Have you ever wondered why mitochondrial function is so important to health, as we age?

Ageing, illness, energy, nutrition, and light; a guide to protecting mitochondrial function

Have you ever pondered the complexities of how our bodies convert the sun’s rays into vitamin D? Or indeed, the general interaction between our health, Circadian rhythms, and sufficient exposure to light?

Also, why do our energy levels – and ability to combat illnesses – decline as we get older?

This is an important and fascinating topic, tied up in our mitochondrial function. It can also be a vital piece of knowledge that can help you to understand how detoxification and good nutrition can protect your health at a cellular level.

What is mitochondrial function?

Every human cell contains structures that carry out essential functions. These are known as organelles (literally meaning ‘little organs’). Those organelles include tiny powerhouses called mitochondria. Their job is to produce the energy we need to survive.

As you can imagine, mitochondria in some tissue cells need to be dense in number, such as the ones in our heart that create the energy needed to keep it pumping!

Naturally, when your body’s ability to create mitochondria dips, so does your stamina, strength and cognitive abilities. You can be tired in ways that have nothing to do with sleep patterns.

Also, poor mitochondrial function makes you more vulnerable to illness, as your organs and tissues have less energy to work efficiently and protect themselves.

The scientific processes mitochondria use to create energy are highly complex, as you would imagine, involving two metabolic processes. One is called the citric acid cycle or tricarboxylic acid cycle). However, a closely linked one known as oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is responsible for a significantly bigger energy output.

This incredible and intricate biological system involves combining fuel (carbohydrates and fats), hydrogen, oxygen to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the formal name for the type of energy that underpins our physiology. Though another stage in the process is Oxidative phosphorylation, to produce sufficient ATP to pool energy to the cellular activities that rely on it the most

When can mitochondrial function be a problem?

If you look at the effects of a lessening in your mitochondrial function, it will come as no surprise that your production of mitochondria declines as you get older.

There is growing evidence that this is a key reason that older people are vulnerable to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease, for example. As well as a drop in metabolic energy that makes people feel lethargic.

One scientist who studied this – Dr Christoph Richter of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich – said as far back as 1995: “A decline in oxidative phosphorylation capacity has been proposed to limit life expectancy.”

This has been studied more since then, and it has become apparent that when we are young, our mitochondria are responsive to energy demands, and production can speed up as required.

The ageing process means this all slows down, and we have less ability to extract energy when needed. This is partly due to having less mitochondria, but also to having less efficient versions damaged by the free radicals we discuss so much in older people.

You could even hypothesise that the human ageing process pivots on our mitochondrial function decline, and our ability to fight off free radicals for as long as possible.

However, studies have also shown that a decline in mitochondrial function can be caused by both genetic and environmental damage, not just things we can control more.

Slowing or reviving decline in mitochondrial function

Accurately measuring your level of mitochondria production and performance is currently beyond the realms of modern technology. However, it is one of the priorities that medical scientists have, alongside ways to prevent ‘leakage’ and decline in this important biological process.

This is not a search for ‘immortality’ but simply a desire to find ways to combat mitochondria decline or inefficiencies. This will enable us to do a better job of fighting off the illness that becomes more prevalent as we age. This is particularly important to many of the medical scientists looking for ways to slow or prevent Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart problems and other diseases associated with ageing.

Clearly, ensuring you consume enough antioxidants in your nutrition plays an important role in combating free radicals that impact our mitochondrial function.

What else can you do to strengthen both their number and ability to produce energy? As research continues, it is becoming clearer that nutrition – and light – help to answer that crucial question.

Bio-metric enhancers for mitochondrial function

This list of nutritional elements that can support mitochondria production and efficiency is considerable. Including vitamins B, C, E, K and omega-3 fatty acids as well as iron, magnesium, manganese

Lesser-known biometric enhancers include Choline, CoQ10, Riboflavin and NADH (niacin).

How these nutrients work is that they support mitochondrial energy production. They are also key in our antioxidant protection against free radicals.

Ensuring you consume enough, clearly becomes even more important as you age. Work is also underway to find methods to release their potential to overturn some of our physiological decline as we get older.

Validating naturopathic principles

Increased understanding of biological processes like this continue to add credibility to the core principles of naturopathy – that illness can be prevented and treated by carefully regulating what we put into our bodies and by eliminating toxins.

Including not only by ensuring we have access to balanced and comprehensive nutrition, but also the healing and beneficial properties of light!

Light plays a key role in our body’s ability to create and use energy, which is also tied in with our access to vitamin D.

Vitamin D (which is in fact a hormone) is vital to many fundamental physiological processes. It is widely acknowledged to be essential to bone resilience and immune function, but in fact plays an important role in many of the other ways our cells are protected, repaired and replaced.

The association between the sun’s rays and our internal production of vitamin D is well known. You can draw parallels between our physiological need for light, the microscopic processes that convert it and photolysis in plants.

A fundamental way to boost your body’s natural light absorbance – and restore access to energy and healing- is a process we discussed in our article on biophoton activity and Electromagnetic Nutrition®.

Also, the importance of light-based therapy is linked to the way toxins build in our body and block essential biological functions.

There are believed to be 16 levels of cellular change. The top of the range is healthy “aerobic” cells – with 80% oxygen and 20% glucose. These can absorb and use light effectively as part of their purposes. At the other end of the scale, are “anaerobic” cells, with 80% glucose and 20% oxygen. They struggle to convert light into energy.

Therefore, our ability to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which was mentioned above, becomes compromised.

So, in summary, this shows both the importance of maintaining cellular integrity with good nutrition and of providing sufficient light for your energy production processes to thrive.

Juicing for mitochondrial function support

Detoxifying is another of the activities we can do to support our general health, including boosting our mitochondrial function.

A combination of fasting and restoring nutritional balance via juicing can combat the toxins that change our cells in detrimental ways, and which, therefore, reduce our ability to produce energy.

For centuries, various world cultures have embraced the health benefits of intermittent fasting, as part of a detoxification process. It has been viewed as the way to ‘enlightenment’ and freeing your body from things that harm it.

What is now becoming clearer is that this has its roots in scientific fact. By cleansing using intermittent fasting, and detoxifying through juicing, you can convert cells from almost anaerobic to aerobic ones.

This – and quality supplements – can also be a great way to ensure you consume enough vitamin D, Choline, and magnesium, for example. Which will also support your mitochondrial function and general ability to produce and use energy effectively.

Keeping up to date on nutritional research

If you would like regular nutritional news and information please keep checking back with this site. You are also warmly invited to contact the Conella team, to discuss personalised naturopathy programmes you can use for your own health, or to help your own clients.

Have you ever wondered why mitochondrial function is so important to health, as we age?

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