Research paper
Ames BN. Low micronutrient intake may accelerate the degenerative diseases of aging through allocation of scarce micronutrients by triage. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 2006 Nov 21;103(47):17589-17594. doi:10.1073/pnas.0608757103
Why we cite it
Introduces the triage theory of micronutrient allocation — a hypothesis, and the paper says so three times over: the title reads ”may accelerate”, the abstract reads ”the author hypothesizes”, and the consequence is stated in the conditional — ”DNA damage and late-onset disease would be the consequence of this triage allocation.” The proposal is that under moderate micronutrient shortage, natural selection favours retaining the scarce nutrient in proteins essential for short-term survival and reproduction, at the expense of proteins needed for long-term health.
Relevant to the project as a frame for why calorie-rich, micronutrient-poor diets might carry a cost that shows up late — not as an account of why they do. What this record may not be used to say (corrected 2026-09-02, card SP97Y7). The Contribution formerly read that the paper ”explains why people eating calorie-rich but nutrient-poor diets can appear healthy in the short term while accumulating invisible damage that accelerates aging, cancer, and neurological decline” — ”explains why” presupposes the mechanism is established, and Ames does not claim that. A page may attribute the theory to Ames and say what it proposes. It may not state the triage allocation as something the body does, and it may not present accelerated cancer, aging or neurological decline as a demonstrated consequence of ordinary micronutrient shortfall.
About the author
Bruce N. Ames, PhD (1928–2024), was Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Senior Scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), where he directed the Nutrition and Metabolism Center. He held a PhD from the California Institute of Technology and a BS from Cornell University. He invented the Ames test, a widely used mutagenicity assay that revolutionized toxicology. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and received the U.S. National Medal of Science (1998), the Tyler Environmental Prize (1985), the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Prize (1983), and the Linus Pauling Institute Prize for Health Research (2001). He published over 555 papers and was among the few hundred most-cited scientists in all fields.