What it is & primary uses
A calcium salt of alpha-ketoglutarate promoted for healthy aging, with a relevant placebo-controlled human trial still underway.
Main benefits
- No completed independent trial establishes anti-aging benefit
- Older clinical uses in dialysis do not validate wellness claims
Studied protocols
Research doses are grouped by outcome. They describe study designs—not a personal prescription.
1 g/day sustained-release Ca-AKG
- Study duration
- 6 months plus follow-up
- Interpretation
- This is the dose in an ongoing registered protocol, not a demonstrated effective dose.
04Food sources & equivalents＋
Can food provide a studied amount?
Alpha-ketoglutarate is an endogenous metabolic intermediate, but foods do not provide a standardized calcium alpha-ketoglutarate dose.
Nutrients used in metabolism, not 1 g sustained-release Ca-AKG
- How this was estimated
- No food conversion is shown because the investigational calcium salt and release profile are product-specific.
- Important limitation
- The target itself comes from an ongoing trial and is not an established effective anti-aging dose.
Food equivalents compare ingredient mass using published composition values. They do not prove equal absorption, formulation, physiological effect, safety or personal need.
Source: ABLE Ca-AKG randomized trial protocol ↗05How to take it for absorption & tolerance＋
With or without food
The key placebo-controlled healthy-aging study is a protocol using a sustained-release product, not a completed food-timing comparison.
- Practical approach
- Follow the exact studied or labeled formulation and count its elemental calcium contribution.
- Watch for
- Calcium can conflict with levothyroxine, some antibiotics and bisphosphonates; separation guidance can override convenience.
Meal guidance reflects human pharmacokinetic, clinical, official-label or evidence-review sources where available. A food pairing can change absorption or tolerability, but does not make a supplement necessary, effective or safe for every person.
Source: ABLE sustained-release Ca-AKG trial protocol ↗06Supplement interaction check＋
An unlisted pair means no established pair-specific interaction was identified in this review—not proof that every dose, product or person is safe.
This is not proof that every dose, product or user context is safe. Medication and condition checks still apply.
07Research notes＋
Insufficient for healthy aging. A 1 g/day placebo-controlled trial is underway; completed human evidence does not establish an effective anti-aging dose.
The 1 g amount is an investigational dose, not a demonstrated effective dose. Do not treat non-randomized biological-age reports as proof of rejuvenation.
08Scientific references＋
Peer-reviewed human research and formal evidence reviews. Open each source to inspect the complete paper record.
ABLE calcium alpha-ketoglutarate trial protocol
Dose context: 1 g/day sustained-release Ca-AKG for 6 months
Defines a relevant healthy-adult experiment, but a protocol supplies no efficacy result.
AKG supplementation to improve human health
Dose context: Human, animal and mechanistic literature
Concluded that recent human studies had not demonstrated treatment of aging or age-related disease and called for clinical trials.
AKG products and biological age in health enthusiasts
Dose context: Self-reported supplement use; proprietary epigenetic clock
A branded Ca-AKG-plus-vitamin product correlated with a lower age residual, but ordinary AKG did not; causality cannot be inferred.
09Expert & media references＋
Podcast and practitioner statements are clearly separated from research. They may explain practice or emerging ideas, but do not prove efficacy.