Research
Energy balance
Caloric restriction in non-obese adults increases the incidence of adverse events related to the nervous, musculoskeletal, and reproductive systems, particularly in normal-weight individuals compared to overweight individuals.
If you are already lean, be aware that CR may cause more side effects like fatigue, muscle pain, or menstrual issues than if you were overweight. Monitor these symptoms closely.
GoodQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
within the CR group, the incidence of nervous system (p = 0.02), musculoskeletal (p = 0.02) and reproductive system (p = 0.002) disorders was significantly higher in the normal-weight than in the overweight participants.
Why this rating
Statistically significant subgroup analysis in an RCT.
Source
Safety of two-year caloric restriction in non-obese healthy individuals
Sergei Romashkan et al. · Oncotarget · 2016
DOI 10.18632/oncotarget.8093
rct · n=218Cited 54×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Sustained caloric restriction (approx. 12-25% reduction) in healthy non-obese adults for two years is safe and well-tolerated, with no deaths and only minor adverse events, despite causing modest bone mineral density loss and hematocrit drops.Good
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