# Why Creatine Is the Most Overlooked Supplement for Women's Health | Dr Stacy Sims

An episode of [Live Well Be Well with Sarah Ann Macklin | Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1508380100), 6 Apr 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/1033d1554/podcast/play/117737004/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-2-31%2F29072a10-1ecf-2209-ca58-d9dda8cd7616.mp3

Most women have heard of creatine — but only as something for gym bros loading up before a workout. What the sports science research actually shows is that creatine monohydrate may be one of the most important supplements for women navigating perimenopause, brain fog, gut issues, and mood changes — and almost no one is talking about it outside of performance circles. This clip breaks down exactly which form to take, how much, why it takes three weeks to work, and what the collagen supplement industry isn't telling you about protein intake and joint health. Dr. Stacy Sims Listen to the full episode here. Watch the full episode on YouTube here. *** This episode is sponsored by: NOWATCH: Health tracking reimaginedKnow your body, trust yourself.15% off with code LWBW15 at nowatch.com Mojo: the app for expert-led courses in better sex.Learn from world-class sex therapists and relationship experts with courses tailored to your needs.15% off with code LiveWell15 at mymojo.com/livewellbewell *** Sign up to Sarah’s Compassionate Cure newsletter: Science Simplified, Health Humanised. Join thousands in exploring actionable insights that prioritise compassion, clarity, and real-life impact. https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/ *** Let’s be friends! 📷 Instagram: / sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe: / @livewellbewellsarah 🐦 Twitter: / sarahannmacklin 📱 TikTok: / sarahannnutrition

## Transcript

[0:02] This is a Beware moment, the most replayed moments from my
[0:05] latest conversation. It's a glimpse into the wider
[0:08] episode, which you can find LinkedIn the show notes below.
[0:12] Because sometimes one small moment is enough to reconnect to
[0:16] living well and being well. I really want to talk about
[0:23] supplementation. Yeah.
[0:24] There's so much we didn't get to talk about last time.
[0:27] I've. I've pulled out a few that I
[0:29] think women, whether you're menopausal, perimenopausal, you
[0:33] can say whether it's more specific in which life phase.
[0:37] But these are the ones that I think women want to know a lot
[0:39] about. South collagen.
[0:40] Yeah. OK.
[0:42] So as from a scientific point of view, I think about collagen,
[0:46] not from a beauty standpoint. Yeah.
[0:47] Right. So that, but I think this is
[0:50] what most women want to know. Does it also have those
[0:52] benefits? But I always look at it from a
[0:54] bone standpoint. Yeah.
[0:55] So talk to me about supplementation.
[0:57] Should women be supplementing with collagen?
[0:59] And if so, why? What are the reasons?
[1:04] That one's a hard one. I have to Chuck in a few hard
[1:07] ones. I know you have.
[1:08] To. OK.
[1:09] So if we look at collagen, there's things that aren't well
[1:13] known. We have collagen peptides.
[1:16] We also have native collagen, which is the whole molecule of
[1:20] the collagen. If we look at collagen peptides,
[1:24] because they're small bits of collagen, they're actually
[1:26] absorbed and can go to target tissue.
[1:28] And we see that there is evidence that if you're using
[1:30] type 2 collagen, which is joint specific and you're using
[1:35] peptides, they can actually go and they can help attenuate the
[1:39] decline of some of the cartilage.
[1:41] So it does help with joints. If we look at using native
[1:45] collagen with that native collagen or the whole collagen
[1:49] molecule is not absorbed, but it causes an immune response.
[1:53] So then you are getting an immune response that's telling
[1:57] the body not to attack the cartilage.
[2:00] So there is evidence to show that if you're looking at type 2
[2:04] collagen specific to joints, that it can help with reducing
[2:09] the degradation of cartilage. It's not going to stop it, but
[2:12] it's going to help reduce it. OK.
[2:14] When we look at the type threes and ones, which is the most
[2:18] common that's out there that doesn't do anything for joints.
[2:22] That's your hair, that's your nails, that's some of the
[2:25] structural stuff around your intestines and organs, but it
[2:29] doesn't help with joints. But when you look at most of the
[2:31] stuff on the on the market and you're seeing things like vital
[2:35] protein, collagen protein, that's not protein that goes to
[2:39] our daily intake of protein because collagen does not count
[2:43] as our daily intake of protein because it's structural.
[2:46] One of the amino acids. Right.
[2:48] Because it's structural and they're always type 1 and 3.
[2:52] So they're like, yeah, you can take this supplement and it
[2:56] really benefits your joints and it accounts for your protein
[2:58] intake. It's like, no, it doesn't.
[3:00] One, it's the wrong kind of collagen, and two, it doesn't
[3:02] count for my protein intake. So do you say don't have
[3:06] collagen? I.
[3:07] Ask you do you don't have it as your protein intake?
[3:09] You don't have it as your protein intake, but if you're
[3:12] someone who has a family history or has a diagnosis of
[3:16] osteoarthritis, then it can be beneficial to use type twos.
[3:20] But you have to be very cognant that you want type 2 peptide and
[3:24] native OK. And it's hard to find, so you
[3:28] have to do your due diligence to find it.
[3:30] Any good brands? No, I can't say that because
[3:33] it's global, right? Every country's a little bit
[3:36] different. OK.
[3:37] And what about, I mean, I know it's not what area, but on the
[3:39] beauty side of things because women are going to want it.
[3:41] I think women buy it for that reason as opposed to the the
[3:44] bone density. And when you're seeing people
[3:47] using collagen, the type ones and threes, then yes, they get
[3:50] strong nails, they get lustrous hair, all those kinds of things.
[3:54] When we look at vegetarian and vegans and they're not getting
[3:58] collagen and you see this vegan collagen walk away because
[4:03] there's no such thing as vegan collagen.
[4:05] There's a collagen booster, which is copper and zinc and
[4:08] vitamin C. You can use that.
[4:10] That's going to help your body's own production, but it's not
[4:12] going to be like ingesting collagen.
[4:15] So the jury's out on collagen, we think, OK, we think, yes,
[4:19] they're very specific on what type.
[4:21] And it's not going towards your protein daily intake, correct,
[4:24] Because it's only one of the amino acids, correct.
[4:26] OK. Magnesium, yes, this is a big
[4:29] one. Yes, there's lots of types of
[4:31] magnesium, yes, this is not talked about at all.
[4:34] So can you give your outtake on magnesium and which one should
[4:38] women be looking at? Yes.
[4:40] So there is some data that shows that magnesium is beneficial for
[4:44] sleep and this is primarily because of our muscle
[4:50] contractions, right? So we want to have a relaxation
[4:52] of everything. So if we have enough magnesium
[4:54] to support brain and muscle, then yes, we can get to sleep.
[4:59] We need one that crosses blood brain barrier to help and this
[5:02] is a bicycanate. There's only one.
[5:04] Yep, isn't there? Yep.
[5:06] So when you're looking at your magnesium supplement, you don't
[5:09] want to go for what is it, oxalate, because that's a
[5:11] laxative. So you have to be very conscious
[5:14] that you want to look for a biglycanate or glycanate.
[5:17] OK, creatine. It's the best thing out there.
[5:21] I knew you'd say that. OK, How should people be looking
[5:24] at creatine and how much should they be taking?
[5:28] Yeah. So your body naturally produces
[5:30] around 2 grams a day. If you have a diet that is meat
[5:34] oriented, then you're also ingesting a lot of creatine that
[5:38] way. Most women don't eat enough to
[5:42] actually provide as much as the body actually goes through.
[5:45] We see there's a change across the menstrual cycle of how your
[5:48] body uses and regulates creatine.
[5:50] So we see that there's a increase in creatine kinase,
[5:54] which is your breakdown in the high hormone phase because
[5:56] again, progesterone is trying to provide all the building blocks.
[5:59] So really having the availability of more creatine
[6:03] helps with that too. If we're looking at
[6:06] supplementing with creatine, we want creatine monohydrate.
[6:10] And I don't get any kind of kickback from this company.
[6:15] But the company that produces Crea Pure, this is a German B to
[6:20] B, meaning business to business. Crea Pure is patented and so it
[6:24] uses a water wash. There's no real side effects
[6:27] from using it. It it's pure and it's in almost
[6:29] every high quality creatine monohydrate product that's out
[6:32] there. So if you're looking at
[6:34] something that has Crea pure on it, you want to start with 1 to
[6:38] 3G and work your way up to 5g over the course of about 3 to 4
[6:43] weeks, and that's going to attenuate any possible side
[6:46] effect. If you're looking at a cheaper
[6:49] version of creatine monohydrate, it comes as an acid wash because
[6:54] it's cheaper to produce it through acid, evaporative and
[7:00] other things in the lab than it is to use a water wash, which is
[7:03] really specific. And This is why we start to see
[7:05] a lot of bloating and stomach discomfort and some of the other
[7:08] side effects that we see. So again, being consumer, be
[7:11] aware. Be aware and a lot of people
[7:14] talk about creatine with DOMS, Yeah.
[7:16] Should people be having it a specific time after they
[7:19] exercise? Where should we be consuming it
[7:22] now? No, because it doesn't have an
[7:24] acute effect. It takes about 3 weeks for the
[7:26] body to be saturated, so you need.
[7:29] To that's why. Yes, yes.
[7:32] And once it's saturated and has enough, that's when you start to
[7:35] see the performance effects. We see that over the course of
[7:39] three to four weeks of consistently using 3 to 5 grams
[7:42] every day, you get that full saturation.
[7:45] Muscle works better, brain works better, guts better, because
[7:48] anything that has a fast energetic requires creatine.
[7:52] So we see that, you know, the brain fog starts to be
[7:55] attenuated with creatine use. We start to see gut issues with
[8:00] women who I go for a run, I had to find a bathroom every time I
[8:03] go for a run using the three to 5G over the course of a month.
[8:07] Then that starts to dissipate as well because it maintains the
[8:10] gut integrity of the intestinal cells.
[8:13] So you don't have as much of that separation because now you
[8:16] have creatine that's going to work in those energetics to hold
[8:19] it together. And then also we see from mood
[8:23] and mood health, creatine is really beneficial for that too.
[8:27] So actually most women are perimenopausal.
[8:29] They're all women. But I'm just really thinking
[8:32] about the things, side effects that we were talking about or,
[8:35] you know, the physical sides that we might see in oneself
[8:37] when we're perimenopausal. This could be an amazing
[8:40] supplement. Absolutely, Absolutely.
[8:42] Gosh, it's interesting how it's not spoken about more.
[8:44] It's very much spoken in the sports domain, I think, but just
[8:47] general health for women, it's just not spoken about.
[8:49] Yeah, so Korea, Vitalis and Creatine for Life, Creatine for
[8:54] life website has all the stuff that creatine does for health.
[8:59] And there are a lot of my colleagues in the sports science
[9:02] and supplement world that also are doing research on creatine
[9:06] for health. And so all the peer reviewed
[9:08] studies that you can find are on Creatine for Health website.
[9:12] Creativitalis is a offshoot of Creature that is designed
[9:16] specifically for health and not bodybuilding.
[9:19] So it's a lower dose and it's a very high quality protein or
[9:22] high quality creatine supplementation.
[9:25] So there's definitely stuff that's coming out and it's a
[9:28] push to get into the health space for both men and women.
[9:32] But yeah, it's slow coming, Omega. 3.
[9:35] It's hit or miss, right? I as a vegetarian.
[9:42] Is that the last time you said that?
[9:43] No, I think it's no, but yeah, I know.
[9:46] I think it's. No, give me something, sorry.
[9:52] I use it right but specific that it's vegetarian.
[9:56] But do you? Take an algae supplement.
[9:57] Yeah, OK. Yeah.
[9:59] And I find it, it's very helpful, but for the general
[10:04] purposes it, the information out there from scientific research,
[10:09] it's, it's neither here nor there.
[10:12] If you're a vegetarian vegan, then yes, there's efficacy for
[10:16] it. If you're not, there's not so
[10:18] much, unless it's specific for you as an individual and you've
[10:23] had tests to show that you're low in it and you need it.
[10:26] It's interesting that all the studies that I've read on the
[10:28] omega-3 area, the ones that had AP positive value was actually
[10:34] from the people that ate the fish.
[10:35] Yeah, not from the supplements. So it's that's why it's really
[10:39] nuanced because when you look at it, when you talk about Omega,
[10:41] there is a supplement. All the benefits that I see is
[10:44] when people actually eat the oily fish, whereas the
[10:47] supplementation part is very, very vague.
[10:49] Right and this comes with most supplements because when you
[10:51] look at taking a supplement. How is it absorbed right?
[10:56] And what are the cofactors in food that allow things to be
[10:59] absorbed and used that's not in a pill?
[11:02] Yeah. So This is why we're like, be
[11:04] very careful with supplementation.
[11:07] Try to get it from food. Creatine can be an exception
[11:10] because in order to get 3 to 5 grams, you're looking at 20
[11:14] chicken breasts a day. Yeah, and if you're vegetarian,
[11:16] you don't. Get it?
[11:17] You don't get it. OK.
[11:18] Vitamin D, this is one that we have to supplement with because
[11:22] we can't get enough from the sun.
[11:24] If you, well, I mean, maybe you can if you live in LA where
[11:27] we're recording this. But not really, because we're in
[11:31] the Society of wearing hats and sunscreen.
[11:32] That's true, yeah. Yeah, OK.
[11:35] Yeah. So it is something, especially
[11:37] in winter and for us coming from the very different parts of the
[11:42] world where the light is very changeable, it's very important
[11:46] to supplement. Yeah.
[11:47] So vitamin D is a big one. I always say take it in the
[11:49] morning because it's a hormone. Yes.
[11:52] And probiotics. What?
[11:54] Because you spoke about gut health for them.
[11:55] OK, so what's your outtake on probiotics?
[11:58] I'm not a fan of taking them food.
[12:04] Definitely fermented food. Best way?
[12:07] And yoghurt. Yeah, exactly.
[12:09] And the reason why I say that is because we look at the
[12:11] probiotics that are on the shelf, They come from maybe two
[12:13] or three different companies and they're all the same strain.
[12:17] So the same as we have this antibiotic fear, right?
[12:22] Where antibiotics aren't working because there's an overexposure
[12:25] to them, We see these probiotics that are over the counter, all
[12:28] the same strain coming from three different companies.
[12:30] It's going to create even more problems than not having them,
[12:35] right? So I'm like fermented foods for
[12:37] your probiotics, lots of fibery foods for your prebiotics.
[12:41] You're not using supplements for either one.
[12:43] I say it because there's a lot of companies now talking about
[12:46] probiotics for menopause. Yes, I know, I know.
[12:50] And it's like start earlier, start with increasing the amount
[12:55] of fiber that's in your diet and increasing fermented foods that
[12:59] are in your diet, especially if you're perimenopause because
[13:03] it's the three to four years before that one point in time.
[13:06] Menopause, we have the greatest amount of change in our gut
[13:09] microbiome diversity because that's when you have this really
[13:12] significant change in hormone production.
[13:15] So this is where people really go.
[13:17] I, I don't feel like myself and once they get through menopause
[13:23] and things have settled down, they start to rebuild gut
[13:26] microbiome and they start to get a handle on energy levels and
[13:30] brain clears that they are like, oh, I'm out the other side, but
[13:33] we can do something about that. We can start, especially if
[13:37] we're taking care of our gut. Thank you for listening to the
[13:42] Speedwell moment if it resonated, the full conversation
[13:45] is LinkedIn, the show notes and I hope it gave you a small pause
[13:49] to take a moment for you and to reconnect to living well and
[13:53] being well. If you loved it, please do leave
[13:55] a review, follow the show or share this maybe with someone
[13:59] you love.

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