reaches full saturation in your muscles within 3 to 4 weeks. Take it any time of day, with or without food.

Expect a small, early rise on the scale in the first 2 to 3 weeks for some women. That is water moving into your muscle cells, not body fat, and it settles once your muscles are saturated.

Women who eat little or no red meat and fish tend to start with lower creatine stores, since dietary creatine comes mainly from those foods, so vegetarians and vegans often notice a bigger response to supplementing.

One practical note if you are due a blood test: creatine can make your kidney function marker (eGFR) read slightly lower than it actually is, because of how creatine gets processed into creatinine. Tell whoever is doing your blood test that you take it, or stop for a week beforehand so the reading settles. If you have kidney disease or take long-term anti-inflammatory medication, talk to your GP before starting. If you want a menopause-informed second opinion on any of this, the British Menopause Society keeps a directory of accredited specialists.

What creatine will not do: it will not replace HRT, it will not directly reduce body fat, and it will not do anything useful for you if the training and the protein are not already in place underneath it.

What this actually means for how you train

None of this changes the order of what works. Strength training first. Enough protein next. Sleep and stress under that. Creatine sits on top of all 3, a small, cheap addition, not a substitute for any of them.

That is the whole idea behind the Compound Method, the small, repeatable daily choices that add up over 12 weeks, rather than a dramatic overhaul that burns out by week 3. Creatine is exactly the kind of small yes that fits inside that plan: cheap, well studied, and only worth adding once the bigger pieces are already doing their job.

Frequently asked questions

Is creatine safe for women in perimenopause?
At the standard dose of 3 to 5g of creatine monohydrate a day, yes, for healthy adults. Safety data goes back more than 30 years across sports and clinical research, including studies following people for 5 years or more with no damage to kidney or liver function in people whose organs were healthy to start with. Anyone with kidney disease, or taking long-term anti-inflammatory medication, should check with a GP first.

Will creatine make me gain body fat?
No. The early rise some women see on the scale in the first 2 to 3 weeks is water drawn into the muscle cells, not body fat. Neither 2025 trial found an increase in body fat in any group taking creatine.

Do I need to do a loading phase?
No. A loading phase (around 20g a day for a week) is used by athletes who want faster saturation. For most goals in perimenopause, a steady 3 to 5g a day gets you to full muscle saturation within 3 to 4 weeks, with fewer side effects like bloating.

Does creatine replace HRT or fix perimenopause symptoms on its own?
No. Creatine did not change hormone levels in either 2025 trial. It supports muscle and brain energy metabolism, a different mechanism to hormone replacement. Think of it as something that sits alongside your training and, if you use it, your HRT, not something that replaces either one.

Does Body Reclaim cover this kind of thing?
Yes. Inside Body Reclaim, we build the order that actually works for perimenopausal women: strength training first, protein and recovery next, with practical, evidence-based additions like this one layered in only once the foundation is doing its job. Join the waitlist to be notified when the next intake opens.

Creatine is not new. What is new is that, for the first time, researchers have actually studied it in the age group asking the most questions about it. The results so far are small but real: better strength, better sleep, faster thinking, and a brain that holds onto more of its own energy currency. None of it works without the training underneath it. But if the training is already there, this is a cheap, well-evidenced yes to add on top.

I am 55, and I take creatine alongside my own training for exactly these reasons: not because it is trending, but because the 2025 data on women my own age finally exists, and it says something worth listening to. Join the waitlist to be notified when the next Body Reclaim enrolment opens.

About Jane Cox
Jane Cox is the founder of Body Reclaim, a strength and body composition programme for women in perimenopause and menopause. She is 55, has trained through her own perimenopause, and built the Compound Method™ around what actually works when the noise is stripped out.