How Does Your Body Make Energy?

Your body has all these amazing repair systems that you can turn on that have been there always that are probably not turned on and every one of those repair systems is dependent on functioning mitochondria.

Many of us suffer from low energy, fatigue, memory loss, pain, rapid aging and more. These issues frequently have a common cause, mitochondrial damage. So what are mitochondria and how can we care for them? Dr. Hyman has discussed the important role that mitochondria play in our health in several conversations with past guests on the podcast. Here he is in with biohacking expert and founder and CEO of Bulletproof 360, Dave Asprey.

So in the science of aging, we know a lot now. We know a lot about what causes aging. We know a lot about the mechanisms. And in functional medicine, you know, there are fundamental laws of nature that we follow in order to create vibrant health. And there are systems in the body that are all networked together that determine the quality of your health or will determine disease. And, and two of those, well, many of them, all of them in fact, are connected, whether it's the microbiome or your hormones or your detoxification system. But two of the central features of aging are inflammation. It could be called inflammaging, right? And, the mitochondria, which for those listening, those are the little powerhouses of your cells that produce energy. When you eat and you breathe, you basically combust them like in an engine and these little tiny things inside your cells that produce energy in the form of ATP. That is the central quality of your health, which is the quality of your mitochondria, the quality of your health depends on the quality of your energy. And so those two things are things you have written a lot about.

Yeah.

And you know a lot about, and we know a lot about what makes those systems go awry and how to fix them. So can you talk a little bit about that?

Diabetes is a disease where your cells can't use food in the form of glucose and air to make energy. It's a mitochondrial dysfunction, a metabolic dysfunction disease. And that disease raises your risk of cancer and heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Yeah, four times the risk if you have diabetes that you're gonna get dementia.

Exactly. So could it be that all four of the killers are all tied to metabolic dysfunction, which is tied to mitochondrial performance, it turns out it is. It also turns out that your body has all these amazing repair systems that you can turn on that have been there always that are probably not turned on, and every one of those repair systems is dependent on functioning mitochondria. So when we look at these seven pillars of aging, one of the first ones is mitochondrial mutations. These mitochondria, they're ancient bacteria that are a part of our cells now.

They look like little bacteria. If you look at them in a microscope.

And they have their own DNA. bacterial DNA. And so you could say that, oh, we harnessed them, but from their perspective, we found these mobile petri dishes that walk around and do stuff, and we're the puppet masters. And if we don't like what's going on, we just make less energy, and then they feel crappy, then they do what we want. So literally they're driving a lot of the reason that you just unconsciously reach for the cigarette or you reach for the donut. It's because your mitochondria is saying, I need food right now. And they're talking to you, and then you find the donut in your hand, or you told yourself you weren't going to smoke today, and you did. who's pulling the puppet strings? Those little bastards are.

Yeah, let's get those. No, we don't want to get them. We want to help them.

You do want to help them because when they're happy, you're happy. And that includes eating the right stuff, it includes sleep, all the good stuff that you talk about on your show, Mark. However, they mutate relatively easily.

They're easily damaged.

Yeah, right?

They're easily damaged. And your job is to teach your body, you know, if one of them is damaged or slow, Kill it all the way and replace it with a fresh young one because we have that ability. But if you eat too much, eat too often, eat the wrong things, don't do the other things that don't cost much if anything, then the systems that...

Like exercise and sleep and... Yeah, you.

Know, things like that.

Yeah.

Really basic stuff to be honest. But if you do them at the right time or in the right way with a little bit of structure around them, what happens is the old weak mitochondria get out of the way and make make space for young ones. And when that happens, all of the other repair systems can turn on.

Each cell holds hundreds or thousands of mitochondria, and mitochondria are the key energy sources for our bodies, which makes their function so important to our overall health. Dr. Hyman spoke more about this with his colleague at the Ultra Wellness Center, Dr. Todd LePine.

In functional medicine, we talk a lot about something called the mitochondria, which you're really an expert in. And it's something that is really the One of the keys to solving many problems and puzzles in chronic disease, whether it's Parkinson's or Alzheimer's or diabetes or obviously fatigue issues, so forth. Fibromyalgia, tell us about what are these mitochondria? How do we look at them? And what do we do about it?

Our mitochondria, which are the power plants of our bodies, are actually way back when we're ancient bacteria that became engulfed in our cells and are now the power plants of our cells.

And they have different DNA.

They have totally different DNA. In fact, Lynn Margulis, who was married to Carl Sagan, I had the opportunity to meet her and have lunch with her.

It was amazing.

For those of you who don't know.

She'S sort of an icon in the world of biology who first described this whole phenomena.

Yes, exactly. So, it was right during the '60s, everyone was studying the nuclear DNA, which is the double helix DNA, and she made an observation that there's DNA in the cell in a circular and she goes, what does that mean? Where did that come from? And she was actually a protist. She studied small ancient bacteria, and she realized that that DNA reminded her of the ancient bacteria. And then she came up with the hypothesis that eukaryotic cells, which are the cells that we have, actually way back when those little bacteria came and sort of created this symbiotic relationship where you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back.

Yeah.

And that's really how we have mitochondria. And mitochondria are so important. And this is what I always tell patients is that if you take cyanide, you will die in a matter of minutes. And the reason for that is cyanide flips the switch on your mitochondria. Turns them off.

Turns them off like that. Yeah, basically that's what happens when you die. You have no energy anymore.

Lights out.

And lights are out. And yet there's varying forms of lights out with mitochondria that are really common, whether it's autism we're finding now, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's. So, mitochondria, you realize there are these little tiny things inside your cells. There can be hundreds to thousands of them, and they basically take oxygen that you breathe and the food that you eat and they burn them like an engine and outside and outcomes energy, which is what runs your body in the form of ATTP. So, that's what has to happen every day, every minute for you to run every chemical reaction in your body, to run everything that you're doing.

Everything. And when that process gets bunged up, you get sick. Exactly. That's very well put. Exactly. You get bun. Especially the highly metabolic tissues. So things like the brain, things like the heart are the highly dense mitochondria. You know, how do we test for mitochondria? You know, when you go to most doctors, most doctors don't even remember mitochondria in their training, nor do they ever test for it. So we test for organic acids for it. You can also- It's a urine test. It's easy to do. Yeah, relatively easy to do. And you can also do genetic testing for mitochondria. When you get an inherited mitochondrial issue, that's where maybe seeing somebody serious. Yeah, that's much more serious. But you can also have a lot of acquired mitochondrial issues. And the good news is that we can heal our mitochondria.

What messes them up?

What messes them up? Yeah, what messes them up? Well, excessive oxidative stress will do it. So infections. Yeah, so excess amounts of free radicals, oxidative stress, 'cause your mitochondria is like a fireplace. You throw logs into your fireplace, which is food, and you give off sparks. and you throw too much food logs in the fireplace, you get too much sparks and you get too much free radicals.

Too many calories.

Too many calories.

Too many bad calories.

Exactly. Sugar and starch. And too many bad calories not compensated by enough dietary antioxidants is another potential source. Antibiotics are huge. Yeah. Especially the phloxins. I mean, that's a whole topic unto itself is being phloxed, which I'm sure you've seen patients with that because they definitely are. Bactericidal antibiotics are definitely poisonous to mitochondria and statin medications.

And they do cause muscle damage and some people are more susceptible to it. Absolutely. And there's genetic variations in how people respond to statins and that probably has to do with their mitochondrial function. But it's for sure. So toxins also, like heavy metals and pesticides are poisonous, too much sugar and starch and calories, oxidative stress that comes from inflammation. I mean, that's why when you have the viral flu, you feel achy and tired and sore. 'Cause your mitochondria are getting nuked, right? Nutritional deficiencies, right? We need all sorts of nutrients like.

Carnitine, CoQ10, B vitamins, all play a big role. Things like smoking, stress, and lack of sleep can all damage your mitochondria. Environmental toxins and eating a diet rich in refined sugar and flour can also result in mitochondrial injury. But the good news is there are many things that you can do to support your mitochondria. Avoiding ultra-processed foods is key to supporting your mitochondria. Instead, focus on eating real, whole, colorful plant foods and high-quality proteins and fats. Be sure to choose organic and grass-fed whenever possible. Support your detoxification system by drinking plenty of water. Make sure you're eliminating your bowels at least one to two times a day, exercise regularly, and focus on getting quality sleep. Consult a healthcare practitioner to determine if you might also benefit from nutritional supplementation. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Doctor's Pharmacy. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a comment below or sharing the episode with a friend. Until next time.