Calcium AKG Alpha Keto Glutarate Supplement Review
What is Alpha Keto Glutarate?
Alpha Keto Glutarate supplementation appears to slow or even improve biological aging. But will it work for you? We dig into the details!
Alpha Keto Glutarate or “AKG” is an important molecule involved in energy metabolism, specifically the Krebs cycle. As its name suggests, it is related to the amino acid L-glutamine, which is produced in the skeletal muscle.
AKG is produced in your body and plays several important roles, including in nitrogen, carbon and ammonia balance.
One very important fact to note about Alpha Keto Glutarate levels in the human body is that they are known to decrease with age, and important cellular functions begin to decrease along with them.
Boosting AKG levels through supplementation may have very significant longevity benefits, but such evidence is in the very early stages of research in humans.
That said, some of that new research is quite exciting - read on.
AKG supplement benefits and safety
AKG supplement use has been around for quite a while and the molecule is very safe to use.
More traditional use of Alpha Keto Glutarate supplementation includes kidney support, intestinal repair, liver support and even the treatment of cataracts.
These uses of AKG are well documented in the scientific literature, with hundreds of studies available for reference.
Alpha Keto Glutarate Supplement Benefits
Boosts muscle growth and athletic recovery
Can help prevent breakdown of muscle during exercise
May delay the onset of fatigue in sport performance
It increases collagen production and may improve bone density
It appears to improve immune function
It collects excess nitrogen and ammonia from the blood, improving detoxification
More recently - it has been linked to specific longevity benefits, such as improving biological age (more on this shortly)
Its role in gene expression (epigenetic) and cell signalling is in the early stages of research, but it is clear that AKG helps preserve youthful cellular function
Alpha Keto Glurarate Safety
Is Alpha Keto Glutarate safe? Are there side effects?
Yes, very much so. In fact, we were able to find no known adverse effects from AKG supplementation for doses up to 2g per kilo of bodyweight (that’s much more than you’ll need to take!).
How much AKG supplement should I take?
This entirely depends on your reason for taking an AKG supplement in the first place.
Here are three examples!
You are an athlete looking to improve sports performance or recovery. You’ll supplement anywhere from 1 to 15 grams per day. You can take it before exercise to limit muscle breakdown during the activity. Or you can take it afterwards to improve recovery.
As a bodybuilder, your goals are to increase muscle mass. You’ll likely be taking Arginine Alpha Ketoglutarate (AAKG) and doses will vary from 3 to 10g prior to your hypertrophy workouts.
Nick has now completed his own self-experiment with Ca-AKG, dosing at 2g/day. Read about how to replicate this yourself and see his results in detail here!
As longevity enthusiast and wellness biohacker (that’s us!), you most likely want to see if you can improve your biological age with Calcium AKG supplementation. At this stage, we have limited evidence of the dosing protocols, with one study using 1g/day (with impressive effects on biological age!).
The remainder of this post will focus through the lens of the longevity biohacker. However, our chosen supplier of Calcium AKG + our 10% discount may still be valuable to you as an athlete or bodybuilder, so scroll on ahead anyway!
Calcium Alpha Keto Glutarate for Longevity
To understand the applications for Calcium AKG for ‘anti-aging’ / longevity benefits, there are three key milestones to review
50% improvement in lifespan in C. elegans after AKG supplementation. Source: Nature
AKG supplement and Longevity in Worms
The first is a foundational research study in 2014 which grabbed a lot of attention, as AKG supplementation increased the lifespan of C. elegant (nematodes, a type of ‘worm’) by nearly 50%.
The primary mechanism for doing so was believed to be the inhibition of ATP synthase and TOR (the worm version of the mTOR pathway).
AKG supplement and Longevity in Mice
Secondly, a follow-up study in 2020 looked into the Calcium Alpha Ketoglutarate form of AKG in mice. In this study, middle aged mice received an AKG supplement, as as result male mice lived 10% longer and females 20% longer.
Observed benefits of Calcium Alpha Keto Glutarate supplementation in mice, who lived up to 20% longer. Source: Cellular Metabolism
The mice had fewer grey hairs and remained stronger and less frail than their peers. A key mechanism of action was believed to be a widespread reduction in inflammation (“inflammaging“ is one of the primary ways in which humans lose function and resilience with age).
AKG supplement and Longevity in Humans
Third, and most importantly, a 2021 study in the journal "Aging" made a startling discovery.
Across a cohort of human trial lists taking 1g/day of a Calcium AKG supplement for approximately 7 months - there was a median improvement in biological age of 8.5 years.
This is a very significant change/result! To put this in perspective, our Founder Nick has only been able to improve his biological age by 3 (read here) to 6 years (see here) and to date he has not been successful in improving his epigenetic biological age at all.
By the way….
The biological age test used in this Ca-AKG supplement study is the TruMe Age Explorer test.
This epigenetic biological age test kit is available to try at home for only $103USD when you use our discount code ‘longevityblog’ to save 15%.
If you order two kits (essential for doing before & after self-experimentation…) the cost per kit with our discount drops to $88USD.
When you consider that alternative epigenetic age tests costs $300-$500USD, this offer looks pretty appealing!
We’ll be interviewing Co-Founder Dr. Yelena Budovskaya in an upcoming post to discuss how this test works in more detail!
It’s the most affordable test on the market and is very fast and easy to complete.
AKG Supplement Review
AKG chemical structure before bonding with either L-Arginine or Calcium. Image Source: Pubchem
Given this encouraging result, a natural follow-up question from the longevity enthusiast is of course ‘where can I get myself some AKG??”.
We were of course curious ourselves.
There are two primary forms of Alpha Keto Glutarate supplements.
The first is Arginine Alpha Ketoglutarate (AAKG). In this formulation, AKG is bound to the amino acid L-arginine. L-Arginine is a good choice as it is involved in nitric oxide regulation and dilates blood vessels. This delivers more nutrition to the skeletal muscle and can increase insulin by up to 10-15%, meaning more muscle growth.
Research studies on Alpha Keto Glutarate over time
The second formulation is Calcium Alpha-Ketoglutarate. And if you’ve been reading closely, you’ll realise that this is the form of AKG supplement which has shown longevity benefits in both rodents and humans. By using calcium, the absorption of AKG in the small intestine is improved.
This is important as only 20% of oral AKG supplement intake makes it to the liver and then into the bloodstream, where its beneficial effects can take effect.
Given the improved absorption and the direct connection to the biological age improvement, we think that it will be pretty clear to you that a Ca-AKG supplement makes more sense for the longevity enthusiast.
What is the best AKG supplement?
By narrowing the search to a Calcium Alpha Keto Glutamate supplement, the list of options for supplying yourself with Ca-AKG for your own self-experiment narrows considerably.
As with any self-experiment, you’ll want to only add a Ca-AKG supplement to your stack and watch changes over time. One notable exception is taking a B6 vitamin (or B-complex) supplement along with it to increase absorption.
Reviewing the available Ca-AKG supplement options then narrows further, as we are only considering a pure formulation. Longevity Blog was able to identify approximately 3-4x options with global shipping and sufficient reputation for quality assurance.
Nick is preparing a video series on Ca AKG supplementation and his self-experiment to reduce his epigenetic biological age.
Our recommendation: Alpha Keto Glutarate Supplement - DoNotAge
Our recommendation (which is not entirely unbiased - read more here) is to purchase from DoNotAge.
This is partially based on our intimate knowledge of the manufacturing process, including products quality and purity.
It also based on our ability to reduce your costs (part of our goal at Longevity Blog is to help stretch your longevity budget further!).
Working the math, if you select the bulk 366 capsule option, which qualifies for free shipping in the United States, DoNotAge’s Ca-AKG costs $1.92/USD for a 1200mg dose (three capsules).
This drops to $1.72USD per 1200mg dose with 10% discount code ‘longevityblog’.
PARTNER Discount Code!
A part of our mission is to make your longevity budget stretch further.
Through our collaboration with DoNotAge, we are pleased to offer a 10% off coupon code for our readers. This applies to all DoNotAge products, not just Ca-AKG.
Use the code longevityblog at checkout to save!
CAN CALCIUM ALPHA KETO GLUTARATE REVERSE BIOLOGICAL AGE?
We’re not huge fans of calling it ‘reversing’ biological age, but this is the most common search term used by people looking for this answer.
Instead, we want you to think of biological age as a subjective number that you can improve.
After all, our Founder Nick has improved his biological age many times, using different biological age tests and approaches (read here and here, for example).
Here we are yet again - wanting to know, can a longevity supplement improv your biological age?
There is only one way to find out - it’s self-experiment time!
Soon, we’ll reveal the dosing strategy and before and after testing approach required to put Ca-AKG’s claims to the test!
FDA & TGA DISCLAIMER
This information is intended for educational purposes only and is not meant to substitute for medical care or to prescribe treatment for any specific health condition. These blog posts are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, and only may become actionable through consultation with a medical professional.
