Study record
BCAA / isoleucine restriction mouse lifespan study (sex-specific)
Median lifespan, by sex
Mus musculus — Mice, dietary BCAA-restriction lifespan study (Lamming-associated research program) Tier 6 · Single-lab animal lifespan verification: verified
1. Species / populationMice, dietary BCAA-restriction lifespan study
2. Exposure, route, scheduleDietary BCAA reduced ~67%, chronic exposure
3. Comparator & durationStandard-BCAA control diet; lifespan follow-up
4. Endpoint & numeric resultMedian lifespan +>30% (male only); no significant effect in female mice
5. What this study did NOT establishNo human data; male-only effect not generalizable; no independent isoleucine-only figure in this dataset
Full record
| Intervention(s) | BCAA Restriction (Branched-Chain Amino Acid Restriction), Isoleucine Restriction |
| Species | Mus musculus |
| Population | Mice, dietary BCAA-restriction lifespan study (Lamming-associated research program) |
| Sample size | not specified in source animals verification: verified_2026-07-11 |
| Exposure | -67 % reduction in dietary BCAA (leucine+isoleucine+valine) content — Chronic dietary exposure; lifespan follow-up verification: verified_2026-07-11 |
| Comparator | Standard-BCAA control diet |
| Duration | Lifespan study |
| Endpoint | Median lifespan, by sex |
| Evidence tier | Tier 6 · Single-lab animal lifespan |
| What was NOT established | Did not test humans. Male-only effect means the finding cannot be generalized across sexes even within mice. This study reports the COMBINED-BCAA (-67%) figure; it does NOT supply an independent isoleucine-only numeric effect size -- see /isoleucine-restriction for the qualitative treatment of that gap. |
Result values (as reported in sourcing brief)
| male median lifespan change | +>30% |
| female median lifespan change | No significant effect |
| interpretation | Sex-by-diet interaction is the core finding: male-specific benefit, no female benefit |
| verification | verification: verified_2026-07-11 |
Source citation
Verification status: verified This record was checked against its primary publication on 2026-07-11.Identifiers: PMID verified; DOI verified; PMC verified; trial registry ID not applicable. Record-level verification and identifier-level status are separate: a record can be fully verified against its primary publication while an identifier that does not apply to the study type — a trial registry ID for an animal study, for instance — is marked not applicable. No identifier is fabricated, and none is left in a “pending” state.
| program | Lamming BCAA-restriction research program |
| reported year | not recorded |
| pmid | 33403039 verified |
| doi | 10.1038/s43587-020-00006-2 verified |
| journal | Nature Aging 2021 |
| pmc | PMC8009080 verified |
| authors | Richardson NE, Konon EN, Schuster HS, et al. (Lamming lab) |
| year | 2021 |
| verified date | 2026-07-11 |
| verified note | Lifelong 67% BCAA restriction from weaning extended male WT mouse lifespan by >30% and reduced frailty; NO female lifespan benefit (sex-specific) — MATCHES. |
| isoleucine note | Isoleucine-specific contribution shown separately (Green CL et al., Cell Metab 2023) — keep isoleucine-restriction as its own record; do not attribute all BCAA effect to leucine. |
| verification status | verified |
Funding / conflict of interest
not compiled in this proof-of-concept verification: verified_2026-07-11
Version 0.2.0-mvp · literature search date 2026-07-11 · editorial owner Nabus Research