Hey, everyone, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays and to the last of twelve of our series of anti aging strategies. And today we are goining to talk about mitochondrial dysfunction, and it's basically.
The power failure behind aging.
That's power for people who can't understand my accent, and so mitochondrial dysfunction for me is probably the most important one, just in my opinion, of those twelve hallmarks of aging, because we know that the mitochondria are implicated in almost every one of the major causes of death, and they are also implicated in pretty much every mental health condition
that there is. Doctor Chris Palmer, who's a psychiatrist at Harvard University, has written a brilliant book called Being Brain Energy, and basically he shows quotes all of the studies that show that damaged mitochondria or suboptimal mitochondria are present in every mental health condition that there is. Now, let's get
back to the mitochondria. They are often known as the powerhouses of the cell because they create the energy within the cell, but their rules extend far beyond energy production and understanding how that influences aging and really provides insights into how we can maintain our vitality, increase our health span, and prevent chronic diseases. So what are they? They are specialized organelles. Organell is just a fancy name for a substructure of the cell that has one or more and
are one and more clear functions. And so these are specialized organelles within our cells, and they're responsible for producing ATP. ATP is the primary energy currency of our cells and therefore of us, and they achieve this ATP through something called oxidative phosphorolization.
So there's going to be a few big words. That's just a little bit of a warning.
But that's basically how we convert nutrients from food into energy, and it's through something called or part of it's through something called the CREB cycle. So cells with high energy demands think about neurons in the brain and muscle cells, they have numerous mitochondria to meet their energy needs. So the more energy hungry a cell is, the more mitochondria they tend to have. But they don't just the energy production.
They're also involved in critical processes like calcium signaling, which is really important for keeping us alive, apoptosis, which is that programmed sale death that we talked about in previous episodes, and also the generation of reactive oxygen species. And their unique feature is that they actually possess their own DNA called mitochondrial DNA, and it's inherited maternally, so it comes from the mum and that encodes essential components.
For their function.
And this really sets your mitochondria out from everything else, the fact that they have their own DNA which you actually get from the mother. And let's talk about mitochondrial dysfunction and why it's important in aging. So as we age this, the efficiency of our mitochondria actually declines, and that leads to reduce the AT production atp sorry production and increased reactive oxygen species generation. If you remember reaction of oxygen species, they can create inflammation and all sorts
of nasty things. They basically cause oxidative damage to cellular components including lipids, proteins in DNA within the cell and that contributes to cellular senescence and tissue dysfunction. So if you remember back cellular sinescence, that's like the zombie cells.
So basically, when your mitochondria loser efficiency, we get more damage inside the cell and the cell turns into zombie cells, and this decline in mitochondrial function is associated with a whole host of age related diseases such as metabolic syndrome, and metabolic syndrome basically increases your risk for a huge amount of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, the biggest killer, and we know that in powered mitochondrial function, it disrupts energy metabolism,
contributes to insulin resistance and obesity, which are hallmarks of metabolic syndrome, but also kind of mitochondrial function and contributes to neurodegenerative diseases because are neurons, because they're so energy hungry, they are particularly vulnerable to mitochondrial dysfunction. And we know now that defective mitochondria can lead to synaptic failure and the death of neurons, as we see in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. And the other big thing that it
contributes to is cardiovascular diseases. So mitochondal dysfunction in cardiac cells impers your heart function and contributes to hypertension, atherosclerosis, and overall cardiovascular disease. And if you take those collectively, cardiovascular disease neurodegenerate disease and metabolic syndrome, and in the knock on effects of metabolic syndrome, that actually.
Accounts for a huge portion of death.
And that's why I think mitochondrial dysfunction is the most important hallmark of aging. And we have this theory called the mitochondrial free radical theory of aging, and that suggests that a cumulative oxidative damage from these reactive oxygen species over time leads to the functional decline of our mitochondria and that drives the aging process. So let's talk about the stuff that we can actually do. And first up,
of course, is regular physical activity. There is probably nothing that you can do better for your mitochondria than regular physical activity.
Engaging in in.
Regular exercise is a cornerstone for bolstering mitochondrial health. Physical activity has been shown over and over again to improve mitochondrial function and induce mitochondrial biogenesis, which is the creation of new mitochondria.
And so it has two things.
It enhances the efficiency of your existence mitochondria and it creates new mitochondria. And this adaptation is crucial for meeting increased energy demands and improving our metabolic health.
And we know that.
Both aerobic training, particularly zone two, which is that's that heart rate of sixty to seventy percent of your max. But from a non technical perspective, you're exercising, you can talk, but you can't sing, So you can talk in sentences, but you're kind of breathing heavily and you can't sing. If you can sing, you're in zone one. If you can't talk in sentences, you're in zone three.
A higher heart rate zone.
And we know that this zone two, you it's basically where aerobic metabolism is dominant, and that has been shown to improve our mitochondrial health, can contribute a little bit to mitochondria biogenesis. And interestingly, I read a study recently where they took a bunch of people who weren't fit, and they put half of them straight into resistance training, and half of them they did eight weeks of aerobic training in zone two before they went into resistance training.
And then they looked at their.
Strength training gains and muscle sized gains, and it turns out that the people who'd done the aerobic training first actually increased their strength and muscle maths quicker than the people who went straight into the resistance training. And the thinking is the aerobic training gave them a better functioning mitochondria and some more mitochondria, and then that translated to quicker benefits from the strength training. So let's talk about
high physical activity. Actually, oh sorry before we do that. And high intensity interval training has shown to be very very potent in stimulating mitochondrial biogenesis of the creation of new mitochondria. So let's talk about the mechanism. One is AMPK, and so basically AMPK stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis and enhances oxidative metabolism. And the other thing, again we're getting a bit giky.
Here is PGC one alpha upregulation and PGC one alpha If you really want to know what it is, it's perioxysome proliferator activated receptor gamma coactivator one alpha, and this
is a master regulator of mitochondrial genesis. And this PGC one alpha pathway is hugely important in our health and studies have shown as I said, that both aerobic training and high intensity interval training and resistance training improves our mitochondrial content and function in our muscle, leading to improved intinal insensitivity and reduce.
Risk of metabolic disorder.
And we also know that fasting and exercise both stimulate mitochondria biogenesis and stress resistance in muscle cells and through calcium signaling an AMPK activation.
Right, that's geeky enough for the minute.
Let's talk about calorie restriction and intermittent fasting, So reducing your caloric intake without going into malnutrition or doing implement intermittent fasting or time restricted feeding as some people call it.
They have been associated with.
Enhanced mitochondrial function and increase lifespan in various species, not in humans, I hasten to add. But the mechanisms by which this happens is that when we fast, we switch from burning glucose to burning fat. This what we call metabolic flexibility. And when you switch over to burning fat, it actually stimulates the production of ketone bodies like beta hydrox computury it and that actually serves as an energy substrate and signaling molecule for the mitochondria. And what fasting
also does is it induces autopogy. I talked about that in earlier ones. That's the cellular clean up process by which the things inside the sale actually take damage mitochondria. This is called mitophagy. And they take that damage mitochondria and actually recycle them and create new mitochondria. So this is that's the cellular recycling plant that's actually going on.
And this this is called cyclic metabolic switching theory. It suggests that health benefits of intermittent fasting may actually be better than those of continuous calorie restriction. And I actually think that's a slam dunk because of that interplay between ketone metabolism, mitochondrial adaptations, and autophogy.
And I know I'm getting very.
Geeky here, but I think it's important to understand these processes. Now I link to this, you'll not be surprised to hear that if intermittent fasting does this and through ketones, going on a ktogenic diet where it's it's high fat, low carbohydrate and moderate protein that stimulates beta hydroxy buttyate
and other ketones which then positively influenced mitochondrial function. And we see this a katogenic diet really beneficial for Alzheimer's disease in Parkinson's disease, probably because of the impact that they have in the mitochondria in brain cells, and the mechanisms are very similar. Add to intermittent fasting enhance mitochondrial efficiency because the ktone bodies are really an excellent energy source.
An increase our at B production reduced oxidative stress. But beta hydroxy butty in itself has actually been shown to stimulate antioxidant defenses, which is really really important. And a study combining a ketogenic diet with exercise actually showed that there were alterations in mitochondrial function, including increased respiratory what's called respiratory control ratio and ATP production in skeletal muscle, as well as improvements.
In metabolic health markers.
So together with exercise and a ketogenic diet or intermittent fasting can be very powerful double wami for your mitochondria. Let's talk about pharmacological or supplement interventions. So NAD precursors theoretically are good for the mitrochondry because we know NAD plus is really important. So compounds that you'll see like NMN plastered all over the internet and NR they are thought to boost NAD levels. The fact they've been shown to actually do that, and that's essential for our mag
to chondrial function. But if you don't want to spend a shitload of.
Money on NMN and NR.
You can actually just take some B vitamins because NMN and NAR are actually converted in the gut to vitamin B three, which is nicotinic acid. And so you can either go out and spend a shitload of money on NMN and NR, or you can just take vitamin B three.
I know what I would do.
Another supplement that's pretty promising, And actually I have started playing with this methylne blue because it has been shown to actually stimulate the mitochondria through its actions on the crab cycle. It actually by cut passes for those who are geeky, complexes one in three in the electron transport chain and actually stimulates the crab cycle, leading to increased
ATP production and improves cellular energy metabolism through the mitochondria. Okay, now if that's not kiky enough, let's now talk about low level light therapy or infrared and near infrared light therapy, so near infrared light and that's also known as a photobiomodulation. That is basically applying low level red light to near
infrared light and to stimulate cellular function. And what it does is it works on something called cytochrome C oxides and that is a key enzyme in the mitochondrial electron transport chain. And there is a heap of research now I that shows that near infrared light actually boosts the function of your mitochondria, and that is something I was
so convinced by the research. And I have a panel that does both red light and near in for red light, because the research for me is very very compelling about improvements in mitochondrial function. And we are now even seeing near infrared light helmets of certain way of lengths significantly
improving symptoms in both Parkin's disease and Alzheimer's disease. And basically what happens is that at light passes goes through your skeleton and actually stimulates goes it deep inside of your body and stimulates your mitochondria and certain parts of the electron transport chain, and that leads to increased energy
production and improves cellular energy metabolism. And the other thing that near infrared light does is it releases nitric oxide, and that actually helps to improve blood flow and reduces oxidative stress.
And studies have.
Shown that infrared light penetrates human tissues and benefits mitochondrial function as I say it, and it can improve things like mitochondrial dynamics and quality control following ischemia, stroke, cardiac arras so I actually was using it post my heart surgery and also for overall brain function, cognitive function. It's actually been shown to help people recover from straight stroke
and neuro degenerative diseases. So hink conclusion, lots of big mouthfuls, but basically what we know is our mitochondria are absolutely key to cellular health and longevity, and doing things like regular exercising, intermittent fasting, low carbon particularly keathogenic diets, some potential pharmacology, and near infrared light therapy can all really benefit.
And while studies haven't been established it because they're really hard to do, I actually think that these things are additive because they work on slightly different pathways in our mitochondria.
So I think if.
You're doing all of them, you're going to get better benefits than if you're just doing one or two. So that's it for this week, folks, Catch you next time.