Latest / Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson / Mitochondria Matter: The Story of Aging

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Mitochondria Matter: The Story of Aging · Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson

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  >> Dr. Terry Simpson: There's been a lot of talk about mitochondria
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  lately. You had RFK Jr claiming as he walked
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  through an airport he can see kids who are
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  mitochondrial challenged. Now, RFK Jr. Unless he's
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  developed a superpower to see inside living cells
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  at 40 yards past TSA, no, you can't diagnose that.
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  On the other end of the spectrum, you have Peter
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  Attia, the current longevity guru of billionaires,
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  doing three hour podcasts on mitochondrial decline
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  and longevity, all while hawking some AG1. And in
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  between, there's an entire wellness universe
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  selling mitochondrial detox powers, peptides,
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  resets, cleanses, and basically everything except
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  mitochondrial reality. So why are we talking about
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  them? Because it turns out mitochondria are, are
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  the reason we age, get old and lose our health
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  span. So today we are going to talk mitochondria
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  reality and why mitochondria matter, what they do,
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  how we age, and what you can do to keep them
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  really healthy without buying powdered unicorn
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  horn from the Internet. And, uh, please don't be
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  like RFK Jr. Let's stick with the science. Today
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  we're making sense of the madness of mitochondria.
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  I'm Dr. Hi, I'm Terry Simpson, your chief medical
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  explanationist. And this is Forku Fork University,
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  where we bust myths, make sense of the madness,
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  um, and explain that complicated world of food and
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  medicine without the woo m. Inside every single
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  cell of your body, except for red blood cells,
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  live tiny structures called mitochondria. They're
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  like their own little organ, and they behave like
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  a mini cell inside your own body. They have their
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  own set of DNA separate from the cell's DNA. They
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  divide independently and they act independently.
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  But what they are really important for is they run
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  the energy production of your cell and your life.
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  By the way, you inherit mitochondria from your
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  mother, which is why mitochondrial DNA is so
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  useful for tracing ancestry. And, and because the
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  mitochondrial DNA is pretty hardy, we can actually
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  get mitochondrial DNA almost from fossils. About a
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  billion and a half years ago, a, uh, primitive
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  cell swallowed a bacteria and instead of ingesting
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  it, they became symbiotic. One saying, you make
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  energy and I'll keep you safe. And that swallowed
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  bacteria and became the forerunner of what we call
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  mitochondria today. But more important, that
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  ancient merger between a single celled organism
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  swallowing another that became symbiotic was the
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  start of complex life, making all of us possible.
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  Now, what do mitochondria m do without the
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  biochemistry? Here's a version that won't give you
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  flashbacks to college Biochem Mitochondria take
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  glucose from your food, from your body and turn it
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  into ATP, the energy molecule your cells use to
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  lift your weights, pump your heart, fire a neuron,
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  whether it be in your brain or in your toe, and
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  heal tissue. Now, ATP supplements exist and they
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  don't work. If ATP worked orally, TikTok would be
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  full of glowing people. The only way you can
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  really get ATP usefully is by having your
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  mitochondria make it from the universal currency
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  of metabolism, glucose. Now there are, ah, young
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  mitochondria and there are old mitochondria. And
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  here's the difference. Young mitochondria are like
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  my teenage son. He's energetic, he's fast, he's
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  resilient, annoyingly efficient. And old
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  mitochondria, they kind of remind me of that 14
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  year PhD student who knows where every coffee shop
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  on campus is, drinks too much caffeine, has
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  written absolutely nothing on his dissertation
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  since 2011, but likes to flirt with the co eds and
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  wants to have that fatherly figure too. Well, you
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  know, old mitochondria are slow, but they leak
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  oxidative waste, lots of inflammatory tissues,
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  they cause mutations, they become unreliable. And
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  here's the kicker. Mitochondria constantly fuse
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  with one another and they divide. And if a damaged
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  mitochondria fuses with a healthy one, it's like
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  pouring spilled milk into a fresh gallon of milk.
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  You don't get half fresh milk, you don't get all
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  fresh milk. You get one giant ruined bit of milk.
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  That's why mitochondrial aging accelerates
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  cellular aging. Your body has a way to clean up
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  old mitochondria. It's called mitophagy. Sounds
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  like autophagy, but it's specific to mitochondria.
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  And it's a process where our cells have this great
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  recycling process where they clean out old damaged
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  mitochondria, replacing them with new one. But as
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  we age, the ability to clean out those old
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  mitochondria become older, the cleanup trough
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  becomes kind of tired. Broken mitochondria stay in
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  the system, dysfunction spreads, and the decline
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  is one of the fundamental drivers of aging. Now,
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  aging mitochondria don't just underperform, they
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  cause mischief. They leak oxidative stress
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  molecules. They confuse normal cell signaling,
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  triggering retrograde signaling, which is
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  distressed messages back to the nucleus of the
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  cell, changing gene expression and in dangerous
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  ways. Meaning that can actually promote pathways
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  that cancer cells use. Increased resistance to
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  chemotherapies and other therapies. It supports
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  metastasis and it drives Chronic inflammation. So
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  when the balance of fission and fusion fall apart,
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  mitochondrial chaos becomes cellular chaos. Aging
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  mitochondria aren't innocent. They actively
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  sabotage tissue. Let me give you an example. In
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  the brain. Now, your brain depends on mitochondria
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  more than almost any other organ. The neurons use
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  a massive amount of energy. So when mitochondria
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  slow down, thinking slows down, memory fades,
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  synapses weakens, inflammation rises. You move
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  more slowly, you move more hesitantly. In
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  Alzheimer's disease, for example, mitochondrial
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  dysfunction shows up early, even before major
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  amyloid buildup. Damaged mitochondria worsen the
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  inflammation in the brain, disrupt neuronal
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  communication and accelerate decline. And even
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  blood tests can show this. Older adults with
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  weaker mitochondrial function often perform worse
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  on memory tests, while stronger mitochondrial
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  performance predicts a, uh, lower dementia risk.
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  Put it simply, healthier mitochondria, healthier
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  brain. So why do we age? We age because our
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  mitochondria age. Now, we've talked in the last
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  two episodes about Nadia. People wanted to top off
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  the nad tank and sounds clever, but it just
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  doesn't reverse aging. And we talked about
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  urolithin A, which is an interesting molecule
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  because it improves endurance a little bit, but it
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  doesn't restore youth. What actively people are
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  looking for is a mitochondrial reset switch, which
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  we don't have yet. We want to have young
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  mitochondria. Well, there are things we can do
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  that actually improves mitochondrial health. Let's
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  start with resistance training. When you lift
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  weights or, uh, push resistance in any form, your
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  mitochondria literally are upgrading themselves.
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  Not only do you make better mitochondria, they
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  remodel. They have a stronger respiratory
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  capacity, they make ATP more efficiently, they're
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  more resilient, they are better with all of those
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  oxidative stress molecules. And that happens in
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  either young people or adult people. And what's
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  more, resistance training for builds new
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  myonuclei, which are control centers that stick
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  around for life and help you adapt faster next
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  time you train. Yes, muscle memory is real, and
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  mitochondria is part of the reason you need
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  examples of resistance training. Dumbbells,
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  resistance band, bodyweight, squats, wall sits,
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  push ups, pilates, kettlebells, chair based
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  resistance for older adults. If you push against
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  force, you're building mitochondria. Now, before
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  anyone asks, no, Vinyasa, yoga is not resistance
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  training. I know it's my favorite exercise. And
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  yes, I've tried to convince myself that holding
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  downward dog for 30 seconds counts as hypertrophy.
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  But my yogi swan does the power yogi interval
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  thing where Suddenly, you're doing planks, lunges,
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  and warrior poses at Mach 3. And by the end, I'm
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  sweating like I'm defending my PhD thesis. So,
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  technically, I get some strengthwear. But let's be
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  honest, if you ever hear me brag about yoga being
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  my resistance training, just pat me on the head
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  and hand the dumbbell a dumbbell. How about Zone
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  two exercise? That's good. So what is Zone two
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  exercise? Now, you can get some wearables, like a
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  whoop or a, uh, Withings, and you can see it. But
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  basically, if you can talk but you can't sing and
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  you're doing some exercise, that's great. For
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  mitochondria, sleep is a mitochondria's
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  powerhouse.
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  That's when mitochondria become repaired. Clean
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  out the old mitochondria. Sleep is your
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  superpower. We're going to have an entire episode
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  about sleep later on. Mediterranean diet. Wow.
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  Yep. Once again, it's protective. It's anti
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  inflammatory. It's proven. Now, there are other
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  things you can do. Here's what makes things worse.
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  High blood sugars, high blood pressure, high ldl,
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  they all destroy mitochondria at a record speed.
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  Take high glucose in patients who have
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  uncontrolled diabetes. Think of them as
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  caramelizing proteins. Think of hypertension or
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  high blood pressure as blasting organs like a fire
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  hose hitting a garden. Think of the high
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  cholesterol that oxidized LDL inflames arteries.
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  Now, we've known about high blood pressure since
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  fdr. Unchecked, high blood pressure destroys
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  longevity. And now we have better medications.
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  Aging is chemistry. It's not mystery. Okay, you're
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  going to hear some influencers insist insulin
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  resistance is the root of everything. And that
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  keto or carnivore solves aging, depression,
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  autoimmune disease, and probably your taxes. Peter
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  Attia and Taubes championed this model years ago.
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  They funded rigorous studies, and the model
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  failed. There's no metabolic advantage to low carb
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  eating. There's no magical fat burning, no insulin
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  trick. And mitochondria actually age a little
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  faster with low carb diets. But the coaches that
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  you'll find on TikTok, uh, Instagram and
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  everywhere else didn't change their program. They
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  just changed their affiliate links. What about
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  alcohol? Alcohol generates oxidative stress that
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  hits mitochondria like a wrecking ball. It damages
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  mitochondrial DNA, disrupts the fission and fusion
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  process of mitochondria, slowing recycling. You
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  know that hangover? It's your mitochondria saying,
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  please don't do that again. Now, this has been
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  kind of a graduate level mitochondria stuff, but
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  you probably figured out that some people use
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  mitochondria and mitochondrial disease the way
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  Deepak Chopra uses the word quantum as some
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  mystical placeholder for whatever they can't
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  explain. It's a God of the gaps thing again. But
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  mitochondria are real. They drive inflammation,
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  metabolism, cancer risk, cognitive function and
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  energy. Understanding them and keeping them
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  healthy helps us age better. Your mitochondria are
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  trying help them out. Research and writing for
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  this episode were done by me, Dr. Terri Simpson.
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  While I'm a board certified physician, I am not
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  your physician. If you're going to change your
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  diet, please see a doctor and a registered
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  dietitian. And for God's sake, if you're
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  undergoing surgery or seeing your doctor, tell
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  them m about every single supplement you take. All
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  things audio come from my friends at Simpler Media
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  and the chief mitochondrion himself, Mr. Evo
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  Terra. As always, Producer Girl Productions turned
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  what started out as a graduate level biochemistry
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  rant into something hopefully you can actually
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  use. Please subscribe and rate the show and follow
• 12:06
  me on Substack, where you'll find the full
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  breakdown and references and your doctor's orders
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  and4q.com whichever one you like. Have a great
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  week. Take care of your mitochondria. They're
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  working hard even when you're resting. Hey, Evo,
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  how are your mitochondria doing? Well, after this
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  episode, I've got a whole new plan. Sleep more and
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  get my mitochondria to quit drinking. Right. Okay,
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  let's go with that.