Sergei V. Romashkan
Physician scientist at the National Institute on Aging who oversees clinical trials in older adults and led the safety analysis of CALERIE, the first long-term trial of calorie restriction in healthy people
Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology, National Institute on Aging (papers 2006–2021; most recent confirmed affiliation 2021)
Cutting calories without malnutrition lengthens life in many lab animals, partly by turning down mTOR signalling. CALERIE was the first multicentre trial to ask what two years of calorie restriction does to healthy people who are not obese. Sergei Romashkan was first author of its safety report, ROM2016 in Oncotarget. Participants were assigned at random, two to one, to cut their intake by 25 percent or to eat as usual. There were no deaths and only one serious adverse event in the restriction group, and three people were withdrawn from restriction for safety reasons. Overall, side effects were not more common than in the control group. Bone mineral density at the spine and hip, however, fell more in the restriction group at 12 and 24 months, and the authors advised close monitoring for bone loss and anaemia.
For anyone thinking about calorie restriction, or about drugs meant to mimic it, the trial shows that the approach can be done safely under supervision but is not free of cost to the skeleton. It measured safety in people and did not test mTOR activity directly.
Romashkan works in the Division of Geriatrics and Clinical Gerontology of the National Institute on Aging, where the role centres on large clinical trials in older adults. Romashkan is a co-author of the design paper of the Testosterone Trials, seven coordinated trials of testosterone treatment in older men, and of the pilot of the LIFE physical activity trial. In 2021 Romashkan was first author of a report from an NIA workshop on how to test existing drugs and supplements for senolytic or senomorphic effects, meaning that they remove or quiet senescent cells, in clinical trials.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | H | Safety of two-year caloric restriction in non-obese healthy individuals ROM2016 First author: reported that two years of 25 percent calorie restriction in non-obese adults was safe overall but lowered bone mineral density more than in controls. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 2
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Sergei V. Romashkan.
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- Eric Ravussin Human energy-metabolism researcher who studies why people differ in how they burn energy and what long-term calorie restriction does to the body, including in the CALERIE trial.
- William E. Kraus Preventive cardiologist and exercise physiologist at Duke University who leads long-running trials on how exercise and calorie restriction change human health, and senior author of the CALERIE two-year safety report
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