Mitochondrial Health 101
Mitochondrial health sounds technical and boring, but actually it is one of the most important factors relating to your health and energy. Reference to mitochondria and mitochondrial function will come up a lot on your route to real health, and so I feel it’s worth briefly pausing on this topic to explain what it is all about.
What are Mitochondria?
Mitochondria are found in every cell of the human body apart from red blood cells. They are the batteries or the engines of your cells, if you like. By going through what is called the Krebs cycle, they produce energy that power a huge range of functions and processes in the body.
Mitochondria use glucose and fat from the food you eat, oxygen from the air you inhale, all carried to the cells in your bloodstream. From these ingredients, they generate energy in the form of ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate). This process is called Cellular Respiration.
Our bodies are constantly producing and using massive amounts of ATP in every cell, in order to fuel every function in the body, from breathing to thinking to digesting. This gives our heart energy to beat, our liver energy to detoxify, our skin energy to make collagen. It also gives our body energy to breathe, sweat, chew, make hormones, lift weights - everything.
Therefore things which enhance the mitochondria translate into more cellular energy inside the cell, which allows the cell or organ to work optimally. A huge amount of research in the last decade points to the mitochondria as being critical to health, disease prevention, energy levels and longevity.
Unfortunately, in our modern world, a lot of things get in the way of our cells’ optimal function – job stress, other stressors, environmental toxins in our food and air, too much artificial light, and these factors impede our mitochondrial ability to produce energy.
Mitochondria are extremely susceptible to free radical damage. Damaged mitochondria are less able to utilise glucose and oxygen to generate energy, leading to fatigue, neuropathy, loss of memory and cognitive impairment.
What are symptoms that your Mitochondria are not feeling so hot?
There are many and various symptoms of mitochondrial problems. They become more noticeable when the cells suffering from mitochondrial damage are concentrated in one organ. Sometimes only one organ is affected, other times the entire system.
Cells of the brain and muscle are among those that require a lot of energy, so they have a particularly high density of mitochondria. When mitochondria aren’t working well, these are often the parts of the body to shown signs of poor function.
The most common symptoms are fatigue, loss of coordination and balance, trouble talking and walking, ADHD, anxiety, OCD, headaches, digestive problems, and muscle weakness or aches. More and more research is suggesting that mitochondrial dysfunction may be linked to autism, bipolar disorder, depression, diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, chronic fatigue syndrome and more.
Main causes of mitochondrial dysfunction
The causes tend to fall into one of the following categories: genetic, toxin exposure, chronic infections, and poor lifestyle.
Genetic: in most people the main cause of mitochondrial health problems is an inherited genetic condition, where instead of receiving a normal pair of genes, one or both genes are in some way mutated.
Toxin exposure: environmental toxins are increasingly recognized as a cause of various health issues, including inflammation, autoimmune disease and cancer. In today’s world, toxins are everywhere, including in our homes where your cleaning products and beauty products are likely culprits. Exposure to mould in your home can lead to serious health consequences. Non-organic foods may contain pesticides, additives and artificial ingredients. But possibly the biggest category of toxic exposure is from EMFs, which are emitted by cell phones, deck phones, computers, wifi routers and various other appliances that we have come to rely on for our convenience. These send out a stream of invisible waves that may be carcinogenic and pose a danger to your health.
Chronic Infections: Acute infections are usually warded off by your immune system and resolved quite quickly. However chronic infections stick around for months and cause a variety of health problems. The most common chronic viral infections are Epstein-Barr virus, herpes, and the common cold. The most common bacterial infections are bladder and urinary tract infections. The most common fungal infection is Candida overgrowth. Chronic infections lead to oxidative stress and a compromised immune system.
Poor Lifestyle habits:
Diet: There is one problem with this energy production process: when your body metabolises food in the mitochondria it uses oxygen, but it in so doing it throws off a by-product in the form of free radicals, which can lead to oxidative stress causing aging and other things you don’t want. To avoid this you need to eat plenty of antioxidants. If your diet is full of empty calories from processed food and refined sugar, and low in antioxidant-rich vegetables and fruits, then too many free radicals will be produced which in turn results in inflammation, cellular damage, tissue damage and mitochondrial problems.
One thing you can do to improve your mitochondria and increase your cellular energy is a stint on the ketogenic diet. The keto diet, which is high in fat and very low in carb, switches your source of energy from glucose to ketones. (You can also achieve this with an extended fast). Most of us have relied on glucose for fuel for our entire lives. It is the energy source that our mitochondria know well. When you switch to a keto diet, this initially stresses the mitochondria, and causes weak and old mitochondria to die off, which stimulates the growth of new and stronger mitochondria. This results in more energy production.
Fasting: either intermittent or extended fasting can be very good for your mitochondrial health. Fasting kicks off something called Autophagy, a process through which the mitochondria are cleaned up. Through this process damaged and unwanted cell debris is removed, including those free radicals, while critical ATP production is maintained. Research has shown that fasting improves mitochondrial function and increases longevity.
Exercise: regular exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, helps mitochondrial health. In this study, interval training was shown to increase mitochondrial capacity in younger volunteers by 49% and in order ones by 69%. This is very interesting as the aging process decreases our ability to make mitochondria. It would appear that exercise can slow this process and improve our mitochondrial function in later life.
Stress: chronic stress increases inflammation, reduces immune function and increases tiredness. None of this helps your mitochondria. Use stress reduction techniques such as regular meditation, breathing exercises, yoga and time in nature to help you lift your mood and respond to stress better.
Sleep: to improve your mitochondrial function, make sure you sleep 7-8 hours per night on a regular basis, and get a good night-time routine in place that can get you to sleep quickly and obtain good quality sleep through the night. According to research, less than seven hours sleep per night can result in the reduction of mitochondrial DNA in the blood as well as poor cellular function.
Can you test for it?
Mitochondrial function is a bit more complex to assess, and requires consideration of a combination bio-markers. Probably the most direct marker is a marker of DNA oxidative stress: 8-OHdG. This is tested in urine, and you should be within the range 0.0 - 5.2 ng/mg.
Conclusion
All of us need to work on improving our mitochondrial health, and this can be done using simple and natural strategies. The mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells that have a key role in creating health in your body, including energy production. Poorly functioning mitochondria can increase your risk of disease and result in boring symptoms including faster aging. We need to create an awareness of this aspect of our health profile build mitochondrial enhancement protocols into our daily lives!