How Your Mitochondria Influence Your Health

Do you know what mitochondria are? You may recall the word from a biology class. Mitochondria are tiny organelles of the cell that provide energy to the cell. Mitochondria are often referred to as the "powerhouse" of the cell. All plant, animal and bacterial cells have mitochondria. When mitochondria burn fuel, they produce ATP molecules. ATP is the molecule of life, since all living cells use ATP to drive their cellular activities. Needless to say, proper mitochondrial function is essential for life.

The Importance of Optimizing Mitochondrial Metabolism:

Red blood cells and skin cells have very little mitochondria, while germ cells may have 100,000. Most cells have one to 2,000 mitochondria.

Since mitochondrial function is the driving force of every process that occurs in your body, optimizing mitochondrial function and preventing mitochondrial dysfunction is essential for health.

How Mitochondria Produce Energy :

To produce energy, your mitochondria require oxygen from the air you breathe, as well as fat or glucose from the food that you eat.

This process produces byproducts such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are damaging to your cells, your mitochondrial DNA and your nuclear DNA.

By producing energy, your body ages due to the damaging aspects from the ROS that are generated. How quickly your body ages largely depends on how well your mitochondria work and how this ROS damage can be minimized.

What Supplements Help Mitochondrial Function?

A diet with whole fruits and vegetables is important for general health as well as mitochondrial function, but using these supplements can also help to maximize your mitochondrial function and to minimize your mitochondrial damage.

1. CoQ10 or ubiquinol (the reduced form)

2. L-Carnitine, which shuttles fatty acids to the mitochondria

3. D-ribose, which is raw material for ATP molecule

4. Magnesium

5. Omega-3 fatty acids

6. All B vitamins, including riboflavin, thiamine and B6

7. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA)

Exercise Helps To Improve Your Mitochondria:

Exercise also promotes mitochondrial health, as it forces your mitochondria to work harder. One of the side effects of mitochondria working harder is that they're making more ROS, which act as signaling molecules to make more mitochondria. So, when you exercise, your body will respond by creating more mitochondria to keep up with your heightened energy requirement.

Aging is inevitable. But your biological age can be quite different from your chronological age. Your mitochondria have a lot to do with your biological aging. People can age biologically at very different rates. So regardless of your actual age, how old you look on the outside (without cosmetic modifications) and on the inside, corresponds with your biological biomarkers, which are largely driven by the health of your mitochondria.

Aging is inevitable, but you do have enormous control over the rate at which you age.

Read More