The Might of the Mitochondria

CLOSER LOOK: Splice view of a mitichondrion. PICTURE / GETTY IMAGES

Hidden away from your knowledge and yet one of your most critical structures, the mitochondrion is a tiny member of the group of microscopic entities that make every cell work. In using the word "might", we can describe this so called powerhouse in two ways. Firstly might describes its power, and secondly, might is a word for "what if?" or potential. The energy and function that you could have, if only you knew how.
Mitochondria produce the bulk of your cellular energy. As an undergraduate physio student I looked at the Citric Acid Cycle with as much fervent admiration as I had for Brussels sprouts, and yet when you grow up professionally and start to apply scientific truths to your own body (which has begun to crumble before your very amblyopic eyes), you start to appreciate how amazing and engineered the things are that we need to live. Without these little engines you couldn't exist, but more specifically you wouldn't manufacture ATP (energy), you wouldn't have cellular metabolism (the set of chemical reactions required to keep you living), and you couldn't co-ordinate the removal of old cells, or Apoptosis. So it's clear, we need them.
The great news is that we can build more of them.
High-intensity exercise is evidently more and more clearly valuable to the healthy future of the organism that is you.
The more muscle mass you have, according to a 2011 study, the less insulin resistance you will have which is the precursor to type 2 diabetes. This is commonly a consequence of lower mitochondria in the ageing person. Looking closely it has been noted that they are smaller, less numerous and less efficient in the diabetic and the ageing population. A team from the Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that in a study group of older people who they got to exercise (purely aerobic such as treadmill, walking, stationary bike at 50-60 per cent of maximum capacity) increased their mitochondria count, and increased mitochondrial function.
The more muscle you can get, the more mitochondria you can get, and then you can burn more fat with the right conditions, which appears to be good nutrient density, exercise and intermittent fasting (which is allowing longer time between eating).
Full body compound movements involving upper and lower limbs are more effective as they effect intense global workout with less time requirements, especially valid in today's stressful busy life. At high intensity resistance levels the body over time is able to continue burning fuel, preferably fat, for many hours, and it seems logical that mitochondria, being burners, will do a better job for you in bigger numbers and set up as deluxe model fat burners rather than entry level ones. Exercise for many is the missing key to weight loss, energy drains and overall wellbeing. Not so much the pounding the street for five days a week for 10km, but resistance training is seemingly so much better. It is definitely better for using glucose.
Exercise is underrated in terms of health protection. In fact, John Ioannidis and Huseyin Nadi found in a Stanford and Harvard combined study in 2013, that exercise was as good an intervention as drug therapy for prevention of heart disease and diabetes. It was better than drugs for stroke patients.
When you see exercise as tuning up the metabolic engines, it becomes clear that we are sedentary at our peril.
According to Bruce Cohen, Neurologist, in an article by Pamela Weintraub, we damage our mitochondria by eating poor quality foods in higher proportion to high quality ones. Processed foods would be analogous to cheap oil in the car, or low octane petrol which is just cheap. There are consequences to fuelling with crap energy. He points out that our mitochondria were not designed to deal with the foods we subject our bodies to today. Good quality fats, quality animal protein, fibre, antioxidants and phytonutrients (fruit, vegetables, tea, nuts) are a great start he says.
So we come back to might.
What might you do to be better? Can you act in a way to increase the might of your mitochondria?
You were designed with an ability to adapt. The mitochondria are able to be churned out en mass with some effort. If you are playing the long game, then what you put in now will make the world of difference to the quality of your later years. It will also make your later years come later. Do all that you can to make life optimal for yourself, but also for your children who may not have to wipe your backside, or dab the drool from your mouth. Make Mighty Mitochondria!
Greg Bell is a physiotherapist practising at Bell Physiotherapy. www.bellphysio.co.nz