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Press Release

Evolutionary vitamin triage theory makes sense

10 February 2010

Professor Bruce Ames of University of California Berkeley, writing recently in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, has set out evidence in support of his "triage theory" that nature favours survival today over tomorrow and long-term vitamin inadequacy is behind the increasing burden of chronic disease.

Ames first proposed his theory in 2006 (PNAS, Vol. 103, Pages 17589-94) to explain why age-related diseases like heart disease, cancer, and dementia may be unintended consequences of mechanisms developed during evolution to protect against episodic vitamin/mineral shortages to ensure critical metabolic functions such as ATP production are kept intact.

The recent AJCN paper (Vol. 90, pp. 889-907) reported research into vitamin K as a practical example of the theory. Results showed that five of the 16 known genes for vitamin K-dependent proteins had critical functions, and that mice genetically manipulated to have inactive forms did not survive. In other cases, five proteins were found to be less critical and, while those knockout mice survived through weaning, the combination of loss of the vitamin K-dependent proteins, inadequate intakes of vitamin K1 from the diet, or vitamin K deficiency were all associated with age-related conditions, including weaker bones and hardening of the arteries, which increased the risk of cardiovascular disease. An increase in the incidence of spontaneous cancer was also observed.

Jayne Nelson, BANT spokesman, said "Optimal intakes of micronutrients are critical to prevention of chronic disease states: Professor Ames’ work is hugely important in highlighting the potential for proactive prevention programmes."



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British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy (BANT)

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