The Revolutionary Key to Optimal Health and Energy – Part II

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Immunity

According to Dr. Hyman, Director of the Cleveland Clinic for Functional Medicine, our “gut flora can be causing cancer” as different microbiome imbalances can be related to different chronic conditions. Microbiome imbalance is being linked to bowel disorders, diabetes, neurological disorders, cardiovascular disease, cancer and autism – all the prominent chronic conditions and killers increasing steadily at this time.

Activation of our immune system activates a general and specific inflammatory response according to the signal compounds triggering it and this affects our whole body. It becomes a problem when it’s prolonged or even permanently switched on. So how it is, that microbes that are part of our ecology can regulate our body cells and our immune response, without instigating a major immune response themselves? Recent science has identified Toll-like receptors (TLR’s) that recognise patterns or molecular signatures of symbiotic microbiota molecules versus pathogenic derived molecules. Put simply, TLR’s help our body identify which communication is from friend or foe. When receptors for TLR’s are low, or there is inappropriate or unregulated activation of TLR’s, our immune system becomes highly sensitised and begins to attack everything in its own unique way. This along with other factors like Immunoglobulin (IgG) activity can be tied in with the huge increases in sensitivities and allergies occurring in many people mainly since the industrial age.

Toxins in our foods bond with proteins in the food, stressing and reducing our oral tolerance to chemical exposure. These toxin bound proteins also activate our immune response and general inflammation that is related to most of our modern chronic illnesses.

Improving our tolerance to foods and environment is about supporting diversity and balance of our microbiota. A diverse primarily plant-based diet with moderate and regular exposure to pathogens in our environment educates and refines the immune system of our gut.

Mild sicknesses, especially as we are growing up or from a change of environment, can be our natural way of developing our immunity and resilience. Centenarian’s around the world today have mostly had childhood sicknesses we now inoculate against, sterilise our environments and try and avoid at all costs. Children are being prevented with medications, domestic products and separation from the natural environment of having exposure to environmental microbes. Low risk illnesses like mild fevers and headaches are prevented or halted by medications so the immune response is halted from its full cycle to encode lifelong resilience. Overkill measures to protect our young and lack of outdoor environmental exposure is robbing the latest generation from gaining adaptable microbiota that practice, refine and remember successful immune responses to pathogenic stressors.

Sayer Ji (Natural Health Researcher and Educator) says that health and good immunity is not about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria and viruses but how they work together. He gives an example of the viral aspect of our microbiome which includes bacteriophages who help regulate certain bacteria. Viruses are a necessary source of certain genetic information looking for chromosomes to convey a horizontal transfer of often important genetic information to host cells. About 7% of our functional protein coding genome is retroviruses. So despite feared ones, like HIV, this category of microbiota is important to us. For example, retroviruses are responsible for neuroplastcicity that has helped our brains develop through evolution and remain functional and adaptive throughout our lifetime. Retroviruses were needed to evolve the placenta in pregnancy. Viruses like bacteriophages in our system are not necessarily bad.

Future health treatments for acute and chronic conditions will not only need to work with our microbiome ecology but do so on an individual level. This is a new area of development with many approaches of integrative therapies combining traditional and modern medicine. Mostly, mild treatments that help but don’t interfere with our full immune response will best assist healing and ongoing development of resilience. Lifestyle adjustments to diet, our activities and way we deal with stress to suit our own unique pathology and microbiome will become more specific and clear as science and holistic approaches to health become integrated.

Helping our microbiota for immunity:

  • Diverse locally grown foods are not only fresh but have their own helpful microbiome to provide useful information to our cellular and microbial compadres.
  • Wherever possible, eat organic foods not contaminated with sprays and chemical fertilisers and other chemical residues.
  • Playing and working or going barefoot in the dirt and natural environment exposure is an important part of our history, wellbeing as well as microbiome evolution and activation.

Environment

Chemicals in our environment (soil, air, living spaces, personal care and hygeine products, food and beverages) have been increasing exponentially. They impact our microbiome and gene expression. Additionally, deciding what microbes we allow and don’t allow in our living spaces, agricultural farming and elsewhere, without understanding microorganism ecologies, is causing great health issues for us and the environment.

Kiran Krishnan (Research Biologist) uses auto immune disease as an example, which can be triggered by medications or exposure to environmental factors like chemicals that “cause perturbations in the microbiome ecology that amplifies into a dysbiotic system we call disease”.

Epithelial cells line outer surfaces of organs, blood vessels and inner surfaces of cavities in internal organs (skin, lungs, gastrointestinal tract). Researchers and practitioners like Aristo Vojdani consider them one of the most important cell types in our immune system as they are the front line and channel of information between environmentally introduced compounds and microbes and the microbiota of our body and body cells. Environment and diet then impact their function and communication.

Apart from understanding microbial ecologies much more, many professionals are echoing traditional and complementary medicine views that we need to make friends with our symbiotic and pathogenic microbes in our bodies and environment. Exposure to pathogens has driven development of our resilience to disease and environmental change throughout evolution.

Using environmental factors to help your microbiota:

  • spend time outdoors in diverse ecosystems – research shows it impacts microbiome in the body and stress levels. The ocean, healthy rivers and forests provide this diversity in addition to outdoor time in your backyard or local parks.
  • eliminate chemicals in your home and household by finding chemical free products
  • growing your own food without chemicals and correct composting means diversifying microbial life in the soil that feeds the food you eat and contributes to better microbial diversity in your food.

Diet

Everyone has a unique microbiome make-up, however dietary fibre is a key part of the diet that affects type and amount of microbiota in everyone. It can only be broken down and fermented by enzymes from microbiota in the colon, one of the by-products being short chain fatty acids (SCFA). Apart from fibre enriching and supporting these microbiota, SCFA produced lowers pH of the colon limiting harmful bacteria like Clostridium difficile , and also stimulates healthy immune cell activity and helps maintain healthy glucose and cholesterol levels in the blood. Fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains are generally good sources of prebiotic fibers.

According to Dr. Datis Kharrazian (Clinical Researcher, Functional Neurologist and Professor), when we change our diet, we change our microbiome balance and therefore our gene expression. Exposure to chemicals also changes our gene expression – when genes are activated, switched on or off. This is becoming a factor in many specialist areas of medical and health professions.

Dr. Michael Ash, D.O. (Research and Clinical Educator) considers the right nutrients as crucial to healthy communication between microbiota and mitochondria. He explains microbiota use nutrients to direct function and maintenance of mitochondria, while mitochondria produce metabolites in their activity that contribute to smooth healthy functioning microbiota. This loop of “dynamic dialogue is a new area of research”, its substrate being our food which also contains information from bacteria in the soil it grew in. This is a link to why eating locally grown fresh food is a big plus to helping our bodies adaptability in its local environment.

Foods that help our microbiome:

  • Probiotic foods provide live microbiome and include live-culture fermented foods like kefir and certain yoghurts with a good range and concentrated active culture (look for recommended brands), pickled vegetables and sauerkraut, miso, tempeh, kombucha tea and kimchi.
  • In Japan some fermented seaweeds and fermented soy beans called nato (also providing Vitamin K) are good.

Diet Actions:

  • Eat a diverse diet with plenty of wild and local plant based foods, preferably organically grown in local soils
  • utilise water purifiers to eliminate consumed chlorines and flouridation and exposure in showers and baths
  • Complex carbohydrates including tubers, root, fuits (separate from other foods) and vegetables provide pre-biotic fibre
  • Include probiotic fermented foods, wild plants and probiotic supplements including spore based live cultures
  • Our microbiome have circadian cycles related to our own circadian sleep and activity cycles. Intermittent fasting of 12 hours plus, which includes sleep time, is believed to increase microbiota diversity, strengthen our immune system and protect us against leaky gut [1,2]

Probiotic Supplementation

In line with the great strides in this new and game changing approach to health, probiotic and prebiotic supplements are big business these days, expected to surpass $65 Billion by 2024.

Dr. Allan Walker, Professor at the Harvard Medical and Public Health Schools believes probiotic supplementation “can be be most effective at both ends of the age spectrum, because that’s when your microbes aren’t as robust as they normally are”. However, due to the added weight of research providing understanding about the large impact of dietary and environmental factors, many health professionals are utilising probiotic supplementation to support adjustments in diet and environment for people of all ages. Microbiome issues and treatments can be based on microbiome testing and symptomatic indications of microbiome imbalance. Many symptoms of microbiome imbalance or gut infections can resemble other conditions because they are so fundamental to so many systems and functions in the body.

A probiotic supplementation should have a good range and concentration of active microbiota, which should include spore base microrganisms that are activated in the acidity of the stomach and breed in the lower gut. Not all microbiota are capable of passing the acidity of the stomach alive to get to the needed sites. Some probiotics that meet this, also provide some organic pre-biotic nutrition for the pro-biotic content such as this one. Many gut specialists have their own recommended products and a range of probiotic formulas for different overall types of body and microbiome constitutions.

For specific issues there is no probiotic to suit everyone, as our microbiome are so unique. However, effective and quality probiotics to date have proving to be of significant help to people who have low numbers or diversity of bacteria.

As an example of future possibilities, a recent 2018 study of probiotics, combined a probiotic blend with an Aryurvedic compound of amalaki, bibhitaki and haritaki medicinal fruits (called Triphala). The experiment looked at how gut microbiota composition can be impacted by probiotics to impact how foods are metabolised to lengthen life spans. The symbiotic formula (Triphala and probiotic) was tested based on research that indicated the combination would synergistically perform in enhancing microbiota activity while maintaining balance. Tests were done on fruit flies who have about 70% similarity in biochemical pathways and the promising results produced an impressive 60% increase in the lifespan of flies fed with the symbiotic formula. While humans are not expected to have as dramatic a result there is much optimism about such formulas promoting longer life and good health with possible applications to be tested with disorders like diabetes, obesity, neuro-degeneration, chronic inflammation, depression, irritable bowel syndrome and some cancers [3].

References – Part II

  1. V.D. Longo, Satchidananda Panda, Fasting, Circadian Rhythms, and Time-Restricted Feeding in Healthy Lifespan, Science Direct 2016 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2016.06.001
  2. C.A. Thaiss, D. Zeevi, et al., A Day in the life of the meta-organism: diurnal rhythms of the intestinal microbiome and its host, published online: 22 April 2015 https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2015.1016690
  3. Westfall, S., et al. Longevity extension in Drosophila through gut-brain communication, Scientific Reports (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-25382-z

Other Sources:

Many of the experts cited here have been quoted from the online series The Human Longevity Project at https://humanlongevityfilm.com/ and include:

  • Dr. Mark Hyman (Director at Cleleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine)
  • Kiran Krishnan (Research Biologist)
  • Aristo Vojdani PHD, MSC (Professor of Neuroimmunology)
  • Sayer Ji (Natural Health Researcher and Educator)
  • Dr. Datis Kharrazian (Clinical Researcher, Functional Neurologist and Professor)
  • Dr. Michael Ash, D.O. (Research and Clinical Educator)
  • Dr. Allan Walker, Professor at the Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Photo credit: IBM Research on Visual hunt / CC BY-ND (quote added)

The Revolutionary Key to Optimal Health and Energy – Part I

Posted on by colinchenery

Holistic and allopathic medicine researchers and professionals are emphasising the importance of looking after our microbiome as more and more research shows how vital this part of our physiology is for mental and physical health as well as longevity. Consider these three developments that are only a few decades in coming to light as fields of science transforming modern views of health and treatment:

  • Many experts are claiming microbiota are the basis of every disease and health solution there is.
  • Just as profoundly, is that for the first time, we are only just arriving at the initial stages of truly personalised diagnosis and treatments through scientific analysis of an individuals microbiome, genome and micro-RNA signature – millions of pieces of information so huge that only artificial intelligence can analyse the data to come up with a unique set of issues, recommended actions and diet. Considering there is no single food or diet perfect for everyone and that we are getting down to a holistic causal factor of disease, this is revolutionary.
  • New understanding coming to light embraces the latest in health science and the principles of traditional healing and transformational systems.
  • The science of microbiome and health is revealing what traditional medicine and cultures have known through the ages – that there is an intimate exchange of information and interdependence between our mind, body and gut, and just as intimately between our body, food and every aspect of our environment. The key to this is bio-chemical messaging via microorganisms, some even regulating body functions and gene expression.

Thus the power is coming back into our own hands to determine our health and wellbeing.

Microbiome

Microbiome is the trillions of microorganisms in our bodies of thousands of different species [1]. They actually out-number and have more overall mass than the total cells of our body. This remarkable fact is the reason why many health and research models are beginning to view humans physiologically as ‘holobionts’ (an aggregation of various species of organisms and their collective genomes – total DNA information – working together as a symbiotic ecology).

Our microbiome include bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses. In a healthy body they co-exist in a way that promotes health (symbiotically) overall. When the system is unhealthy or imbalanced by infections, certain diets, excessive or prolonged physical and psychological stress, overuse of antibiotics and some other medications, over exposure to anti-bacterial and anti-fungal products, insufficient or disruptive environmental exposure, imbalance in microbiota can result in insufficient symbiotic activity or excessive and disruptive pathogenic activity. This is called dysbiosis.

Dr. Mark Hyman (Director at Cleleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine) says that “there are more molecules in your blood from gut microbiome than your own human [cell derived] molecules” and the same goes for metabolites in the blood.

We have 22,000 functional genes, however an earth worm or a rice plant have double that amount of functional genes. Kiran Krishnan, a Research Biologist addresses how we conduct all of the functions we do in our complex systems. Microbiome in our system have about 3.3 million functional genes, about 150 times more bacterial and viral DNA than our human cells, and it is looking like 90% of our metabolic functioning is coded by our bacterial and viral DNA.

We get our microbiome initially from our mother while developing as a fetus and baby in the womb, then important added exposure to microbiome in the birth canal and breast feeding as an infant. Many practitioners now swab caesarian babies these days with vaginal mucus to compensate. The microbiome composition is entirely dependent on our mother until after breast feeding where diet and environmental exposure becomes the key source of beneficial or detrimental impact to our microbiome ecology.

Aristo Vojdani PHD, MSC is a Professor of Neuroimmunology. He observes that by our first year of life, we have an individually unique microbiome fingerprint that is locked in as our baseline complex cellular ecology. By age 2-3, the diversity of microbiota is increasing with increased exposure to foods and environment, while the variability in our ecology decreases. 78% of the microbiome is in the gut (about 2kg in an adult), the rest is found throughout all organs and fluids in the body including important microbiota in the skin which we’ll get to later.

How Do Microbiota Help Us?

While there is much research revealing new aspects each year about the symbiotic relationships between microbiota and the body, so far the following is known:

  • they stimulate the immune system, break down potential toxic compounds and synthesise certain vitamins and amino acids. An example is Vit B12 synthesis, which requires key enzymes found in bacteria and not in plants or animals [2].
  • they digest and breakdown complex carbohydrates and fibre in the lower large intestine.
  • They form short chain fatty acids (SCFA) – an important nutrient for muscle function and cellular integrity that also prevents certain chronic diseases, including bowel disorders and certain cancers [3].
  • Symbiotic microbiota protect the body from digested pathogenic organism contaminants and potentially pathogenic resident microbiota.
  • Certain species prevent over-population of harmful bacteria by competing with them at key sites of the intestinal membrane associated with immune activity and antimicrobial protein synthesis [4,5].
  • Other benefits of balanced microbiome include resistance to: food sensitivities and allergies, constipation or diarrhoea, painful joints and general inflammation, certain dental and oral hygeine issues, skin disorders, menstrual symptoms and susceptibility to yeast infections as well as bowel and digestive disorders.
  • There is cross-over communication and exchange of microbiota DNA and body cell DNA via micro-RNA including microbiota in our food.

Microbiota in our skin

In our skin we have 50 bacteria for every skin cell on and in the dermis and inside the glands. Lorenzo Drago, PHD (Professor of Clinical Microbiology) says “these are called ‘core microbiota’ because there is vital communication between these microbiota and the immunological system inside the skin.” Therefore, many skin disorders as well as other conditions that find entry through damaged skin, may also be due to an imbalance of these particular microbiota caused by anti-bacterial and other chemical exposure to the skin including synthetic cosmetics that decrease microbiota diversity.

Some bacteria in the skin produce short chain fatty acids (SCFA’s) that are important in modulating other bacteria who regulate yet other bacteria to maintain balance. SCFA’s also feed the cellular immune system of the skin.

Helping microbiota in your Skin:

  • switch to personal care, beauty and cosmetic products without chemicals and metals, and oil stripping alcohols and mineral oils
  • avoid hand sanitisers, anti- bacterial soaps and chemical detergents
  • avoid over-washing hair and skin to allow the skin to develop its own oil and microbiota balance. Over-washing depletes microbiota balance and creates obver production of skin oils.

Communication between microbiota, our cells and organs

SCFA’s are critical to communication between microbiota, mitochondria, other cell and organs. Marrin Edeas, PHD (Chairman of Mitochondria and Microbiota World Societies) explains they are influential in mitochondrial biogenesis (self replication that increases cellular energy and efficiency) along with other factors like free radicals, nitric acid (NO) and H2S (Hydrogen Sulfide).

“We believe that microbiota control mitochondria” directing their level and locations of activity and life cycles. As essential energy sources and regulators every in the body, so microbiota by regulating mitochondrial function are key factors to harmony within and between organs of the body.

Dr. Kharrazian expands on the intimate connection and two-way pathways between brain and gut. Most of the traffic is actually from the gut to the brain and is initiated by microbiota which have direct access to the enteric nervous system (ENS). This nervous system covers the entire digestive system from mouth to anus and has more nerve endings than the spine, so is very dense. It connects to the vagus nerve which goes directly to the brain impacting our homeostatic and metabolic responses to change and even impacts our mental states through influences on neuro-transmitters and hormone production. Our gut produces the same hormones our endocrine system can and is another two-way channel of gut and brain that affects mind and body.

Research is showing that food itself also communicates genetic information to our own genes. Vojdani describes microbiota as our short term senses responding in real time to signals from the body and the state of food and health of the gut. They communicate not only via the ENS, vagus nerve, hormones and immune systems to the mitochondria but also directly with miRNA (microRNA transcribed by DNA as a ‘DNA photocopy’ to transfer out of the cell nucleus to create proteins that activate gene expression. Epithelial tissue (such as the intestinal lining) is a medium for this two way communication between microbiota nd mitochondria that impacts the cell nuleus and gene expression. This is why many researchers now view our body cells and our microbiome as one integrated ‘holobiont‘ (an aggregate of various organisms and their collective genomes working together as one symbiotic ecology). At Cork’s APC Microbiome Institute, gut and brain research by Dr. Clarke and Professor Cryan has demonstrated diversity and activity of specific microbiota in the gut directly influencing miRNA expression in the brain (amygdala and prefrontal cortex) impacting conditions of fear, anxiety, social finction and depression as well as being critical to specific windows in brain development [6].

Dr. Dimitris Tsoukalas (President of the European Institute of Nutritional Medicine) states that there is more understanding emerging about these communication channels between mitochondria and the cell nucleus and how mitochondrial produced molecules “make our genome react to what’s happening”. (Genome is a term that refers to the stored information in DNA and chromosomes). Epigentics is leading a new area of study of what influences and changes our health. Out of this is greater understanding how diet, stress and environment influence cell damage and turn-over, telomere length (shortened by oxidative stress) and key markers of biological age, health and resilience.

References

  1. Ursell, L.K., et al. Defining the Human Microbiome. Nutr Rev. 2012 Aug; 70(Suppl 1): S38–S44.
  2. Morowitz, M.J., Carlisle, E., Alverdy, J.C. Contributions of Intestinal Bacteria to Nutrition and Metabolism in the Critically Ill. Surg Clin North Am. 2011 Aug; 91(4): 771–785.
  3. den Besten, Gijs., et al. The role of short-chain fatty acids in the interplay between diet, gut microbiota, and host energy metabolism. J Lipid Res. 2013 Sep; 54(9): 2325–2340.
  4. Arumugam, M., et al. Enterotypes of the human gut microbiome. Nature. 2011 May 12;473(7346):174-80.
  5. Canny, G.O., McCormick, B.A. Bacteria in the Intestine, Helpful Residents or Enemies from Within. Infect and Immun. August 2008 vol. 76 no. 8, 3360-3373.
  6. Hoban, A.E., et al., Microbial regulation of microRNA expression in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Microbiome 2017 5:102 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-017-0321-3

Other Sources:

References 1-5 https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/microbiome/

Many of the experts cited here have been quoted from the online series The Human Longevity Project at https://humanlongevityfilm.com/

  • Dr. Mark Hyman (Director at Cleleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine)
  • Kiran Krishnan (Research Biologist)
  • Aristo Vojdani PHD, MSC (Professor of Neuroimmunology)
  • Lorenzo Drago, PHD (Professor of Clinical Microbiology)
  • Dr. Dimitris Tsoukalas (President of the European Institute of Nutritional Medicine)
  • Sayer Ji (Natural Health Researcher and Educator)
  • Marrin Edeas, PHD (Chairman of Mitochondria and Microbiota World Societies)
  • Dr. Datis Kharrazian (Clinical Researcher, Functional Neurologist and Professor)
  • Dr. Michael Ash, D.O. (Research and Clinical Educator)
  • Dr. Allan Walker, Professor at the Harvard Medical School and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Photo credit: IBM Research on Visual hunt / CC BY-ND (quote added)

How to Access More Energy, Resilience and Adaptability

Posted on by colinchenery

Optimising energy in our body is important for health of mind and body, in adding life to our days as well as days to our life. Current and recent research discussed here seems to be moving into more alignment with traditional and holistic approaches to healing and medicine. Also, some key aspects to health are becoming more clearly the leverage points to focus our efforts on for optimum health.

Mitochondria and micro-biome (our bodies micro-organisms) are two of these key aspects to total health throughout life. They are both impacted by our outer environment and inner environment which includes lifestyle, diet, our mental states and levels of stress. In this article we take a look at new insights and practical things we can do for mitochondrial health and functioning.

Mitochondria are more than just the power plants for all of the cells in our body. They are key players in a busy two-way exchange of information with each other, other organelles, other cells and a multitude of regulating systems throughout the body. There are thousands in each cell. They have evolved from bacteria and have many similar types of behaviour, including their life cycle dynamics, reproduction and migration based on demand for their functionality and the suitability of their micro-environments.

Maintaining youthful energy, appearance and body function is very much reliant on these little cellular power houses. In their role as energy producers they utilise electrons from oxygen we breathe with nutrients we consume to generate ATP (adenosine triphosphate) which is the chemical and electro-charged packets of energy our cells use to remain animated, alive and do pretty much anything. The liver, kidneys, heart and brain have some of the highest concentrations of mitochondria in the body. We want an abundance of mitochondria that are healthy and efficient for every function of our body to be operating well, including our metabolism, immunity, heart and brain health along with our body’s ability to keep adapting to stressors and rebuild itself continually.

Ageing

Mitochondria have a lot to do with your biological age which can be radically different to your chronological age. Biomarkers for biological age also include telomere length (ends of DNA strands), cholesterol LDL, glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. Mitochondrial functioning has much to do with cognitive and other brain functioning as much as every other active process in the body including all metabolic and neural processes. Maintaining high functioning and numbers of mitochondria ensures ample energy for body functioning, dealing with oxidative stress, immunity and keeping cell life cycles (cell death and cell reproduction) up with the body’s wear and tear from ageing and stressors.

A Systematic View – Stress and Mitochondria

In recent decades, biology and epigenetic (the study of organism changes in relation to modifications of genetic expression) research is looking at the body and the living environment as interrelated and interdependent communities on a cellular level. Stressors and health conditions are relative to adaptability and interactions between systems rather than just two isolated players being a single stressor and the effected organs. Stressors don’t cause disease, but our response to stressors on every level, including our psychology, can set up systemic changes that can lead to disease.

Mitochondria are important players in most of the systems in the body. In terms of energy they are integral aspects of heat, ATP production, membrane potential of cells and are substrates for epigenetic modifications. Research at the Philadelphia Hospital, has been developing understanding of a relationship between mutation variations of mitochondria in response to mental and environmental stressors with body and brain illnesses.

In terms of the highly complex bio-chemical and bio-electrical information highways of the body, mitochondria also play key roles in responding to and impacting circulation, activation and cross-over of information between hormones, DNA, epigenomes (compounds that tell genes what to do) and proteins which include cellular memories of past exposure to physical and psychological, real or imagined stressors. These are at the heart of our adaptation to internal and external stress (Picard, McEwan, et al., 2018). Stress adaptation requires energy whether it is to adapt to physical, emotional or mental stressors. In a recent article ‘An energetic view of stress: Focus on mitochondria’, Picard and McEwan comment that all energetic functions including neural pathways of the brain require mitochondrial energy which comes with a collaborative and two-way functional level of communication.

Gene expression, cell division, growth, death and regulation can be presumed to be coupled with mitochondrial metabolic signals. It’s all about communication and working together as a complex community as well has health and functioning of separate parts. Mitochondria are in the centre of the coupling of the energetic environment with cellular behaviour through a multifaceted set of mechanisms and pathways. These include epigenetic modifications at a cellular level and production of stress hormones as part of the body’s adaption to changes in conditions.

In the absence of real stress, these stress hormones can ‘dysregulate metabolism’ which is associated with conditions like insulin resistance and pre-diabetic states, weight gain due to metabolic disruption from high levels of insulin and leptin-hormones. This is why purely mental stress, especially if its chronic, can contribute and create havoc and chronic health conditions over time.

Mitochondria and glucocorticoids are an example of chaotic loops we can get into. Glucocorticoids are powerful hormones with many roles including how we use sugar and fat and curb inflammation. In a reciprocal sense mitochondria are not only the source of systemic signalling molecules like glucocorticoids but are also affected by them. Therefore, certain degenerative cycles can develop as well as healthy functional ones. Leaving out much of the scientific detail, mitochondrial energetics may be tied in with functional or dysfunctional epigenetic regulation of the brain, food and energy seeking behaviours, along with psychological states such as depression and complex social behaviours.

Systemic and environmental factors in relation to gene expression and cellular function is a more recent specialised field. This research is pioneering stuff, the latest paper only out a month ago. It is shedding new views on the relationship of mitochondria and stress, exploring the mechanisms of a highly complex interaction of systems that ties stress and mitochondrial disease in a viscous circle that unchecked is related to inflammatory, metabolic, and neuroendocrine conditions that we are seeing more and more in the modern world. These insights are shedding new light on stress influences with cancer and metastasis; diabetes; neurogenerative disorders as well as cell ageing and age related physical and cognitive decline. The implication is understanding and scientifically refining holistic approaches to disease including consideration of mitochondrial function.

As a final note, it is interesting that females and males have qualitatively different mitochondria. Mitochondria inheritance in both sexes is from the mother’s lineage only, but there is gender variance because sex hormones also regulate mitochondria throughout life from conception. Picard and McEwin conclude that studies must differentiate and include both sexes based on the sex differences in mitochondria, stress physiology and disease risk.

Key aspects to healthy functioning mitochondria are:

  • Lifestyle, mental and physical health
  • A healthy diet, predominantly plant-based, which includes Intermittent Fasting
  • Exercise and exposure to acute temperature changes
  • Supplementation if needed

Fasting

Brief intermittent fasting and caloric restriction can help activate mitochondria, because during fasting the body relies on lipids and stored fats for energy, and this is the role of your mitochondria. Twelve hours plus of no food intake between dinner and breakfast can be sufficient to trigger many healthy responses to fasting. However, if fasting also includes some daily activity time, so energy levels need boosting by demand in activity, then NAD+ levels will increase to assist production of ATP in the mitochondria. Stimulation of NAD+ is also good for the many anti-ageing and metabolic functions it is crucial including improving mitochondrial functioning (Houtkooper, Auwerx, 2012). Thus a weekly, fortnightly or monthly day time or even 36 hour plus Fast, can be great to boost health and years to your life as well as dealing with any unhealthy fat.

Also during fasting, autophagy (cellular death) increases as the body goes into clearing out damaged cells and consuming those for added energy, so that dysfunctional mitochondria are reduced and mitochondrial synthesis is stimulated.

Exercise

Exercise has similar benefits to fasting, in terms of energy demand activating and improving mitochondrial function. In addition, exercise increases the need for oxygen throughout the body and provides it through the heavy breathing of high intensity exercise, increasing the number and functioning of mitochondria in muscles and metabolically related organs (Menshikova, Ritov, et al., 2006).

Cold

Acute cold temperatures seem do do a lot of good things for the nervous system and cells. Tests on mice shows a profound effect on mitochondrial generation and numbers by increasing a protein for mitochondrial synthesis (Chung, Park, Lim, 2017). While we may not want to do it, another study showed prolonged cold produced significant benefits in smooth and skeletal muscles and vital organs. Nonetheless, this shows acute and prolonged adaptation to changes in temperature is good for our mitochondria. So end a shower with a burst of cold. Don’t loose the ability to enjoy an invigorating dive into a cold ocean or river and bracing yourself against a brisk wind! Maintaining resilience and robustness from exposure to natures elements is inherent in our evolution and hard wiring.

Diet

Key principles for a mitochondrial friendly diet is to:

Stay Away from Sugars, Processed Foods and don’t over do some grains: simple sugars lack nutrients and are absorbed too rapidly for mitochondria to burn them up efficiently causing increased fat and free radical damage. Highly processed sugars, such as white sugar, simple processed carbs and sweet soda’s, are treated as toxins in the body. Some grains turn to simple sugars quickly also, depending on your constitution, so be careful of overdoing grains. Get fibre and carbs through a range of foods – vary root vegetables through the week, include a variation of grains, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes.

Eating the rainbow: a broad range of colours each day means a broad range of phytonutrients for your cells and information exchange with your bacteria. Leafy greens and sulphur-rich veggies like cauliflower, cabbage, kale and spinach help your body produce glutathione which is a key nutrient in anti-oxidation which involves the mitochondria and directly affects cellular heath.

Fatty acids: Omega-3 (in coloured fish, and a broad range of plant based oils) provide more efficient energy production by mitochondria with less free radical by-products than fuelling them with high amounts of carbohydrates. Fatty Acids like Omega-3 are also important in reducing chronic inflammation in the body.

Balance is needed in any diet and many experts suggest the Mediterranean diet as a good guide. Carbohydrates like pasta and root vegetables (not over-cooked) are balanced with plenty of vegetables, small sides of meat for meat eaters (traditionally small serves of white meats or seafood), quality olive oil, avocado and oils from various nuts. Not too many rich dressings and sauces. High sources of Omega-3 are seafood such as wild salmon, sardine and mackerel. In meats, high cuts of grass fed beef have Omega-3. Nuts (walnuts, cashews and brazil nuts) and seeds like flax (fresh flax as it goes rancid quickly, especially once its grounded or extracted) and also chia seeds are excellent. Also high on the list include mustard oil, deep green seaweeds as well as wild rice. Mung beans are the best of the beans. Vegetables like leafy greens, winter squashes, the cabbage family (especially cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts) are excellent for Omega-3. Omega-3 containing fruits include most berries, mangoes, and Honeydew melons.

Supplementation

Diet is king as natural fresh foods contain countless combinations of micro- and macro-nutrients and important genetic information for our cells – especially our mitochondria and micro-biome.

Here are eight key supplements that have stood out in my research, that can assist mitochondrial function as a back up to dietary sources:

  1. BioPQQ (Polyquinoline Quinone) Human trials show some indications this can promote mitochondrial biogenesis (creation of new mitochondria).
  2. Magnesium This is an important mineral for mitochondria as well as for repairing damage to DNA and other aspects of longevity. Studies suggest 70-80% of people in developed western countries may be low in Magnesium. A quality supplement that includes quality natural nutrients to assist in its absorption is best. Eat plenty of deep green plant foods and berries.
  3. B-Vitamins (including riboflavin, thiamine and B6) The whole Vitamin B family are co-factors for mitochondrial efficiency and functioning (especially nicotinamide in the B-3 family) and so are also linked to healthy ageing. Some studies suggest that as we get older our cells don’t absorb certain B vitamins as well as they used to, so Vit-B supplementation may be more valuable as we get older.
  4. Nitric Oxides These are also linked to mitochondrial health as well as cardiovascular health, and certain amino’s like L-Arginine and L-Citrulline can help increase Nitric Oxide production in the body.
  5. Alpha Lipoic Acid ALA supports the functioning and healthy life cycle of mitochondria.
  6. CoQ10 (or ubiquinol – it’s active extraction) is suggested in some studies to support mitochondrial respiration and metabolic regulation in addition to supporting liver, heart and cardio-vascular health. It is fat soluble so take with healthy oils like coconut, sesame, olive or avocado. According to Dr.Mercola foods rich in C0Q10 include grass fed beef, sesame seeds, Herring, Broccoli, organic pastured chicken and cauliflower.
  7. L-Carnitine shuttles fatty acids to the mitochondria assisting with fat burning and mitochondrial functioning.
  8. Omega-3 Fatty Acids supplements that are algae plant based can be helpful, especially where some food sources are limited. Fish Oil capsules are best used if you have a diagnosed deficiency because they can be too rich for some people, then act as immunity suppressants. Freshness needs to be checked for all oil supplements, even opening capsules before ingesting to check they are not rancid from months at room temperature is recommended.