Mitochondria and Our Health
We age when we can no longer produce energy for our cells and our bodies.
On a local level, our cells, the mitochondria are the microscopic energy factory.
They are delicate, over several thousand of these energy producing factories are in every cell.
In actuality they are passed directly from your mother in the fertilized egg to you, and thus are our link to ancient DNA.
Mitochondrial diseases can affect almost any part of the body, including the cells of the brain, nerves, muscles, kidneys, heart, liver, eyes, ears or pancreas.
Mitochondrial malfunction occurs when the mitochondria do not work as well as they should due to conditions such as Alzheimer’s or cancer or muscular diseases; about 1/5000 people are born with errors.
The Cleveland Clinic website lists these signs and symptoms of mitochondrial disease:
- Poor growth
- Muscle weakness, muscle pain, low muscle tone, exercise intolerance
- Vision and/or hearing problems
- Learning disabilities, delays in development, mental retardation
- Autism, autism-like features
- Heart, liver or kidney diseases
- Gastrointestinal disorders, swallowing difficulties, diarrhea or constipation, unexplained vomiting, cramping, reflux
- Diabetes
- Increased risk of infection
- Neurological problems, seizures, migraines, strokes
- Movement disorders
- Thyroid problems
- Respiratory (breathing) problems
- Lactic acidosis (a buildup of lactate)
- Dementia
It is possible to heal your mitochondria with rest, immune system boost, but testing mitochondrial health is difficult, usually it begins with blood tests of energy metabolism.
