Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Feb;33(2):136-146.
doi: 10.1016/j.tem.2021.11.003. Epub 2021 Dec 21.

Alpha-Ketoglutarate dietary supplementation to improve health in humans

Bibek Gyanwali  1 , Zi Xiang Lim  1 , Janjira Soh  2 , Clarissa Lim  3 , Shou Ping Guan  1 , Jorming Goh  4 , Andrea B Maier  5 , Brian K Kennedy  6
Affiliations
Review

Alpha-Ketoglutarate dietary supplementation to improve health in humans

Bibek Gyanwali et al. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2022 Feb.

Abstract

Alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG) is an intermediate in the Krebs cycle involved in various metabolic and cellular pathways. As an antioxidant, AKG interferes in nitrogen and ammonia balance, and affects epigenetic and immune regulation. These pleiotropic functions of AKG suggest it may also extend human healthspan. Recent studies in worms and mice support this concept. A few studies published in the 1980s and 1990s in humans suggested the potential benefits of AKG in muscle growth, wound healing, and in promoting faster recovery after surgery. So far there are no recently published studies demonstrating the role of AKG in treating aging and age-related diseases; hence, further clinical studies are required to better understand the role of AKG in humans. This review will discuss the regulatory role of AKG in aging, as well as its potential therapeutic use in humans to treat age-related diseases.

Keywords: antioxidant; cellular respiration; citric acid cycle; healthspan; ketoglutaric acids; supplement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests B.K.K. is a board member and equity holder at Ponce de Leon Health, a company aimed at developing nutritional supplements for aging, which manufactures several products related to AKG. All authors declare no competing interest regarding this manuscript.

Publication types