Best Creatine For Women 2024: Top 5 Supplements Reviews

Dietary supplements exist in all shapes and forms, with some refilling your micronutrient deficiencies and others aiding in muscle building and weight loss. Creatine supplements are extremely popular nowadays, and what was once thought to be an ingredient only men use to build muscle is now getting a spike in interest among women. 

5 Best Creatine For Women In 2024

What Is Creatine?

Creatine is an organic compound that naturally exists in your body and acts as an energy source^[6] for your muscles. That’s why it’s an amazing supplement for those trying to build muscle, as it helps to maintain a continuous supply of energy to hard-working muscles. 

It’s naturally occurring in animal products, so those with a carnivorous diet generally do not need extra creatine. Vegans, vegetarians, and those with a predominantly plant-based diet have a lower intake and sometimes need creatine supplementation. 

Creatine exists in a few different forms, but research suggests that creatine monohydrate is the most effective^[7]. It allows your muscles to produce more energy during physical exercise by helping increase muscle creatine and concentrations of phosphocreatine.

How To Choose A Creatine Supplement?

When choosing a creatine supplement, you should always consider the following:

• Potency and purity – when a brand has its products third-party tested, that is usually a great sign of their high quality, potency, and purity. It also makes their higher price point a bit easier to take since you know you’re at least getting good value for your money. 
• Form of creatine – unless you’re taking the Crazy Nutrition Ultimate CRN-5 Intensive Creatine Compound that has a formula of five different forms of creatine, make sure the brand you’re using has creatine monohydrate instead of creatine ethyl ester or creatine hydrochloride (HCL) as it’s proven to be the most effective form^[8] for muscle building, improving performance, and increasing recovery.
• A power-packed formula – if you’re interested in more than just pure creatine monohydrate, choose a brand with a formula that enhances creatine’s performance even more and adds additional ingredients that can help with your endurance, muscle health, strength, and athletic performance, as well as your overall fitness.
• Product form – you can choose a powder or capsules, depending on your preference. Keep in mind that creatine supplements in capsules or pills usually require you to take multiple pills a day, so if you’re not a fan of swallowing pills, you might be better off with a powder. 
• Other creatine supplements – sometimes, you’ll see other supplements that contain creatine, and it’s only due to the serving size that you decide whether or not you’re still going to get the pure creatine monohydrate to reach your daily goals

How To Take Creatine Supplements?

Most of the creatine supplements on the market come in powder form, but some brands offer pills or capsules. In any case, first-time users are usually recommended to start with the so-called loading phase, which leads to a quick increase^[9] in muscle stores of creatine. This usually means taking 20 grams per day for about a week, split into four five-gram servings throughout the day. Take them with water or any other clear liquid. 

You can take it pre-workout or post-workout, and you’re not required to take it with meals, but there is some evidence that proves how taking creatine with a protein, or carb-based meal may increase its absorption due to insulin release^[10]. However, you don’t have to participate in creatine loading and may choose to go for a slower, gradual uptake of creatine. In this case, you should be taking around 3-5 grams per day which equates to one scoop for most products.

Benefits Of Creatine For Women

There are plenty of benefits of creatine supplementation for women, with the most important being^[11]:

• Improving exercise performance
• Promoting better and quicker recovery
• Increasing muscle mass and strength
• Increasing fat-free muscle mass during exercise
• Improving anaerobic capacity

Side Effects Of Taking Creatine

Even though it’s one of the most popular dietary supplements out there, some women stay away from taking creatine for fear they might gain weight, cause dehydration, cramping, and digestive problems, as well as potentially harm their liver and kidneys. 

The International Society of Sports Nutrition deems creatine monohydrate to be safe for consumption due to plenty of research^[12] that proves so. Many people connect specific side effects to creatine supplementation when in fact, it could be a combination of a myriad of things. Those looking to build muscle and improve their performance during intense gym sessions usually take more than just creatine, and these ingredients might be the culprit of their side effects. 

A study that examined creatine’s potential to cause dehydration during exercise in hot weather showed no adverse effects^[13] when compared to placebo, and another study^[14] conducted in patients undergoing hemodialysis noted that creatine reduced muscle cramping incidents by 60%. So if anything, it seems that creatine prevents dehydration and muscle cramping, and not the other way around. 

When it comes to weight gain claims, these are true^[15] because with muscle-building comes a bit of water retention. Creatine may cause you to store more water in your muscles which may make your scale go up, especially in the first few weeks of use. It is extremely important to note that the weight gain isn’t due to fat gain^[16] but only water retention. 

And to tackle the kidney and liver claims, to this date, there is no evidence^[17] that proves creatine supplementation damages the kidneys or the liver. 

The Bottom Line

Creatine supplements for women are an incredible way of helping you increase your muscle mass and athletic performance, improve muscle recovery, prevent lean muscle loss, and enhance your focus while you’re exercising. 

By no means do you have to use a creatine supplement, but if you’re working hard in the gym and noticing barely any results, you might try out one of these great, high-quality brands and see if they’ll give you the energy boost you need to increase your muscle strength, improve your recovery, and become an overall better athlete. 

Frequently Asked Questions

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