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Calorie restriction extends healthspan and lifespan in model organisms by increasing sirtuin levels, which medates DNA repair, genomic stability, and metabolic regulation.

Calorie restriction is the most proven non-pharmacological method to extend lifespan and healthspan, largely by boosting sirtuin activity. While sirtuin activators are being researched, current evidence strongly supports lifestyle interventions like diet and exercise to naturally increase sirtuin levels and improve metabolic health.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Calorie restriction (CR) is so far the only effective way to extend lifespan without genetic or pharmacological intervention... The level of almost all sirtuins, except SIRT4, increases as an effect of calorie restriction... Therefore, it is believed that sirtuins mediate beneficial effects elicited by such diet.
Wioleta Grabowska et al. · Biogerontology · 2017

Why this rating

Strong evidence in yeast, worms, flies, and mice; human data is observational/correlational regarding sirtuin levels and healthspan.

Source

Sirtuins, a promising target in slowing down the ageing process

Wioleta Grabowska et al. · Biogerontology · 2017

DOI 10.1007/s10522-017-9685-9

narrative_reviewCited 457×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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