Energy-cycle metabolite fact sheet
Alpha-ketoglutarate
Also known as AKG, 2-oxoglutarate, calcium alpha-ketoglutarate, Ca-AKG
Alpha-ketoglutarate participates in energy metabolism and enzyme regulation. Mouse longevity findings have not yet become proof of slower human aging.
Quick answer
Alpha-ketoglutarate is not an FDA-approved anti-aging drug. Animal studies and a human trial program make it a legitimate geroscience candidate, but there is no evidence that AKG extends human life or prevents age-related disease.
By the PeptideFactSheets Editorial Team. Claims are source-checked under our editorial policy; clinician review is identified only when a named reviewer is shown.
What is Alpha-ketoglutarate?
AKG is a normal intermediate in the citric-acid cycle and a cofactor for enzymes involved in amino-acid metabolism and gene regulation.
Supplement research often uses a calcium salt, which should not be treated as identical to endogenous AKG biology or every commercial formulation.
Why are people interested in it?
A mouse study reported improved healthspan measures and compressed morbidity, with smaller lifespan effects than many headlines implied.
The ABLE randomized trial was designed around DNA-methylation age and functional measures, but a protocol is not an outcome.
Current regulatory status
AKG has been studied in a randomized human geroscience program but has no FDA-approved use for aging, biological-age reduction, frailty, or disease prevention.
What is it approved for?
No FDA-approved use. Commercial availability, supplement marketing, and clinical research do not equal an FDA-approved medicine.
What is it being studied for?
Evidence snapshot
Healthspan evidence is dominated by animal and mechanistic work. Human studies have focused on feasibility, observational biomarkers, or trial design rather than demonstrated clinical benefit.
Potential benefits being researched
- Mouse work reported lower frailty and compressed late-life morbidity under selected conditions.
- Human randomized research can test biomarker and functional hypotheses, but no result yet establishes better healthspan.
A mechanism, biomarker, or secondary endpoint is not proof of a meaningful clinical benefit.
Known or possible risks
- Long-term safety of concentrated supplementation in diverse populations is not well characterized.
- Different salts and formulations may have different composition and absorption.
- Changes in a biological-age clock may not represent a meaningful change in health.
What we still do not know
- Whether AKG changes validated human aging outcomes
- Whether epigenetic-clock changes are reproducible and clinically meaningful
- Long-term safety and interactions
- Which formulation and population, if any, has a favorable benefit-risk profile
Plain-English takeaway
AKG is foundational metabolism with real animal geroscience data. Human anti-aging benefit remains a hypothesis awaiting outcomes, not a conclusion from a biomarker.
Research and reference links
Use these primary and authoritative sources to verify status and read beyond this summary. A study or registry entry does not by itself prove benefit.
- 1AKG mouse healthspan and lifespan study
Preclinical study that cannot establish human longevity or disease-prevention benefit.
- 2ABLE randomized human study protocol
Prospective design for biomarker and functional research, not a favorable result.
- 3ClinicalTrials.gov: ABLE study
Official status and endpoint record for the randomized calcium-AKG study.
- 4FDA: dietary supplements are not preapproved for effectiveness
FDA explanation of the regulatory distinction between approved drugs and marketed dietary supplements.