Towards defining optimal concentrations of micronutrients in adults to optimize health

Abstract

Micronutrients are essential for maintaining physiological homeostasis and optimizing healthspan, defined as the years lived in good health without chronic diseases or disabilities. Despite increasing global life expectancy, improvements in healthspan have not kept pace, partly due to subclinical micronutrient deficiencies that often precede clinical symptoms. The triage theory highlights how micronutrient insufficiencies compromise long-term health by prioritizing critical metabolic functions. Micronutrients such as Vitamins B6, B9, B12, D, and K are particularly crucial to optimizing healthspan, by influencing energy metabolism, neurological health, immune regulation, and bone integrity. Traditional tools like Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) provide population-level guidelines but fail to account for individual factors such as genetics, lifestyle, and nutrient interactions. Quantitative assessment of micronutrient concentrations using biomarkers offers a more precise approach but faces challenges, including high costs and limited accessibility. National nutrition surveys demonstrate potential in addressing population-level deficiencies and form the basis for advancing precision supplementation strategies to improve health outcomes and extend healthspan by defining optimal micronutrient concentrations. Future efforts should aim to establish evidence-based thresholds for optimal micronutrient concentrations by integrating biomarker data with clinical outcomes, genetic profiles, and lifestyle factors, providing a framework to guide personalized and population-level supplementation strategies.