Creatine Supplementation and Youth Female Athletes

Isabelle Statovci

Aug 4

By Isabelle Statovci | Monthly Blog Contributor, Jenerise | Accredited Practising Dietitian & Clinical and Exercise Scientist

Creatine supplementation has become a routine conversation in adult women's sport, and that conversation is now moving down in age. Parents, coaches, and young athletes themselves are asking whether the same supplement showing up in professional and recreational women's training has a place in adolescent girls' sport. It’s a fair question, and it deserves a straight answer based on actual youth data and not on assumptions recycled from adult research. The honest answer is that the evidence in adult women, while still developing, is considerably further along than the evidence in adolescent girls specifically, and the two should not be treated as interchangeable.

This article looks specifically at what is known, and not known, about creatine in youth female athletes, drawing on the current safety and performance literature. It is written for information purposes and does not constitute a recommendation for supplementation in minors, who should not be considered a scaled-down version of the adult female population when it comes to this evidence base.

A Brief Recap: Why Creatine Is Used in Sport

Creatine supports the rapid regeneration of ATP, the cell's immediate energy currency, and is most relevant to short, repeated, high-intensity efforts, such as sprinting, jumping, and change-of-direction work. This mechanism is well established in adults and underlies most of the ergogenic rationale used across sport. It does not, on its own, tell us how creatine behaves in a still-developing adolescent body, which is a separate question from whether the mechanism exists.

The Athlete Adult Female Literature

For active adult women, creatine offers real performance benefits, but they are specific rather than universal. A 2025 systematic review found that creatine improved 3 of 11 strength and power outcomes, 4 of 17 anaerobic outcomes, and 1 of 5 aerobic outcomes tested against placebo (Tam et al., 2025). Where benefits do appear, they cluster around repeated sprinting, jumping, agility, and change-of-direction work, with the clearest signals in soccer, futsal, and beach volleyball (Atakan et al., 2019; Mielgo-Ayuso et al., 2019; Pereira et al., 2026). This is a useful baseline, but it comes from adult athletes, and the female sport-science literature this baseline is built on is itself thin: women make up a minority of participants across sport-supplement research generally, and very few trials are designed exclusively around female physiology (Smith et al., 2022).

Adolescent-Specific Evidence

Direct evidence in girls and adolescent female athletes is scarce. Existing pediatric and adolescent creatine research is limited in volume, concentrated in a small number of sports (mainly soccer and swimming), and rarely designed with safety as the primary outcome (Jagim & Kerksick, 2021; Metzger et al., 2023). This is not a subtle absence of evidence. It means that most of what gets applied to adolescent girls in practice is extrapolated from adult data, male data, or both, rather than tested directly in this population.

Safety Signal, Not Safety Proof

A recent systematic review focused specifically on adolescent safety identified only five eligible studies and found no consistent short-term signal for renal, hepatic, or cardiometabolic harm, with no serious adverse events attributed to creatine (Rubinchuk et al., 2026). A separate meta-analysis in females more broadly found no increase in total adverse events, gastrointestinal complaints, or renal and hepatic complications (De Guingand et al., 2020). In the most directly relevant real-world cohort, 71 female football players aged 16 and older showed no adverse renal or hepatic effects over a 32-week season, though this study had no placebo control and sits at the older edge of adolescence rather than representing younger girls (Perez Garcia et al., 2025).

These findings are justifiably reassuring as far as they go, but what they show needs to be stated precisely: an absence of detected short-term harm across a small number of studies, not an established long-term safety profile specific to the adolescent female body. Those are different claims, and reviewers in this space are explicit that larger, longer, better-controlled studies are still needed before the second claim can be made (Rubinchuk et al., 2026).

Why the Research Disparity Compounds in This Population

The methodological problems already documented in adult female sport-supplement research (low female representation, inconsistent menstrual-status reporting, poor hormonal categorization) do not disappear when the population shifts younger; they compound (Smith et al., 2022). Adolescence introduces its own hormonal and developmental shifts, layering on top of the menstrual-cycle variability that adult studies already struggle to control. Yet, no adolescent creatine trial to date has been designed to account for these shifting developmental baselines. Current research groups athletes by birthdate rather than pubertal stage. This overlooks biological maturation in the two systems where growth is most active during adolescence: bone and kidney. Adolescence is the period of peak bone mass accrual, and it is also when renal growth and adaptation to increased muscle turnover are still ongoing, yet every adolescent safety study to date reports findings by age in years rather than developmental stage. That means the field cannot yet say whether creatine interacts with the bone-accrual window itself, or whether current renal safety monitoring is even calibrated to a still-maturing kidney. In practice, this means the field currently has more confidence in the absence of short-term harm than in any specific claim about how, or how well, creatine works in a developing adolescent athlete.

What This Means in Practice

For adult women, the current evidence supports a cautious, sport-specific view of creatine's performance benefits alongside a reasonably reassuring safety profile. For adolescent girls, the honest summary is narrower: short-term use appears generally well tolerated in the small number of studies available, but there is not yet a direct, adequately powered evidence base to support specific performance or dosing guidance for this age group. Protocols developed in adult women should not be assumed to transfer directly to a still-developing adolescent body without dedicated study.

Any decision about supplementation in a minor should involve a pediatrician or qualified sports medicine practitioner, both to weigh the current evidence appropriately and to consider it alongside the athlete's individual growth, training load, and nutritional status. This article is intended to inform that conversation, but not to replace it.

The Bottom Line

Creatine in youth female athletes is a case of practice outpacing evidence. The performance rationale used in adult sport is well established, and the short-term safety data available so far in adolescents are reassuring. But “reassuring” is not the same as “proven,” and the field itself acknowledges that adolescent girls remain the least studied group in this literature. Until then, the reality remains clear: creatine shows promise for young female athletes, but the evidence is not yet complete.

We all rise together,

Isabelle

Medical Disclaimer: This article draws on peer-reviewed and systematic-review literature in sports nutrition and pediatric sports medicine. The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Frequently Asked Questions: Creatine and Youth Female Athletes

Is creatine safe for teen girl athletes?
The small number of studies done directly on teen girls have not found serious health problems from short-term creatine use. On top of that, the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) has stated that creatine has a well-supported safety profile, even with long-term use, and that there is no evidence it causes health problems in children and adolescents. That's reassuring, but it's still not the same as having deep, large-scale research done specifically on teenage girls. Scientists say more of that kind of research is needed before they can make firm promises.

Does creatine help teen girls play sports better?
We don't know for sure yet. Most creatine studies have been done on adult women, not teen girls, so scientists can't say for certain that creatine will help a teenage athlete the same way it helps an adult.

Can teen girls just follow the same creatine advice as adult women?
Not necessarily. Teen girls' bodies are still growing and changing, especially their bones and kidneys. Advice made for adult women might not fit teen girls perfectly. Scientists say more studies focused just on teens are needed before clear advice can be given.

Have any major sports nutrition organisations spoken about creatine and age?
Yes. In February 2025, the International Society of Sports Nutrition released a statement saying creatine supplementation is safe and beneficial throughout the lifespan and should not be restricted. They noted that in children and adolescents, creatine supports normal energy metabolism and healthy growth, and that there's no evidence linking it to adverse health effects, eating disorders, or performance-enhancing drug use. This is a strong, reassuring statement from respected researchers, but it's a general position across all ages, not a deep, adolescent-female-specific research program. The article's core point still stands: extensive research aimed specifically at teenage girls is still limited.

What has research found about creatine and kidney or liver health in teens?
A recent review looked specifically at teen safety and did not find signs of kidney, liver, or heart-related harm. However, this review only included five studies, so scientists say it's too early to draw big conclusions from it alone.

Why is there so little research on creatine in teen girls specifically?
Most sports supplement studies focus on adult athletes, and even those don't include very many women. Teen girls are studied even less. Broader safety statements, like the ISSN's, are based on a wide range of ages and populations rather than deep, targeted studies on adolescent female athletes.

Should a teen athlete talk to a doctor before trying creatine?
Yes. Any decision about a young person taking creatine should involve a paediatrician or sports medicine doctor, who can weigh the current evidence and consider the athlete's individual growth, health, and training.

What is the main takeaway about creatine and teen girl athletes?
The overall safety signal is encouraging, both from small adolescent studies and from broader statements like the ISSN's. But encouraging is not the same as proven for this specific group. Extensive, teen-girl-focused research is still limited, so questions about performance and dosing guidelines remain open for now.