Current Evidence and Possible Future Applications of Creatine Supplementation for Older Adults.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review synthesizing existing literature without systematic review methodology
PubMed 33652673 · doi:10.3390/nu13030745
What was done
This narrative review evaluated existing literature on creatine supplementation, administered with or without resistance training, assessing its effects on muscle mass, bone health, fat mass, strength, and physical performance in older adults, while identifying research gaps in clinical populations.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical data, effect sizes, or confidence intervals. It states that creatine supplementation, particularly when paired with resistance training, demonstrates favorable effects on muscle and bone mass, muscle and bone strength, fat mass, and physical performance tasks in healthy older adults. However, empirical studies in older adults diagnosed with sarcopenia or osteoporosis remain very limited, and no studies exist for osteosarcopenia, sarcopenic obesity, physical frailty, or cachexia.
Why it matters
Creatine combined with resistance exercise offers a low-cost nutritional strategy to counteract age-related musculoskeletal decline, though clinical translation to frail populations requires dedicated trials.
Limits
The paper is a non-systematic narrative review and provides no quantitative pooling or systematic risk of bias assessment. The abstract lacks quantitative metrics, and direct evidence in high-risk clinical conditions such as frailty and osteosarcopenia is currently absent.
Cited by
- context High doses of creatine can be administered to frail, older individuals with essentially no side effects.