56: Tired All the Time? – The Surprising Mitochondria Fix for Energy & Vitality with Dr. Aaron Hartman

If you have a chronic illness, you deal with anything, cancer, anything metabolically related, you have to think about mitochondrial health. So you have to think about toxins, chemicals, things that uncouple the electron transport chain, nutrient deficiencies. You have to think about lifestyle factors, chemicals and toxins in the environment, chronic infections. And if you deal with these, these can be potential ways to mitigate the risk for literally every chronic illness, cancer, metabolic issue, et cetera, that's out there foreign. So what am I referring to when I refer to the most common cause for like, literally everything? Now, is this possible to have a root cause? Occam's razor, right? If there's one thing that explains everything, that's the most likely cause. We've been looking for this in medicine forever. I was trained to do this, to look for this, to find the one thing that explains everything. And if you find one thing, that's probably the main thing. You know, we got into functional medicine, started thinking differently. There's not one thing that causes everything. There's multiple different things, et cetera, et cetera. But when you get in the deep science, the deep magic, so to speak, of functional medicine, integrative medicine, et cetera, you do find one thing that's at the root cause for inflammation, that's at the root cause for aging and cancer and metabolic issues. And that thing is actually mitochondrial dysfunction. Now, I want to talk about that a little bit. What are mitochondria, and how does dysfunction and them relate to everything? We're learning that actually dysfunction of the mitochondria, which is literally your body's ability to make energy, affects everything as you get older. Your mitochondria do not recycle ATP as efficiently as they should. They don't make energy as efficiently as they should. When you get dysfunctional mitochondria, you'll see things like fatty liver disease. And we've actually discovered that mitochondrial dysfunction is at the root of autism, pain to pan, neurological issues, a whole host of things. And a lot of things we do in functional medicine and regular medicine are actually literally roundabout ways to try to address this mitochondrial disorder dysfunction. So first, I want to talk about, about this topic, take a deep dive into it and explain what I'm talking about and then give you some things you can actually do in regards to it. The mitochondria are uniquely susceptible to environmental chemicals and toxins because the mitochondrial DNA which comes from your mother is unique to you, to your mom, et cetera, is very susceptible to environmental factors that can actually cause the dysfunction. So before we go into that, you know, is, you know, where's the literature at? What's this literature say about mitochondrial dysfunction? Well, I'm going to go through a list of things that mitochondrial dysfunction is associated and you can answer for yourself. Do you think this is the root cause for all chronic illness? It's related to neurological diseases like als, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis, metabolic diseases. Well, metabolic disease is all the rage right now, right? Diabetes, obesity, that includes sleep apnea, pcos, it includes gout, kidney stones. But the more classic things like even obesity within metabolic syndrome has a mitochondrial dysfunction component to it. Cardiovascular disease, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, these are big causes of death. You know, cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in our country. The number two cause of death is cancer. Oh, by the way, most types of cancer actually are related to energy dysfunction, the so called Warburg effect, where cancer cells don't make energy as efficiently. Well, dysfunctional, I should say dysfunctional cells don't make energy as efficiently. They then create mutations that then eventually form the cancer. Fatigue syndromes like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, myalgic encephalomyelitis is what they call it over in the United Kingdom. These are related to your mitochondria not making energy as efficiently. I'm going to talk a little later about how these are all connected as far as causes and then treatment. So don't worry about that. And even genetic disorders, we have severe examples like Melos, lye syndrome and lhon. These metabolic, flat out metabolic genetic disorders are actually uncommon. I have never seen one in my career. People test for them. The specialists at university will check for them and say the patient sounds like they have a mitochondria. I've had several patients go to Mayo and Hopkins in Virginia, Richmond, Virginia and come back saying, hey, it looks like you sounds like you have a mitochondrial disease. But all the testing was negative. It's because it wasn't a primary genetic disorder, it was actually a functional disorder. So mitochondrial dysfunction is at the root of all chronic illness. Big thing. And we especially when talking about metabolic disorders, whether it's metabolic, cause of a cancer, heart disease, diabetes, neurological issues. I mean these are big picture things. So what can cause your mitochondria to be dysfunctional? There's four major areas I want to talk about. I want to talk about nutritional deficiencies, toxins. I want to talk about biological factors like chronic infections. And then there's even lifestyle factors that can be related to in radiation, which it's not as big of an issue these days as it was in times past when we used radiation for o say treating chronic tonsillitis, which actually was a thing, or chronic sinus infections. We don't really use it quite as much. But nutrients like magnesium, the most important nutrients actually whose deficiencies can be related to the mitochondria are actually in what's known as the actual mitochondria complexes. That includes nad, which is the active version of niacin. That includes F, F, M, which is the active version of riboflavin. That includes CoQ10, ubiquinol, which is the active version of CoQ10. That also includes oxygen. If you don't breathe enough oxygen in, that's an important part of. And then a bunch of B vitamins including B1, I already mentioned B2 and B3, B6, B12, folic acid, which is B6. Magnesium is an often overlooked important factor. You may have heard about how important magnesium is for all kinds of things. One of it's related to over 300 different activities in our body. But the big thing about it is that it actually helps with energy production as well. There's things like carnitine, ribose, acetyl, L, carnitine, more for neurological carnitine, for just regular mitochondrial function. Creatine you may have heard of. And then even special fatty acids like phosphatidylcholine, phosphatol, inositol and phospholethanolamine, and even omega 3 fatty acids. These are all important for mitochondrial function. Now the funny thing is, in general we have tons of deficiencies in all of these fatty acids and all these nutrients and all these different things. 30% of the population roughly has a deficiency in essential fatty acid called C15. So it just becomes interesting that nutritional deficiencies by themselves can set you up for mitochondrial dysfunction. Then there's toxins in the environment. Heavy metals, mercury, lead, arsenic. Environmental chemicals like pesticides, herbicides, plasticizers, BPA forever chemicals. Mold and mycotoxins is something I deal with a lot. Individuals who might have a already have some nutritional deficiencies and some other things then develop well then get exposed to mold in the house of a water leak. You know, maybe they're in a place North Carolina with floods, Texas, Florida with hurricanes, and they get toxin hit from water damaged building, which is mold, mycotoxins and endotoxins, actinomyces. These are all toxins from water damaged building. It's a big hit to your system. Drugs, 30% of pharmaceuticals are mitochondrial toxicants there's actually textbooks on this. You know, some of you are familiar with statins, which is for cholesterol. They actually are a mitochondrial toxicant. Fluoroquinone is an antibiotic. But 30%, up to 30% of pharmaceuticals are mitochondrial toxicants. How many pills are you or your loved one? How many pills are grandma or granddad taking? The answer is a lot. A lot. And 30% of those are mitochondrial toxins. Then there's the typical things like smoking, alcohol. We already mentioned ionizing radiation, including EMF radiation. Again, who gets exposed to all. We all get exposed to most of these in certain degrees, usually really, really minimal amounts. It's just when these toxins build up on top of environmental, on top of nutritional deficiencies, it just becomes a bad, bad stew. Then there's biologic factors.

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The most common biological factor actually related to mitochondrial dysfunction or chronic infections. Viral infections like Epstein Barr, Lyme disease, HHV6, and CMV. Epstein Barr has been associated with different kinds of cancers and autoimmune diseases. So as CMV as well as HHV 6. Gut dysbiosis. Gut issues is another biological factor. It releases endotoxins known as lipopolysaccharides. And these are horrible. Your liver usually detoxifies these. These are actually part of metabolic syndrome and its untoward effects. Autoimmune activation, cytokines, hormonal imbalances. These are all biological factors that can lead to mitochondrial dysfunction and then lifestyle factors. You don't get enough sleep. You're not physically active. You have chronic stress. You Have a high sugar diet. These can all result in mitochondrial dysfunction. So what are some some therapies, some things you can do to prevent or improve body function. The first thing is just lifestyle based things. Intermittent fasting, physical exercise particularly hit high intensity interval training. These are all things that stress your mitochondria. Temperature fluctuations. It used to be back in the day you go from hot in the summertime to cold in the wintertime. Now no one gets exposed to those temperature changes. So we kind of try to replicate that with cold plunges or saunas. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy actually works through the electron transport chain at Complex 3 where oxygen it just increases the gradient. But it also has a lot of other impacts on stem cells. It's a powerful antiviral and as well as anti cancer agent. But it does improve mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondrial dysfunction is improved all by itself. I was actually talking to one lady who had a child who had a genetic mitochondrial dysfunction. At birth his mitochondria were functioning about 20 to 30% of normal. And he was supposed to die by 6 to 12 months of age. She actually started using hyperbaric at a young age. Child survived into the 20s. And when there was about 18, 20 years old, had a muscle biopsy done that showed his mitochondrial functioning at 80%. It's just, you know, an example of that. Actually hyperbaric does actually improve mitochondrial dysfunction. And there's actually some new literature out with Even room like 1.3 atmospheres of room air. Hyperbaric actually improving stem cell function and sleep hygiene. Getting adequate sleep, getting enough sleep is super huge with improving mitochondrial dysfunction. Then there's the nutrient size, There's a lifestyle of the nutrients. Things like NAD nicotinamide mononucleotide, which is an active form of niacin. CoQ10 ribose which D ribose is something we use routinely for people with chronic fatigue. Fibro long Covid, a bunch of other patients. Creatine, carnitine, alpha lipoic acid. Alpha lipoic acid is interesting in its role in mitochondrial function. It's also an antioxidant. It can be helpful with people with visual disembiracing data with retinal issues. Macular degeneration as well as tearing of the vitreous related to alpha lipoic acid sufficiency, helping minimize those and all the B vitamins. All the B vitamins are super critical. B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 are super critical for the electron transport chain to do what it's doing. Fatty acids, omega 3s, phosphylcholine, these are all things that actually support cardiolipin which is an important part of your mitochondrial inner membrane. Again, nutrients, nutrition and then just good old fashioned antioxidants. Vitamin C, vitamin E, PQQ, which is special like a B6 that helps with mitochondrial energetics. Melatonin strangely enough also in addition to being a an antioxidant, it is a very very potent specifically mitochondrial antioxidant. Then all your good old fashioned minerals Magnesium, zinc, copper, resveratrol, curcumin, quercetin so what's the point? If you have a chronic illness, you deal with anything cancer, anything metabolically related, you have have to think about mitochondrial health. So you have to think about toxins, chemicals, things that uncouple the electron transport chain, nutrient deficiencies. You have to think about lifestyle factors, chemicals and toxins in the environment, chronic infections. And if you deal with these, these can be potential ways to mitigate the risk for literally every chronic illness, cancer, metabolic issue, et cetera that's out there. So if you have questions about, please post them below. If this information is helpful, please like share subscribe if you have a particular topic you would like us to talk about, please share it and as time permits, we would love to take a deep dive into the root cause for everything. Take care, we'll talk to you soon.