Understanding Mitochondria

Good morning!

You eat well, you sleep enough, you manage stress, and yet some days you still feel like you're running on fumes. The problem might not be what you're doing on the surface. It might be what's happening at the cellular level, in the structures responsible for converting food and oxygen into actual usable energy.

This week, we're talking about mitochondria. Let's break down what mitochondria are and what they do, why they sometimes malfunction, and what you can do to support them.

Key Takeaways

Mitochondria are cellular “power plants” that produce ATP, and have unique genetics passed down exclusively through your maternal line.
Oxidative stress and accumulated damage reduce mitochondrial efficiency, causing chronic fatigue and low energy.
CoQ10 neutralizes damage, magnesium makes ATP usable, and intermittent fasting triggers cleanup of old mitochondria.

CORE

What Are Mitochondria?

Inside basically every cell in your body lies a mitochondria. It’s what would be considered an organelle, or a specific part of a cell that has a particular job. In this case that job is principally to produce enough energy for your entire body to function, which is no simple task.

The best way to understand how they work is to think of them like a dam. Between their double membrane is a very high concentration of protons, which flow through a turbine-like structure called ATP synthase. As it spins, ATP synthase grabs ADP (adenosine diphosphate) molecules and attaches a phosphate group, creating ATP (adenosine triphosphate). If that doesn’t sound crazy cool, I don’t know what does!

For those who haven’t read our Creatine edition, ATP and ADP is the energy currency your cells use for everything from muscle contractions to brain function.

Are They a Biological Anomaly?

Mitochondria are fascinating because they don't behave like anything else in our bodies. They are "evolutionary outsiders" for several reasons:

They have their own DNA: Unlike every other part of you, mitochondria carry their own genetic blueprint.
The Mother’s Gift: Mitochondrial DNA is passed down exclusively through the maternal line. You carry the energetic legacy of your mother, grandmother, and every woman before them.
Bacterial Origins: Their DNA is circular, a trait typically seen only in bacteria (a huge clue to their origin).

The Endosymbiotic Theory: Scientists believe that about 1.5 to 2 billion years ago, a large cell "swallowed" a smaller aerobic bacterium. Instead of digesting it, they formed a partnership. The host cell provided protection, and the bacterium provided a massive boost in oxygen-based energy. This bizarre cellular "roommate agreement" is the reason multicellular life exists today!

When Mitochondria Stop Working

Mitochondria work very well most of the time, however there are a few processes that can cause our mitochondria to glitch or to outright stop working properly. These can be grouped into two main categories:

Oxidative Stress: As we mentioned above, the mitochondria excel at aerobic metabolism, which requires oxygen. As much as we need oxygen, it’s actually harmful to our bodies (to an extent) due to the formation of reactive compounds called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). ROS are mostly created within the mitochondria and can wreak havoc if there isn’t enough antioxidant activity to keep it in check.
Accumulated Damage Over Time: Its not aging itself that causes mitochondrial decline, it's the accumulated exposure to environmental stressors: air pollution, contaminants like plastics in the food we eat and radiation that we are exposed to.

Our body is very good at fixing mutations as they occur but every now and then one slips by, and usually no big deal. But after decades of small slipups, the dysfunction accumulates, making the mitochondria progressively more inefficient. This can mean that it doesn’t produce energy as effectively, can’t control the oxidative stress as well or that a process called mitophagy fails (when the older mitochondria are replaced by new ones).

How To Support Your Own Mitochondria

You can probably improve your mitochondrial function a thousand different ways. But there are four particular ones that have caught my attention and I think are worth explaining:

Red Light Therapy: I’ll admit it, I wasn’t entirely sure why people were bathing in red light until just recently. Exposure to 670nm wavelength light gets absorbed by a protein called cytochrome C oxidase, which is an enzyme that boosts electron transport chain. This basically makes the turbines that we discussed earlier spin faster, resulting in more ATP being produced, meaning more energy.
COQ10: You may or may not have seen this acronym somewhere, and you may or may not have wondered to yourself, “what in the industrial lab is that!” (I sure did). It’s actually a natural enzyme that exists within your mitochondria. Simply put, its job is to neutralize the ROS created during aerobic metabolism, and to transport electrons around the electron transport chain. This electron chain is how the proton gradient discussed above is made.
Magnesium: This essential mineral is once again one of the cornerstones of our bodies functions, from the smallest sections of our cells all the way to the integrity of our bones. In this case magnesium serves a dual purpose. It’s required by ATP synthase (the turbines) in order to spin correctly. They also make the ATP biologically active, so that your body can actually use it.
Intermittent Fasting: Another habit that can work wonders for your health. When you fast, your body's glucose reserves deplete relatively quickly, forcing your mitochondria to switch to burning fat for fuel. The problem with fat is that it isn’t nearly as efficient as glucose. In order for your body to produce all the energy that it needs, it has to clean up old or defective mitochondria through the process called mitophagy.

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ENDNOTE

Final Thoughts

Here’s to a week of feeling fully charged, vibrant, and deeply connected to the incredible biology that makes you, you.

Until next week!

Adrian Macdonald | Team Dietitian | The 8% Newsletter Author

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