A growing body of evidence is now showing that calorie restriction (CR) improves many of the metabolic abnormalities associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. In particular, it was recently demonstrated that long-term CR results in profound and sustained beneficial effects on the major atherosclerosis risk factors, serum Total cholesterol, Low density lipoprotein (LDL)-C, High density lipoprotein (HDL)-C, triglycerides, and blood pressure. CR also provides a powerful protective effect against obesity, insulin resistance, inflammation, as reflected in extremely low C reactive protein (CRP) levels and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, and cardiovascular aging itself (i.e. left ventricular stiffness). We also found that long-term CR reduces serum concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines, triiodothyronine and growth factors such as platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta-1, also factors actively involved in the progression of chronic kidney diseases. Taken together, these preliminary evidences suggest that CR might prevent renal function deterioration in diabetic, obese patients. However, this hypothesis has not been tested so far.