Podcast episode 84 (in German)
Ca-AKG – eight years younger, re-tested twice, nothing both times
September 22, 2026
8 years less biological age in 7 months — that is the line that sells calcium alpha-ketoglutarate on almost every longevity shelf. The episode looks at where the figure comes from, and what happened when the famous mouse study was independently re-tested.
What it is about
Alpha-ketoglutarate is an intermediate of the citric acid cycle that the body constantly produces itself, and at the same time the co-factor of those enzymes that remove methylation marks from DNA. That gives it everything a longevity story needs: produced by the body, central to metabolism, with an epigenetic angle, declining with age. The episode recounts the good 2020 mouse study, takes the much-cited human study apart into its four methodological weaknesses and sets beside it the two independent re-tests that appear on no product page. At the end comes the only randomized, placebo-controlled study on this question that could close the gap, and which is still running without results.
Key points
- In the 2020 Buck Institute study, mice received Ca-AKG in their feed from the age of 18 months and lived around 12 percent longer; the figure applies to the females.
- More remarkable than lifespan was the markedly shorter period of illness at the end of life, with less frailty and less inflammation.
- The 2021 human study followed around 40 paying customers over an average of 7 months — without a placebo group, without randomization, funded by the manufacturer.
- In the independent testing program, treated males lived 841 days versus 813 days in the control group, with a p-value of 0.429; for females it was 889 versus 903 days.
- It was tested twice, with treatment starting at 18 and at 7 months of age: no effect, in either sex and at either starting point.
- Of the targeted feed concentration of 20,000 ppm, a measured 3,262 ppm actually arrived, roughly one sixth — the best argument of the other side.
- The ongoing ABLE study gives middle-aged people 1 gram daily versus placebo for one year and uses a pace-of-aging clock as its endpoint.
Where the data stop
The human data on Ca-AKG are so far advertising with methodological footnotes. A measurement without a control group cannot separate how much of the 8 years is due to the substance and how much to the known imprecision of epigenetic clocks and regression to the mean. The participants were customers of the company, the company provided the funding, employees are co-authors, and the provider of the clock was close to it. Alongside this there is a small randomized study on bone density in older women — possibly the most serious application in the end.
On the mouse side, there is the objection that the episode accepts: alpha-ketoglutarate is apparently not stable in feed, and what never arrives cannot fail. That is a good argument against the mouse feed, but not one for the capsule — a finding that confirms the first study is still missing. Alpha-ketoglutarate taken orally also raises blood levels only briefly. Anyone with a history of kidney stones should discuss the amount of calcium with a doctor.
Listen (in German)
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Published on September 22, 2026.
The topic in the database
- Longevity favorite: a central metabolic molecule (citric acid cycle). The mouse data mainly show less frailty; in the independent testing program …Ca-AKG (calcium alpha-ketoglutarate)
Information only, not medical advice and not a usage or dosage recommendation. Prescription-only and unapproved substances belong in the hands of a physician. Last updated: 2026-09-19.