Latest / hol+ with Dr. Taz MD | The Future of Medicine is Holistic / Always Tired and Low on Energy? Dr. Taz Explains Biological Bankruptcy, Mitochondria, NAD and “Zombie Cells”
Transcript
- [00:00:00] I want you guys to think about when was the last time [00:00:05] you woke up feeling refreshed and energetic and ready to tackle the day? And [00:00:10] if you answered yes to that, here's your second question. Did that energy [00:00:15] sustain throughout the day or did it go away after an hour or two? We're gonna have a [00:00:20] conversation about energy and energy that is sustainable, that [00:00:25] lasts, but is important not just in a longevity conversation but really important [00:00:30] across the health span As someone [00:00:35] who's worked in the holistic and integrative space for over 20 years, I am [00:00:40] concerned about this idea of energy and what we're seeing even in our [00:00:45] children to our seniors. Chinese medicine called it chi and tried to [00:00:50] quantify it through meridian theory, acupuncture, and assessing the [00:00:55] body in many different ways through tongue and pulse and so much more. Ayurveda called it [00:01:00] prana. But both systems of medicine, along with so many others, talked [00:01:05] about this ability to assess somebody's energy and to help that [00:01:10] person understand when their energy was optimal and in a really great place or when [00:01:15] their energy might be fading and some interventions might need to happen. And the [00:01:20] conversation in older systems of medicine was not limited to [00:01:25] aging. It was really around a newborn or a young child or a teenager [00:01:30] or somebody in their 20s, 30s, 40s and beyond. I wanna bring [00:01:35] that concept of energy and cellular health into the [00:01:40] conversation around overall health and family health and wellness because it is something that I feel like is [00:01:45] simply not getting enough attention And at the root of this conversation [00:01:50] is the idea that our cells are not getting what they need because of the [00:01:55] environment, the way we live our lives, our exposure to different light sources, and [00:02:00] chronic stress that many of us are subjected to even from childhood. [00:02:05] So replenishing those cells and plumping them up and giving them the chi or [00:02:10] the prana or whatever word we wanna use to really sustain life is [00:02:15] something that we've got to take more seriously. It's a part of why I think we [00:02:20] have so many issues today with focus and concentration, dementia and [00:02:25] Alzheimer's, fertility and infertility, or all the many different hormone conditions that [00:02:30] we see over and over again. It's a part of why we see so many [00:02:35] mood shifts and a mental health crisis. So at the root of all of this, if we [00:02:40] get down to the cellular level, our cells are not being given [00:02:45] what they need, and they're collapsing at a more rapid rate than we've ever [00:02:50] seen before. So let's talk a little bit more about this concept about energy. Make [00:02:55] it tactical and tangible so that you maybe by the end of this episode have some [00:03:00] things that you can put into action right away. So energy is something that is [00:03:05] a valuable resource, just like your money and your finances. And when we don't [00:03:10] have it, we become bankrupt or in debt, and we might steal from [00:03:15] another resource, right? We may s- have more caffeine, or maybe we'll have more [00:03:20] sugar or something to give us a temporary source of energy. But as you know from [00:03:25] working with money, taking debt doesn't work for very long. There is always a [00:03:30] price to pay. Instead, I am thinking about your health and your [00:03:35] cellular health and really coming to terms after all these years with the idea [00:03:40] that many of us are biologically bankrupt. We have depleted our [00:03:45] resources, but we have not taken the time and energy to renew those resources, [00:03:50] and maybe we've taken on a debt that simply is getting too big and too heavy [00:03:55] over a period of time So what is biological bankruptcy? And let's talk a little bit [00:04:00] about it. It's really down to two very specific concepts. I [00:04:05] can get it all the way down to mitochondrial dysfunction, which is the [00:04:10] power plant of the cell that simply is not working well and doing what it's supposed to be doing; [00:04:15] NAD depletion, which is a fuel that actually runs our cells [00:04:20] and helps our cells to repair. And if we wanna throw a third in, cell death, [00:04:25] we call it cell senescence, and inflammaging, which means that inflammation is [00:04:30] driving the aging process very rapidly. All of these we could talk about [00:04:35] separately probably for an hour each, but they're actually intertwined. And [00:04:40] again, I keep coming back to how things are connected, to how [00:04:45] sometimes it's three corners of a triangle that we have to understand. And when we talk about energy and [00:04:50] cellular health, then we understand that these are the three pillars that we have to [00:04:55] pay attention to. I'm gonna say it again so that everybody remembers as they're listening to this [00:05:00] episode. Mitochondrial dysfunction, NAD depletion, and cellular [00:05:05] senescence and inflammaging. We're gonna move right into talking about mitochondrial [00:05:10] dysfunction. That, again, is the powerhouse of the cell. Every cell in your [00:05:15] body has a mitochondria. But those mitochondria, also known as organelles, [00:05:20] produce ATP. This is an energy source. And I don't know how many biology books [00:05:25] and chemistry books I had to look at to talk about ATP and learn about ATP [00:05:30] all the way back to middle school science, right? But it is important, and at the [00:05:35] time maybe as a young girl, it was just something I had to learn for a test. But at the end of the [00:05:40] day, ATP is your power source, right? It's helping you move, think, do, be [00:05:45] all the things that you wanna be. But when that cellular energy or currency starts to go [00:05:50] down, then you change, and you literally become a version of [00:05:55] yourself that you may not recognize. And I know this happened to me in my late 20s when I was going [00:06:00] through my own health crisis. It's happened at other times when I've gotten very stressed, where my energy [00:06:05] reserves and my energy stores became completely depleted When the [00:06:10] mitochondria are working well, you've got energy. When they don't work well, you're gonna [00:06:15] feel it everywhere, cognitively, emotionally, physically, even your [00:06:20] immune system with getting sick over and over again. Let's take a [00:06:25] quick look at what the research tells us about mitochondria as we age and [00:06:30] even over time and how we accumulate chronic stress. In 2023, there [00:06:35] was a journal, Antioxidants, one of the leading journals in oxidative biology, talked about the [00:06:40] fact that mitochondria are the main source of fuel for the cell. They produce [00:06:45] something called ROS, or reactive oxygen species, and under normal conditions, [00:06:50] some of this, a small amount of this ROS, is actually really helpful for our cells. [00:06:55] But with chronic stress at any age, not just as an aging process, but with [00:07:00] any age, as this increases because of stress, because of poor sleep, an [00:07:05] inflammatory diet, environmental stressors, you know, environmental toxins, [00:07:10] the ROS production in the mitochondria becomes excessive. The mitochondria [00:07:15] cannot keep up. And so that's something called oxidative damage. So the cell, [00:07:20] that power plant of the cell, becomes damaged, is no longer able to function the way [00:07:25] it's supposed to. This in turn causes those symptoms, the fatigue, [00:07:30] the brain fog, the muscle weakness, the not feeling like yourself, needing [00:07:35] caffeine all throughout the day. This is a mitochondrial issue. A 2025 [00:07:40] study looked at mitochondrial dysfunction as one of the 12 core [00:07:45] hallmarks of early aging or premature aging, a driver of it [00:07:50] essentially. And as mitochondrial function goes down, it triggers a cascade. Those ATP [00:07:55] go down, ROS goes up, there's mitochondrial DNA damage, inflammation goes [00:08:00] up, and then in turn we have more pro-inflammatory signals [00:08:05] circulating throughout the body. This is very much rooted in why we are [00:08:10] seeing the downshift in age of autoimmune diseases, of cancer, and of so [00:08:15] many other crises, including the mental health crisis. The energy is simply [00:08:20] not there, and we've gotta figure out how to provide energy in an [00:08:25] environment where energy is getting depleted from our cells. And critically, [00:08:30] last but certainly not least, is that chronic fatigue, right? That, uh, [00:08:35] disease pattern that has been dismissed for God knows how long. We actually call it chronic inflammatory [00:08:40] response syndrome. When that was reviewed at the NIH, they found in [00:08:45] 2025 that mitochondrial dysfunction is actually the central [00:08:50] mechanism by which chronic fatigue develops. And in long COVID, that [00:08:55] was actually the hallmark. Long COVID impacted the mitochondrial cells [00:09:00] and caused a lot of this post-exertional energy collapse where cells could not [00:09:05] regenerate because of increased ATP demand. Bottom line, how we function is [00:09:10] rooted in mitochondrial health. It is chi, it is prana, it [00:09:15] is essence, all these words that have been used over a long period of time to describe [00:09:20] the energy that each of us have. But this is not a longevity [00:09:25] conversation. This is a health span conversation. Whether we're talking about our newborn and the energy that they come [00:09:30] into the world with, or we're talking about a young child or a teenager or [00:09:35] somebody older or even our seniors, their mitochondrial function is [00:09:40] driving their ability to show up in the world at every level, at every [00:09:45] one of those five bodies that I talk about So bottom line, your fatigue has an [00:09:50] address. It lives in your mitochondria, and what's happening in there isn't just making you [00:09:55] tired. It's actually accelerating inflammation, premature [00:10:00] aging, cognitive function, and so much more. Mitochondrial dysfunction [00:10:05] is one piece of the puzzle of biological bankruptcy. There is [00:10:10] more to the story, and let's get into the next two pillars. I want to pause here [00:10:15] because I see this pattern all the time. People are doing the research, they're listening to the [00:10:20] podcast, they're trying to take better care of themselves, and they still feel so stuck, [00:10:25] especially when it comes to their health, their hormones, their stress, and even taking care of their [00:10:30] families. That's why I created The Circle. The Circle is my private membership where we go [00:10:35] deeper into these topics with real guidance, demos, live sessions, and a [00:10:40] supportive community. If you want to try it, there's a one-month trial available right [00:10:45] now. You can learn more at holplus.co/circle. That's [00:10:50] H-O-L-P-L-U-S dot C-O backslash circle or just click the link in the [00:10:55] description below and use the code YouTube. Now let's continue the conversation. [00:11:00] All right, now NAD is something that I feel like is getting a lot of press. A lot of people are getting NAD [00:11:05] IVs. They're taking NAD supplements. I get asked about NAD all the time in [00:11:10] the exam room. But NAD is a really important molecule that sits at the center of [00:11:15] everything that we've been talking about with mitochondrial dysfunction, and understanding NAD [00:11:20] may change how you think about aging entirely. NAD is actually a [00:11:25] coenzyme found in every cell in your body, and it's essential for mitochondrial function. It [00:11:30] powers that electron transport chain that produces ATP. Again, we're back to talking about [00:11:35] my seventh grade biology class with ATP, and it activates the proteins that [00:11:40] regulate DNA repair, inflammation control, and longevity pathways. But it [00:11:45] declines with age. And by the time most people are hitting their 40s and 50s, and [00:11:50] if they've been through a lot of chronic stress or trauma, it can even shift into your 20s [00:11:55] or 30s, NAD levels are dropping from 30 to 60% of where they actually peaked. But [00:12:00] the research is showing it's not just age, as I was saying, that depletes NAD. [00:12:05] Inflammation, poor sleep, oxidative loads, toxins, blue light, all of these [00:12:10] things are driving NAD levels down. In 2024, we had a study published [00:12:15] in Aging Cells that mapped exactly how the accumulation of aging [00:12:20] cells is driving NAD depletion through a specific enzyme. I won't give you the [00:12:25] details of the enzyme. It probably will put you to sleep. But bottom line of the study, it showed that [00:12:30] inflammation is one of the drivers of NAD decline, and NAD [00:12:35] decline triggers more inflammation. Yet another example of how things are connected and bidirectional. [00:12:40] So again, the connection between NAD, energy [00:12:45] metabolism, DNA repair, inflammation, and mitochondrial production [00:12:50] is so interlinked. You can't talk about one without the other. If we have [00:12:55] to bring energy back and get out of this biological bankruptcy sort of state that [00:13:00] we're in, NAD buildup is a way of kind of getting that reserve [00:13:05] back to get your cellular health where it needs to be. And rather than [00:13:10] spending it faster than we're generating it through our lifestyle habits and our dietary [00:13:15] choices, it's a better idea to start to replete it and to help [00:13:20] stop and prevent NAD depletion And understanding where NAD is in this [00:13:25] conversation is not just, you know, a trend or, or something to talk about [00:13:30] on social media. It's actually a biological reality, and we want to [00:13:35] understand that it is a fundamental pillar of biological bankruptcy. [00:13:40] Okay, let's move from NAD into cell health and inflammation and [00:13:45] inflammaging and understand maybe what we can put into action to turn all this around. [00:13:50] Okay, so last concept to wrap your head around. So we've talked a little bit about mitochondrial [00:13:55] dysfunction and oxidative stress. We've talked about NAD and the role of NAD in [00:14:00] energy and in aging and in disease process. Now we're gonna [00:14:05] talk a little bit more about cellular senescence and inflammaging. Senescence, when I say [00:14:10] that, it's another way... It's kind of like a, a soft way of saying cell death. But [00:14:15] senescent cells are cells that are not growing. They're not dividing. They've hit their end of their lifespan, [00:14:20] and instead of dying and going away, they're just simply hanging around your [00:14:25] tissue, but they're still metabolically active. They're just not working. It's like having somebody in [00:14:30] a group that's just hanging out there but not doing their job. So some people will call these zombie [00:14:35] cells, and the zombie cells are just spreading more of the bad stuff. So they're [00:14:40] spreading the pro-inflammatory cytokines, and they're spreading things of [00:14:45] inflammatory molecules all throughout the body. And they're recruiting immune cells to become [00:14:50] pro-inflammatory rather than anti-inflammatory, and this results in chronic [00:14:55] inflammation or inflammaging. And that is causing [00:15:00] accelerated aging. And whenever I use the word aging, I cringe a little bit because it's not just about getting [00:15:05] old, but it's even around ideas like your fertility is declining [00:15:10] in your 20s versus in your 40s or 50s, or your hair, you're losing your hair, [00:15:15] or your skin is changing faster, or you're going gray. These are all inflammaging signs [00:15:20] and things that should be taken seriously. Again, in 2023, if [00:15:25] we go back to that study in antioxidants, it looked at this connection between the number of these [00:15:30] zombie cells essentially and dysfunctional mitochondria, and the two were interconnected. [00:15:35] We know that some of these zombie cells were producing excessive reactive oxygen [00:15:40] species, which then activated the inflammation pathway in the same way that, [00:15:45] you know, we know that that inflammation pathway triggers that low-grade chronic inflammatory [00:15:50] response, setting up the foundation for future disease. So we understand the [00:15:55] link between all of these and how they work together. The link to fatigue, you [00:16:00] know, here's a study from Hopkins and the NIH's Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, which is one [00:16:05] of the longest-running aging studies in the world, showed that perceived [00:16:10] fatigue ability, like how tired you got, and your walking effort, that [00:16:15] actually predicted mortality risk more than just general tiredness. So [00:16:20] when fatigue is physiological versus just sort of like how you're feeling, and we [00:16:25] see that in your cells, it kind of predicts the outcomes. So the sooner we can [00:16:30] measure it and sort of plan for it and change it, the better. [00:16:35] Now, I've seen this in our young people, too. Let's talk about something like ADD or [00:16:40] ADHD, right? Or, you know, uh, inattention. So many of these kids end up on [00:16:45] medications. Well, when we look at the mitochondria and when we look at cellular health for [00:16:50] many of these, they are suffering from everything we just talked about: [00:16:55] mitochondrial dysfunction, NAD depletion, and defin- definitely [00:17:00] inflammation. So again, helping them rebuild those reserves can make a [00:17:05] difference for what's happening when it comes to fatigue or perceived [00:17:10] fatigue because remember, fatigue can be cognitive, physical, emotional, mental. There's so many [00:17:15] different types of fatigue, but it's all rooted right back here in these three pillars [00:17:20] of mitochondrial and cellular health So bottom line, we've got to [00:17:25] reverse biological bankruptcy. Let's take a few minutes to talk about [00:17:30] the best way to do this. All right, what does this mean? So you're biologically bankrupt. [00:17:35] You've bought into this idea. We know that we need to replenish everything. We wanna improve [00:17:40] mitochondrial function, replete NAD, prevent inflammation and inflammaging. Here we go. [00:17:45] Number one, mitochondrial support starts with... I'm gonna leave a [00:17:50] blank, let you fill it in for a second, and you may be surprised by this. It actually [00:17:55] starts with sleep, which means I'm screwed. But anyhow, mitochondria do the majority of their [00:18:00] repair and their renewal during deep sleep. It includes one [00:18:05] strategic moment because sleep is critical for the body, and it's probably [00:18:10] where I honestly will often skimp, so I'm trying to be better. I'm trying to force myself to [00:18:15] sleep. The second is exercise and movement, and we understand that even [00:18:20] moderate aerobic exercise, even if you're not sweating and if your heart rate's not going up into zone [00:18:25] three and zone four and all those different things, is one of the most powerful ways to [00:18:30] improve mitochondrial biogenesis or rebirth of your mitochondria. So [00:18:35] this is another way for you to take control of the situation, sleep and movement. You know, we can all do [00:18:40] that And it includes targeted nutrient support. So CoQ10, [00:18:45] magnesium, B vitamins, these are all things that I've talked about for years. We actually measure and [00:18:50] test them at holplus to understand where you are. Whether you're a child or an adult, we can look at all of this. [00:18:55] All of these things are things you can do right now to improve your cellular health [00:19:00] and turn biological bankruptcy around. The second is rebuilding your [00:19:05] NAD stores. Remember, that's our cellular transport. So NMN will help, NR [00:19:10] supplementation will help too, but I like deli- direct delivery of NAD [00:19:15] because I feel like NAD, when we do that, whether it's by shot or by IV, [00:19:20] it's a direct sort of influx of that power. Now, if you can't do that, then you [00:19:25] want to address some of the derivatives of NAD, which include N- NMN, um, as one [00:19:30] of them to improve, but then you also work on, you know, the gut bacteria, on [00:19:35] inflammation, on chronic stress, and all these different things. All right, the third, how do we get rid of those [00:19:40] zombie cells? What do we do? How do we clear them out? So there are actually some things that have been [00:19:45] shown in practice to help that. Quercetin is one, which is surprising to me in research. [00:19:50] Quercetin, uh, we have used in practice for allergies or for, uh, you know, [00:19:55] like a histamine response, but it actually helps to clear out some of these zombie cells. Intermittent [00:20:00] fasting also helps. It activates autophagy. I can never say that correctly. But [00:20:05] that's a cellular housekeeping mechanism to help clear out damaged cells and [00:20:10] organelles that have dysfunctional mitochondria. And lastly, this is really important to [00:20:15] managing cortisol and bringing cortisol regulation into the picture, because chronic [00:20:20] cortisol elevation actually drives mitochondrial dysfunction. [00:20:25] So again, the two are connected together. So these are all ways that we can actually [00:20:30] control what is happening with our cellular health, with our energy, and we can [00:20:35] stay out of biological bankruptcy, and it's something that we need to start understanding better [00:20:40] because I think it's a threat for our generation and the generations to come [00:20:45] because the environment, how we live, what we use, our inputs are all [00:20:50] changing. We're running at a faster pace than ever before, cognitively, [00:20:55] mentally, emotionally, and I think we've gotta refill those tanks as soon as [00:21:00] we can All right, that rounds out this conversation around biological bankruptcy [00:21:05] and cellular health, how you can identify it, what it may mean for you personally [00:21:10] and for your family as a whole, and it's important to be able to put the pieces together. If you or [00:21:15] someone you love is suffering from fatigue at any level, share this episode with [00:21:20] them and encourage them to understand where their cellular health falls, whether [00:21:25] they are five or 15, 35, 50, or 80. It's [00:21:30] all connected. That's the holplus way. Don't forget, we post new episodes every week. Don't [00:21:35] forget to share and subscribe. Before you go, remember healing doesn't happen all at [00:21:40] once. It happens in moments. If today's episode gave you one of those moments, [00:21:45] subscribe and keep learning with me. The next video is right here, and it picks up right where [00:21:50] this one left off