What it is
Regulatory status: dietary strategy; not a drug or disease treatment
Mechanism evidence: human
At a glance
What it is, why people use it, the evidence, and what to know before trying it.
Why people use it
- Weight and cardiometabolic risk reduction
- Slower biological aging
- Longer lifespan
Evidence at a glance
Two-year CALERIE trials show feasible moderate restriction can improve several cardiometabolic risk markers in healthy non-obese adults. Human lifespan extension is unproven, and biomarker or epigenetic-clock changes are not equivalent to fewer deaths.
Confidence: moderate
Safety notes
Known side effects, interactions and use limits from reviewed sources.
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.
Forms and variants
This review does not automatically apply to:
- fasting without a calorie target
- starvation
- unintentional weight loss
Seen in protocols
Public protocols that include Caloric restriction. Open one to see the full context and source.