Creatine Maintenance Across Lifespan: What a New Review Tells Us About Baseline Stores in Older Adults

Aging, Adequacy, and the Maintenance Baseline

A new narrative review by Candow et al. examines creatine monohydrate supplementation in older adults, particularly when paired with exercise. The findings reinforce what we've long emphasized: meeting baseline creatine needs matters across lifespan, not just for athletes. The authors note improvements in muscle mass, strength, bone health, and cognitive function—outcomes that speak to preserving what's already there, rather than unlocking superhuman capacity. This is adequacy work, not transformation.

For CREOGUM, the relevance is narrow but important. Our 525mg daily dose is designed to meet the newly published maintenance recommendations—the amount that stops a slow drain of stored creatine, especially for those who eat little to no meat. This review doesn't suggest our dose will build muscle or sharpen cognition. What it does suggest is that maintaining baseline stores across aging populations has measurable protective effects when combined with appropriate lifestyle habits.

As a narrative review, this synthesis draws on existing literature rather than presenting new experimental data. The authors highlight that benefits are most pronounced when creatine is paired with resistance training, and that safety profiles remain strong even in older populations. We take this as confirmation of the adequacy thesis: meeting baseline isn't about feeling a sudden shift. It's about not falling behind a threshold you didn't know you were approaching, decade by decade, meal by meal.