Traditionally, it was thought that 30 micronutrients were key to supporting a body to perform at its best. However, given that thousands of chemical reactions happen at any one time, the body is a complex engine that needs many nutrients to carry out its processes and function at its best.
The triage theory, developed by Dr. Bruce Ames, proposes that the body requires a far more diverse range of nutrients.
It suggests that when the body is deficient in a micronutrient, it prioritizes these to processes needed for short-term survival, much like an emergency room will triage patients who are in imminent danger.
Proteins and enzymes supporting long term health are next in line but can lose out on the allocation of nutrients. When it comes to health and performance, if nutrients are deficient in the body, it will be starved of the raw ingredients necessary to function optimally during exercise.
What is Triage Theory?
During periods of micronutrient deficiency, a likely common event throughout human evolution, the body would have mechanisms to maintain short-term survival, even if it were detrimental to healthy aging.
Natural selection, across most species, is known to favor short-term survival over long-term health when the two are in conflict. The body’s choices to ensure reproductive success early in life could involve trade-offs that ultimately shorten lifespan.
A higher priority is given to immediate function and survival over longevity and health. This short-term survival meant allocating scarce micronutrients to enzymes in order of importance, but enzymes supporting long-term health lost out.
In this way, a micronutrient deficiency would leave critical metabolic functions like energy production intact but could accelerate cancer, aging, and neural decay.
The body uses similar prioritization mechanisms. For example, when there’s not enough oxygen flowing through the tissues, vital organ function- the brain, heart, and adrenal glands, is maintained.
In contrast, non-vital organs get less blood flow because they are less essential to immediate survival. With micronutrient deficiencies, the vital organs are serviced before organs, such as the liver, which lose out on the allocation of micronutrients.
During micronutrient deficiency, triage theory proposes that vitamins and minerals are rationed to enzymes critical for immediate survival and reproduction.
Lower prioritized proteins protecting from future damage (such as DNA repair mechanisms) will be sacrificed, which could increase the risk of disease and accelerate aging.
Certain enzymes are categorized as survival proteins and longevity proteins in triage theory. For longevity proteins, the dietary compounds needed to function are called longevity vitamins. A shortage could result in damage that accumulates over time, despite not being visible immediately.
Some nutritional compounds that are not essential for survival also have beneficial effects on metabolism and overall health. These include antioxidants that help reduce the harm caused by free radicals and oxidized stress from the body.
Triage theory involves 41 different micronutrients, each with important functions in overall health. To achieve optimal health and longevity takes minimizing the long-term effects of nutrient deficiency, including vitamins and minerals.
Bruce Ames on Triage Theory, Vitamins & Micronutrients
Triage Theory Applications For Health And Performance
Through the lens of health and performance, if the body is deficient in nutrients, it doesn’t have access to the raw ingredients needed to function optimally during exercise. When the body is prioritising nutrient allocation for survival, athlethic performance-optmiziing proteins and enzymes could miss out.
Triage theory proposes that nutrient deficiency can accelerate disease development and aging because these processes have a deficiency of the nutrients needed to function.
The health and longevity of athletes are both essential to performance because a healthy person can train and compete at their best and more often. This benefits performance. The span of training and competition is also enhanced by staying in good health, which makes it possible to do the things you love for longer.
Greens Powders
Supergreens powders or simply greens powders started gaining traction in the last few years as a simple and convenient solution to the problem.
With a higher bioavailability than your typical vitamin pills, and with the advantage of incorporating much more than just vitamins and minerals in their formulas (think fiber, superfoods and supergreens), greens powders are becoming very popular lately, especially with recognizable brands like Super Elixir and AG1.
I recommend Supergreens+ by Yourbiology, simply because it is affordable when compared to other products with similar ingredients, and the fact that it is made by a very trusted name in the food supplements industry, so you can rest assured that the product contains the correct ingredients with the quantity and quality expected from a manufacturer producing its products in an FDA approved facility.
You can check out supergreens powder in our store here.
Professional Health and Fitness Coach. Encouraging and inspiring busy working people to take time out for themselves through fitness and general health and wellness.
