What it’s for
- Energy balance and cardiometabolic risk management
Reducing energy intake while maintaining adequate nutrition.
Purpose, evidence and practical considerations.
The two-year CALERIE trial improved several risk markers in selected adults. It did not demonstrate human lifespan extension, and restriction can compromise nutrition, strength or wellbeing.
Confidence: moderate
Excessive or poorly planned restriction can cause undernutrition, loss of lean mass and bone, menstrual disruption, fatigue and eating-disorder harm. It is inappropriate without specialist guidance in pregnancy, growth, frailty, underweight states or active eating disorders.
Energy restriction changes body weight, insulin sensitivity, lipid metabolism and multiple nutrient-sensing pathways. Human effects depend on baseline weight, achieved restriction, diet quality, adherence and preservation of lean mass.
Regulatory status: dietary strategy; not a drug or disease treatment
The evidence on this page does not automatically apply to:
How people use it, with their schedules, context and original sources.
2,250 kcal/day (10% caloric restriction) · Daily
Amount and timing patterns reported in public protocols; these are observations, not instructions. Private and hidden usage is excluded.
daily