Study record
CALERIE Phase 2 primary trial (caloric restriction, 2-year RCT)
Cardiometabolic risk markers; epigenetic aging-pace markers (see calerie-dunedinpace for the DunedinPACE-specific record)
Human — Healthy, non-obese adults, CALERIE Phase 2 RCT Tier 3 · Human biomarker RCT verification: verified
1. Species / populationHealthy non-obese adult humans, CALERIE Phase 2 RCT
2. Exposure, route, scheduleCaloric restriction, 25% assigned target / ~11.9% mean achieved, sustained 2 years
3. Comparator & durationAd libitum control diet, 2 years
4. Endpoint & numeric resultImproved cardiometabolic markers; no significant PhenoAge/GrimAge change
5. What this study did NOT establishNo lifespan/mortality data; assigned vs achieved restriction not interchangeable
Full record
| Intervention(s) | Caloric Restriction (CR) |
| Species | Human |
| Population | Healthy, non-obese adults, CALERIE Phase 2 RCT |
| Sample size | not specified in source participants verification: verified_2026-07-11 |
| Exposure | 25% assigned target / ~11.9% mean achieved % caloric reduction from baseline — Sustained over 2 years; assigned and achieved values stored separately verification: verified_2026-07-11 |
| Comparator | Ad libitum control diet |
| Duration | 2 years |
| Endpoint | Cardiometabolic risk markers; epigenetic aging-pace markers (see calerie-dunedinpace for the DunedinPACE-specific record) |
| Evidence tier | Tier 3 · Human biomarker RCT |
| What was NOT established | Did NOT test lifespan or mortality. TARGET (25%) and ACHIEVED (~11.9%) restriction levels must be reported separately, never conflated. Improvement in cardiometabolic markers does not itself establish a lifespan effect. |
Result values (as reported in sourcing brief)
| cardiometabolic markers | Improved (specific marker-level figures not enumerated in sourcing brief) |
| phenoage grimage effect | No significant effect |
| interpretation | Improved cardiometabolic risk markers; no significant effect on PhenoAge/GrimAge epigenetic clocks |
| 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 reported. 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.
| trial name | CALERIE Phase 2 |
| pmid | 31303390 verified |
| doi | 10.1016/S2213-8587(19)30151-2 verified |
| journal | The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology 2019 |
| trial registry id | not reported not reported |
| authors | Kraus WE, Bhapkar M, Huffman KM, et al. (CALERIE) |
| year | 2019 |
| verified date | 2026-07-11 |
| verified note | 2-yr phase-2 RCT, 2:1 to 25% CR vs ad libitum, ages 21-50, BMI 22-27.9, 3 US sites; ACHIEVED CR mean 11.9% (2467->2170 kcal), weight -7.5 kg; significant cardiometabolic-risk improvement — MATCHES. |
| correction | Achieved-CR figure is 11.9% in the primary publication (Kraus et al., Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology 2019, PMID 31303390). An earlier, lower value carried in this dataset was wrong and has been corrected in every field that stated it. Assigned target (25%) and achieved mean (11.9%) are stored separately and must never be conflated. The trial did NOT test lifespan or mortality. |
| verification status | verified |
| pmc | PMC6707879 verified |
| reverified 20260808 | PMID/DOI re-confirmed against Europe PMC 2026-08-08 (Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol 7:673-683); PMC6707879 added. |
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