Should a woman over 60 take creatine?
You can. Dr. Martin says he likes creatine and he does not mind if you take the powder. What he would rather you did is eat it, because creatine is already in steak.
A listener named Joanne asked him exactly this question, in those words: what does he think of people over 60 taking creatine for their brains. He did not talk her out of it.
Dr. Martin on the powder:
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1538You want to take it in a powder and a supplement? I don't care. Go for it. I'd rather eat a steak.
That is the whole answer, and it is worth reading twice. He is not against it. He is saying that if you are going to the trouble of buying a tub of something, he would like you to know that you had some the last time you had a steak.
What creatine actually does
Two things, and he names both of them. Muscle, which is the reason most people have heard of it, and the brain, which is the newer part.
Dr. Martin on the research:
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1538One of them is creatine and there's been a lot of research on creatine and your brain and your muscles. Cognitive creatine, but you can eat it.
The reason you rarely hear him raise it on the show is that he files it under food. In his book Sun, Steak and Steel he writes about the Cs that sit in what he calls vitamin S, and creatine is one of them. He rattles off creatine, carnitine and CoQ10 in the same breath when he talks about a steak.
He made the same point a year later to a woman whose blood work had come back with creatine on it.
Dr. Martin on where it comes from:
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1639Creatine, a lot of people take it as a supplement for muscles. Very good for your brain too. And guess where you get creatine? Steak.
His point there is that creatine is not a laboratory invention. Your body makes some of it, and you top it up out of the animal kingdom. If you eat very little red meat, that is the gap the powder is filling. He covers the same ground on the protein side in is chicken healthier than beef.
A low creatine reading at 68
Kathy wrote in to say she was 68 and her creatine was low. He called her a puppy, then told her what a low reading usually points at.
Dr. Martin on a low result:
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1639If your creatine is low, your muscles are breaking down usually Kathy, and you're young, 68, get strong. Get strong, get stronger.
The word he used for it is sarcopenic. Muscle quietly coming off, the thing that turns a stumble into a broken hip a decade later. His answer to her was not a dose. It was two words, said three times.
That is the part that gets lost when creatine is sold as a menopause fix. He is not saying the powder is useless. He is saying that if your muscle is going, the powder is downstream of the problem, and the thing upstream is the work.
Creatine and osteoporosis
Someone on the same show asked whether a creatine supplement helps with osteoporosis. It is a fair question at 60 plus, and his answer splits neatly in two.
Dr. Martin, asked whether creatine helps osteoporosis:
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1639Indirectly because creatine helps your muscles and muscles help bones, but there's no amount of supplementation that you will take a creatine that will do anything compared to actually getting stronger.
So yes, there is a link, and it runs through muscle. Bone responds to being pulled on. Stronger muscle pulls harder. But he will not let the supplement take the credit for the training.
He is not asking for a gym membership either. In that answer he named tensor bands and weights, and he mentioned his own pushup bars, because he does pushups to stay strong at his age. That is the standard he is holding you to, and he is older than you are.
Creatine is not creatinine
This one costs women red meat every week, so it is worth a minute. Creatine and creatinine are two different things and they get mixed up constantly, including on the report you are handed.
Creatinine is a waste product, and it is the number your doctor looks at for kidney function. Creatine is the one in your muscle and in your steak. He says people see the two words, assume they are the same, and land on the conclusion that meat is hard on the kidneys.
His position is that steak does not push your creatinine up, and that the thing he would take off the plate for kidneys is sugar and refined carbohydrate, not beef. He says he still hears the mix-up every day. That is his read from years of looking at blood work, not a lab's, and it is not a reason to change anything your own doctor has told you.
The one he does separate out
The end of that answer to Joanne is the useful part for a woman over 60, because he draws a line between the nutrient you can simply eat and the one you often cannot.
Dr. Martin on what he would supplement instead:
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1538Sometimes you have to supplement not maybe so much with creatine, but with B12 because there's a lot of factors with B12 and it's a finicky vitamin.
Finicky is doing the work in that sentence. Creatine you eat and absorb. B12 you can eat and still not absorb, because the stomach acid that frees it up thins out as you get older, and a long list of common medications drags the level down further. Eating more steak does not always fix it.
That is the swap he makes in the space of one answer, and it is a good one for a woman deciding what to actually buy. If the steak is on the plate, creatine is handled. B12 is the one that can still be missing. He lays out why in why people are low in B12, and if you are wondering whether all that red meat is a problem on its own, he answers that in is there too much iron in steak.
Common questions
Should women over 60 take creatine?
He says he likes creatine and has no problem with you taking the powder. He would rather you ate it in steak, and he would rather you got your muscles stronger.
Is creatine good for your brain?
He says there has been a lot of research on creatine and both the brain and the muscles, and then makes the point that you can eat it.
Does creatine help osteoporosis?
Indirectly, because creatine helps muscle and muscle helps bone. He says no amount of it compares to actually getting stronger.
What foods have creatine?
Steak. He says creatine is found in the animal kingdom, your body makes some of it, and you get it when you eat animal foods.
Is creatine the same as creatinine?
No. He says people mix the two up constantly. Creatinine is the kidney number on your blood test. Creatine is the one in your muscle and in your steak.
Read next: B12 Deficiency Symptoms In Women Over 60 and Tired All The Time At 60: B12 Or Something Else.
Cover the one you cannot eat your way out of
Creatine comes with the steak. B12 is the one he calls finicky. Martin Clinic's Vitamin B12 is a sublingual methylcobalamin, 4000 mcg in one daily serving, taken under the tongue rather than swallowed.
60-day money-back guarantee. Formulated in clinic. Used in clinic since 1911.These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult your healthcare practitioner before starting a new supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.
