No longer reserved solely for men at the gym, muscle health is increasingly recognized as a central pillar of healthy aging. The expanding popularity of ingredients like protein and creatine, alongside awareness of age-related muscle loss, has helped push muscle maintenance and mobility into the broader conversation around longevity and quality of life.

The nutraceutical industry is responding with a pipeline of ingredients and formulations designed to support muscle function, recovery, and mobility across the lifespan — not just for athletes, but for everyday consumers looking to stay active and resilient as they age.

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Hallmarks of Healthy Aging

Raza Bashir, chief innovation officer at Iovate Health Sciences International, said that muscle is foundational to overall health and longevity. “It powers our bodies, keeps us upright, and helps us perform. In many ways, it is one of the best indicators we have of biological age,” he said.

The conversation around muscle health isn’t just about aesthetics or athletic performance, he added. “Muscle is increasingly recognized as a cornerstone of long-term health, mobility, and healthy aging, and that shift is going to shape the future of this category.”

Muscle also plays an important role in supporting bone density and helping reduce fracture risk, Bashir said, “which becomes especially important for people dealing with osteopenia or osteoporosis as they age. The muscle-bone connection is incredibly important but often underappreciated. The encouraging part is that muscle is one of the tissues we can influence the most through lifestyle, resistance training, nutrition, sleep, and recovery.”

Shawn Baier, senior director, global ingredient science, TSI Group, noted that skeletal muscle isn’t just for strength. “It’s a metabolic organ that drives mobility, glucose regulation, and resilience across the lifespan. As people age, the progressive loss of muscle mass, strength, and power becomes more than a quality‑of‑life issue; it’s a major predictor of long‑term health outcomes.”

Strength and power, in particular, have emerged as some of the strongest indicators of healthy aging, he added. “They closely correlate with mobility, independence, and fall risk — three factors that significantly influence whether an individual can maintain autonomy as they grow older. Research also links low muscle strength to higher all‑cause mortality. This demonstrates that muscle function is not only about performance, but also survival.”

As age‑related muscle loss becomes more prevalent globally, muscle health is shifting from a “fitness” topic to a critical public‑health priority, noted Baier.

Healthy muscles are the foundation of physical ability and play a critical role in movement, long-term health, and quality of life, said Jordan Miller, vice president of marketing at Everwell Health. “Strong muscles power how we live, work, and thrive — driving daily activities and performance, supporting metabolism, promoting energy and vitality, and preserving strength and mobility across the lifespan.”

However, sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass, strength, and function, is a serious public health issue that increases the risk of falls in older people. Scientists have estimated that muscle mass decreases approximately 3-8% per decade after the age of 30, and this rate of decline is even higher after the age of 60.

“Maintaining a healthy body composition with lean muscle mass supports long-term vitality, allowing people to stay active and continue doing the things they love throughout all stages of life,” said Miller.

Growing and strengthening muscle can also promote stability and mobility to help reduce the risk of injury and disability.

Gaining More Followers

Muscle health isn’t just a sports nutrition conversation anymore, Bashir said. “Today we’re seeing strong interest from active aging populations, women in midlife and menopause, and everyday consumers who are thinking more proactively about strength, mobility, and healthy aging.”

For women in particular, declining estrogen during menopause can accelerate muscle loss, he noted, making resistance training, protein intake, and targeted supplementation even more important.

“At the same time, more people are recognizing that muscle is about much more than aesthetics. When you preserve muscle, you’re able to perform better, reinforcing strength, mobility, and healthy aging. That’s why ingredients traditionally associated with sports performance, such as creatine, essential amino acids, and HMB are now being studied and used across much broader populations.”

Baier noted three groups in particular who are seeking out muscle-health products: adults 50+ who want to stay mobile and independent, women experiencing accelerated muscle loss during midlife and menopause, and GLP‑1 users who are losing muscle at younger ages.

Older adults are looking for “clinically validated, easy‑to‑use solutions to counter age‑related declines in muscle mass and function,” he said.

For women, hormonal shifts of menopause can accelerate muscle decline. As a result, women are now seeking products that support strength, metabolic health, and day‑to‑day energy. “Muscle health has become a core pillar of the broader women’s health conversation,” Baier said.

Meanwhile, as GLP‑1 receptor agonist drugs become mainstream, many users in midlife are experiencing unintended muscle loss alongside weight reduction. “This has created a new, fast‑growing demand for muscle‑support ingredients that protect strength and function during weight‑management interventions,” Baier said. “Together, these groups are turning muscle health into a universal wellness category. This shift in consumer expectations is opening the door for more targeted, clinically grounded formulations.”

According to proprietary consumer research from Everwell Health, 50% of U.S. adults say muscle health is a concern when it comes to healthy aging, Miller noted.

“Our research found that 69% of consumers said mobility and muscle health will be a greater need in 2030, yet many reported difficulty finding supplements that address this need. In addition, many supplements for mobility focus on the top two benefits of joint comfort and flexibility, but it is also important to note the interest in muscle health and muscle loss. This presents a clear opportunity for brands to focus on targeted solutions for muscle health.”

Everyday active consumers are another a growing demographic, Miller said. “Consumers with wellness-driven lifestyles such as joggers, yoga practitioners, and recreational gym-goers want better-for-you products that support their wellness goals and allow them to perform better in the activities they enjoy. They are also looking for muscle-supporting products that not only promote muscle growth but support recovery and long-term health.”

Each consumer group has distinct needs and preferences, Miller added, and the market is responding accordingly. “We are seeing innovation of protein products to various user-friendly formats beyond traditional powders. Functional foods, ready-to-drink beverages, and protein bars give consumers a broad range of convenient and attractive options.”

Creatine

Creatine is one of the most researched dietary supplements on the market today, and sales have soared in recent years. Grand View Research valued the global creatine market at $1.37 billion in 2025 and projected it will grow to $8.68 billion by 2033.

“Creatine is going to have another very strong year this year. It’s been a top-trending functional ingredient for the past 4-5 years,” and all indicators suggest growth will continue, said Scott Dicker, market insights leader at SPINS.

Creatine stands out as one of the active nutrition category’s most notable success stories, and Dicker expects momentum to continue. Historically associated with male gym-goers seeking muscle gains, creatine is now reaching a broader audience, including women. New delivery formats such as gummies and beverages are emerging, and additional indications like cognitive health are offering new directions for brands.

Creatine has successfully bridged fitness and nutrition into broader categories of health-span, longevity, and general wellness, according to Dave Slagle, managing director of the newly established International Creatine Organization & Network (ICON), an independent, member-led 501(c)(6) global alliance that is advocating for global purity standards and regulatory oversight.

For example, this year, Cymbiotika, a wellness company with a significant focus on women’s health, launched Advanced Liposomal Creatine, which contains 5 grams of CreaBev creatine monohydrate in a tangerine-vanilla flavor liquid packaged in ready-to-use packets. The product is formulated to support performance during high-intensity exercise, assist muscle recovery, promote natural energy production, and maintain cognitive function, including focus and clarity, according to the company.

As competition intensifies within the creatine market, brands are exploring new ways to differentiate. Dicker pointed to premium positioning strategies, including sourcing claims and certification labels, as well as formulation innovations. Common ingredient pairings, such as creatine with protein, collagen, colostrum, or HMB, are becoming more common, while alternative forms could re-emerge as companies look for new ways to stand out in a crowded marketplace. 

Despite a solid scientific foundation, most consumers, brands, and retailers do not understand what Slagle called the “creatine purity gap.”

“In technical and regulatory contexts, USP Grade and ‘Pharmaceutical Grade’ are essentially synonymous, signifying that a material meets the rigorous identity, strength, and purity standards of the United States Pharmacopeia. However, while the official USP monograph sets the ‘floor’ for compliance at an assay range of Not Less Than 98.0% and the ceiling at Not More Than 102.0%, the majority of the 50,000-ton global creatine supply just meets the 98% minimum.”

While that may be legally compliant, it leaves a 2% window for synthetic byproducts and impurities like dihydrotriazine (DHT) and dicyandiamide (DCD), he added. “Consequently, there is a critical shortage of independent, third-party per-batch verified 99.5%+ material available at a sustainable cost to CDMOs to meet the explosive demand from brands in the growing creatine CPG categories.”

ICON has partnered with SGS, a testing, inspection, and certification company, to establish the 99.5% “ICON Standard,” ensuring that creatine “purity” is an independent, third-party verified fact, not a marketing claim.

“The United States is the world’s largest consumer of creatine monohydrate, with an annual demand now reaching approximately 4 million kilograms,” Slagle noted. “Between 2024 and 2025, trade audits revealed that over 1,400 major shipments originated from China, while fewer than 100 came from European hubs (based on the latest U.S. International Trade Commission and Department of Commerce data). This 85-90% dependency is driven by lower production costs, but it has created a near-monopoly where the average imported creatine purity is just 98%.”

While efforts are underway to ensure the purity and quality of creatine amid high consumer interest, the science supporting its benefits remains solid.

Creatine is one of the most researched and effective supplements for muscle health, second only to protein, said Baier. “Decades of data show that creatine increases muscle creatine and phosphocreatine stores by about 10-40%, which helps regenerate ATP during high‑intensity, short‑duration efforts.”

Approximately 95% of the body’s creatine stores are found in skeletal muscle, where it plays a key role in muscular contraction and cellular energy production, noted David Brady, ND, chief medical officer at Designs for Health. “Research consistently demonstrates that creatine supplementation increases muscle creatine concentrations, enhances anaerobic exercise performance, and supports increases in lean body mass during training. These effects have been demonstrated in both trained and untrained individuals.”

Creatine is highly concentrated in type II fast-twitch muscle fibers, the explosive fibers responsible for strength and power, noted Bashir. “Unfortunately, these are the same fibers that tend to decline as we age, beginning in our 40s. That’s why creatine is now being studied more broadly for its role in preserving strength, muscle quality, and functional performance in aging populations.”

Science substantiates that creatine improves metabolic health for people of all ages, said Slagle. “It is a critical energy buffer for the brain and the metabolism. An analysis of NHANES data published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism found a statistically significant inverse association between dietary creatine intake and all-cause mortality. Studies now show that creatine can mitigate the effects of declining estrogen during perimenopause and menopause, supporting bone density, mood, and even sleep quality by stabilizing brain energy during hormonal shifts.”

More recently, creatine has been investigated for its potential role in aging populations, Brady noted. “Meta-analysis data show that creatine supplementation in older adults, particularly when combined with resistance training, significantly increases lean body mass and improves upper and lower body muscle strength.”

Women are another reason creatine is gaining attention, said Bashir. “Historically underrepresented in research and marketing, women often have lower baseline creatine stores due to lower muscle mass and typically lower dietary intake from red meat and seafood. Emerging research suggests creatine may support strength and muscle preservation during aging, making it increasingly relevant for women across different training goals and life stages.”

Research & Formulation

Nutritional strategies that support muscle protein synthesis and help reduce muscle breakdown are an important area of research, noted Brady. “Several nutrients, including leucine, β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate (HMB), creatine, and vitamin D, have been studied for their potential roles in supporting lean body mass, muscle strength, and physical function in aging populations. Together with physical activity, these nutritional interventions may help support muscle tissue preservation and overall physical performance across the lifespan.”

Research is also exploring how combinations of nutrients may influence muscle health. For example, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial funded by the National Institutes of Health demonstrated that supplementation with HMB and vitamin D improved muscle strength, functionality, and body composition in older adults over a 12-month period.

According to Bashir, science around muscle metabolism is becoming more precise. “We now understand much more about the role of specific amino acids like leucine in triggering muscle protein synthesis. That’s one reason whey protein remains so relevant; it’s naturally rich in leucine and can help overcome some of the anabolic resistance that occurs with aging, particularly when consumed around exercise.”

There’s also growing interest in essential amino acids because they can be absorbed and appear in the bloodstream more quickly than whole protein. “That makes them particularly useful in situations where digestion, aging, or convenience are considerations,” said Bashir.

Another emerging area is bioactive peptide research. Peptides can act as signaling molecules that influence muscle growth and recovery, representing a new frontier for precision nutrition strategies.

“For example,” Bashir said, “we’ve been exploring bioactive peptides such as our Muscle Peptide 185, designed to activate your body’s master signal for muscle growth. In collaboration with researchers at the Iovate/MuscleTech Metabolism and Sport Science Lab at the University of Toronto, we examined how this leucine dipeptide works in combination with essential amino acids. Early findings suggest that pairing targeted peptides with EAAs could amplify muscle protein synthesis and enhance anabolic signaling.”

Age‑related muscle decline remains a major focus of nutritional research, said Baier. “This has pushed researchers to look beyond growth alone and toward outcomes such as strength, power, and functional capacity that better predict real‑world mobility and independence.”

Evidence continues to demonstrate the benefit of HMB and creatine together. “In a three‑week resistance training study, creatine and calcium HMB each increased lean mass and strength beyond training alone. The combination delivered the greatest overall strength gains. In physically active adults 60 and older, six weeks of 3 grams HMB plus as little as 3 grams creatine alongside structured exercise led to gains of about 25% in lower body strength and 30-46% in upper body endurance and functional performance, even without large changes in muscle mass.”

Baier emphasized that the future of muscle health lies in synergistic formulations rather than single ingredients. Strength, recovery, and long-term muscle preservation rely on multiple physiological pathways, driving brands toward multi-ingredient systems that address energy availability, muscle integrity, and overall health together.

Delivery format is another key factor. Even the best formulation only works if consumers take it consistently, and today’s users expect formats that match their routines. Beyond traditional pills, powders, and gummies, there is growing interest in convenient, portable options such as fizzing tablets, chewables, and fast-melt sachets that improve adherence.

As interest in muscle health expands into healthy aging, women’s health, and GLP-1–related support, products must integrate clinical substantiation, smart ingredient synergy, and consumer-friendly delivery to drive measurable improvements in strength, function, and long-term health.

Consumers are increasingly focused on protein intake, but many are looking for benefits beyond simply adding more protein. Everwell Health’s MyoVera (previously known as Velositol) is a clinically studied chromium complex shown to enhance muscle protein synthesis by improving amino acid uptake into muscle cells. In a clinical study, individuals who consumed 2 grams of MyoVera with 15 grams of whey protein showed improvements in strength, power, and endurance compared to whey protein alone, even at higher doses.

HMB also continues to gain traction due to its dual mechanism of action, supporting muscle protein synthesis while reducing muscle breakdown. This makes it particularly relevant in conditions where muscle loss is elevated, including aging, disuse, calorie restriction, or high-intensity training with limited recovery.

An emerging area of formulation is targeted nutrition support for GLP-1 users, including systems designed to help preserve muscle during rapid weight loss. These approaches often combine ingredients such as HMB, creatine, and other muscle-supporting nutrients to help maintain strength and function.