That healthy lifestyle has beneficial impact on our rate of aging is likely something most of us already suspected. Maybe less so for the aging impact of supplementing certain micronutrients as dietary supplementation has for decades been a field lacking science and reputation. Still, these are not the first studies pointing out the important role micronutrient supplementation can play even in a generally healthy population and in recent years an accomplished US scientist has formulated a theory on how exactly micronutritional status might relate to aging. Bruce Ames is an American biochemist, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley and US National Medal of Science recipient. He is widely recognized for developing the Ames test, a method that rapidly screens for chemical mutagens using bacteria. In his later years, he has focused on the importance of vitamins and minerals for successful healthy living and aging, considering this work to be one of his most important contributions. 

His triage theory is a hypothesis regarding the body’s allocation of scarce micronutrients. It suggests that during periods of shortage, the body prioritizes the use of the nutrients for immediate survival and reproductive functions over those that ensure long-term health. This causes a shortage of these nutrients for physiological functions relevant for longer-term aging. In consequence, healthy aging of the body is impaired. In his work, Bruce Ames has created and collected evidence on his hypothesis for a number of micronutrients including vitamin D, vitamin K or selenium. In turn, an optimal tune-up of the status of these various micronutrients would yield significant beneficial impact for health and aging.

Overall, there is certainly still a lot to be proven here which will be very tricky as the nutritional sciences are for a number of reasons a very difficult study environment. Still, it is important to emphasize that there is not just a significant number of studies pointing to the beneficial impact of micronutrient supplementation on aging but that there is as well an emerging theory to back this up. At Integrail we hope to further support the investigation of Bruce Ames theory through our personalized supplementation and energy tune-up work. More to come…