← The Dr. Josh Axe Show
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Dr. Josh Axe
Hey, everyone. I'm Dr. Axe, and welcome to the show. You know, each and every week, we dive deep into the science and principles behind how you can grow and heal physically, mentally, and spiritually and experience a breakthrough in your life. Today, I'll be breaking down the science of mitochondrial health. This is the greatest secret out there when it comes to boosting your energy levels, balancing your hormones, reversing conditions like hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue syndrome, heart issues, and so much more. And if you're a person that struggles with low energy to where you don't have overflowing energy and vitality every single day, well, this is the episode for you, because I'm going to go through the top foods, the top herbs, the top lifestyle advice on how to heal your cellular mitochondria, the actual power plants of your body, taking your energy levels to whole new heights and helping your body reverse conditions like hypothyroidism, chronic fatigue, and other things that you could be struggling with. Before I dive in, though, make sure to subscribe to the channel and hit the link in Show Notes to subscribe to my weekly wellness newsletter to get my top tips for natural healing delivered straight to your inbox. Now, your mitochondria are your body's energy factories. They are like tiny power plants inside your cells that create energy. And they take nutrients from the food you eat, like glucose and fatty acids and oxygen, and convert them into something called ATP. That stands for adenosine triton triphosphate, which is the fuel that powers your cells. And so if you think about what gives your heart the energy to be able to beat constantly, or your lungs breathe, or your stomach to digest food, your body needs energy to do all of those things. It requires ATP. And your mitochondria create the energy to do that for a lot of you. You might get to the afternoon and feel like you're going to pass out because you're tired, or you wake up in the morning still feeling tired. You just don't have that 10 out of 10 energy level. And if you're one of those people that lacks energy, well, the reason is that your body's battery is low. I can remember I went to go see a Chinese medicine doctor many years ago, and he said, Dr. Axe, he said, you, body's battery is down here. He said, well, you should have five bars. You have three. And he said, we need to get it back up to at least a four. I said, okay. And so he explained it like that. But that's what's going on in Your body. And have you ever driven a golf cart or some sort of machinery to where when the battery gets low, it starts putting along, not going at full speed? Well, if you feel like that's you, where you feel like you don't have that really energy and vitality. And even this relates to feeling purpose driven, being motivated to do things, even play with your kids or pursue your spouse, a lot of times it's because your body's battery is too low. And that really is essentially your mitochondria. You don't have the energy to fuel your brain, your liver, your adrenal glands, your organs in your body in order to heal and regenerate and even go out there and take on the day. And so you have to have healthy mitochondria to produce energy. And the other symptoms you'll have if your mitochondria aren't working properly is not only will you feel tired, you'll feel weak, and you'll notice your body is aging more quickly and you'll start to develop different types of conditions and diseases, whether it's digestive issues, hormone imbalances, brain fog, not thinking correctly, heart issues, These are all warning signs that your mitochondria are weak. Now, here's what happens if your mitochondria. Mitochondria get damaged, which they do via several sources. I want to hit on a few of those. Oxidative stress is a big one. Inflammation, or what we call inflammaging, where your cells start to age. Those are probably the two primary ways your mitochondria get damaged. And with oxidative stress, it tends to be related to there's too much stress on the tissue. It could be via injury, it could be via toxins, it could be via lack of antioxidants in your diet. Now, when that happens, they're not protected. Your mitochondria aren't protected, so they get damaged. And the other thing along with oxidative stress is that inflammation that could be related to your gut microbiome not being healthy, having a condition like leaky gut. It could be just chronic inflammation from a poor diet, like eating too many sugar and seed oils. These are the things that tend to really damage our mitochondria. Now here's another surprising one. Not feeling loved or not having a purpose in life, that that actually fuels your mitochondria as well. So if you're depressed and anxious because you don't feel like you know your life purpose, or you don't have a sense of safety and having a strong community around you, Even those things spiritually and mentally, also affect your mitochondria, according to ancient thought and recent medical studies. And so if mitochondria are damaged again due to toxins, aging, poor fuel sources, your energy production slows down in the city, which is like the cell starts to malfunction, leading to fatigue, disease, and early aging. And your mitochondria are really at the heart of everything, providing energy. This is like currency that keeps your city running. Without them, the factories would shut down, the roads would crumble, the city would fall into chaos. Keeping these power plants, your mitochondria, healthy, with good fuel via nutrition, clean air via oxygen, and regular maintenance via things like exercise, Certain forms of fasting antioxidants ensures the city remains thriving forever, and also puts your body in a place where your mitochondria have enough energy to reverse medical conditions and regenerate your body. Now, here's something to know. As mitochondria weaken over time, your energy production declines, and this leads to slower metabolism, cognitive decline, and loss of muscle and skin elasticity. And According to a 2024 article in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, they said this in addition to their role in energy production, mitochondria have key roles in many other aspects of cell metabolism, including free radical, preventing free radical damage and protecting the body homeostasis of minerals like calcium and creating healthy fatty acids and killing cancer cells and killing infections like Lyme disease. So your mitochondria, if you are suffering with issues related to electrolyte balance, as we talked about, aging too quickly because you don't have enough antioxidants, your body not creating enough fatty acids like butyrate, which is critical for gut health and fighting ibd, and your body fighting off cancer infections like long Covid mold exposure, Epstein Barr, or as we mentioned, even things like Lyme disease. Your mitochondria are responsible in the primary components of your body that help you heal and fight off those things. In other words, mitochondria are not just your body's energy factories. They also regulate these cellular processes that help you heal and help you repair. And mitochondrial dysfunction is linked to a lot of conditions, but primarily fatigue, issues related to chronic fatigue or thyroid conditions, neurodegenerative decline such as dementia, and brain fog. Also heart issues, it's connected to. So if you don't have a strong heart, it's connected there as well, and autoimmune disease. And so let me walk you through. How do you know for sure if you're suffering from mitochondrial dysfunction? I'm Going to get into actually lab work at the end. So if you want to get lab work done to test your mitochondrial health, which is one of the best test for longevity and anti aging as well. But here's how you know you have poor mitochondrial function. Number one, low energy and fatigue issues. Number two, brain fog and difficulty concentrating. Number three, muscle weakness or slow recovery after exercise. If you feel like you exercise, you're just not recovering well. Cold hands, cold body temperature or cold feet due to poor circulation. Big warning sign, poor mitochondrial function. Frequent headaches and migraines. Increased sensitivity especially to stress and anxiety. And then feeling like you have a lack of purpose and you're just not motivated to go out and do things. These are signs of poor mitochondrial function. Here's a few more. Slow metabolism and unexplained weight gain. Premature aging, like wrinkles happening more quickly and sagging skin. Poor exercise endurance and stamina. Like sometimes you don't feel like you can get a, a good breath or you're just, you know, you don't feel like you can put forth that energy and effort you used to with exercise. And then weakened immune function and frequent illness or being overwhelmed by different types of infections like long Covid or mold or some of the things we talked about. Those are the biggest warning signs that you have poor mitochondrial function. And according to medical studies, the leading condition that is connected to poor mitochondrial function is chronic fatigue syndrome. Research shows that mitochondria may produce produce less ATP in people with chronic fatigue syndrome leading to persistent exhaustion, according to one study. Now I want to share something that I experienced with my own mother. My mom, when she was 41 years old, was diagnosed with breast cancer. And then my mom went through the conventional therapies. The first time she had cancer. Now the second time she took a natural approach. But the first time she went through rounds and rounds and rounds of chemotherapy. I remember my mom losing her hair. I remember her looking so weak and frail at the same time. And the biggest difference between my mom before chemotherapy and after chemotherapy were her energy levels. My mom after she went through chemo and this is really for me, junior high, through high school and college, it was for about 10 years. My mom was just exhausted all the time. If you had asked her how she felt, she would use two words, exhausted and overwhelmed. And I distinctly my mom getting home from work. My mom worked part time as a teacher and she would get home and she would have to nap for an hour or two. She was just so tired all the time. And a doctor diagnosed her with Chronic fatigue syndrome. And looking back, now that I know all the medical literature of what happened to my mom, chemotherapy, one of the biggest things it does is it damages your cellular mitochondria. And so the chemotherapy, the actual treatment the doctors thought would save her from cancer is actually what caused her to have chronic fatigue syndrome because she had so much mitochondrial damage. The other things my mom was diagnosed with was not only chronic fatigue syndrome was hypothyroidism, anxiety, depression, and she had chronic constipation and gut issues. Those were the biggest issues she had for years. And so what we did the second time we went and started fighting her cancer naturally is we had her start juicing vegetables, had her start doing organ meats, had her start doing berries, medicinal mushrooms, like reishi, lots of turmeric. We started doing a lot of things that now, looking back, I didn't know the science around mitochondria then, but we had her follow a very specific diet that now I know helped her rejuvenate and heal her cellular mitochondria. My mom would tell you the biggest difference in terms of how she felt when she fought cancer the second time and we really repaired her mitochondria was she had energy, she was motivated, she had this quality of life and vitality. She could run a 5k. In fact, my mom ran a 5k a few years after going through her natural cancer treatment. Finished second in her age group, and she was in her. That would have been her late, almost 60 years old, in her late 50s. And so listen, your body can heal, it can regenerate, no matter what you've been through. But you've got to focus on healing the mitochondria. But chronic fatigue syndrome is the biggest warning sign that somebody has really, really damaged mitochondria or just fatigue in general. The next one is hypothyroidism. Low thyroid hormone hormones is equivalent to slow ATP production, causing sluggish metabolism and weight gain. So when you have hypothyroidism, some of the biggest warning signs are, number one, fatigue, number two, your hormones, you just feel like they're a little all over the place. Also, you notice you put on a little bit extra weight easier, and oftentimes your hair gets a little thinner. And that's because the body, the cells, don't have enough energy via the mitochondria to warm your body up and to run your actual organs and body. And so that's equivalent to hypothyroidism is this poor mitochondrial function, brain fog and cognitive decline. You know, the brain has the highest number of mitochondria per cells. So when mitochondria fail, that's when people start to get memory issues. They're not able to focus. That's another big thing. If you can't lock in and focus, Oftentimes that can be a mitochondrial issue or a mood issue, like depression, anxiety, or lack of motivation. These are signs of mitochondrial dysfunction. Heart disease is a big one. The heart is the most mitochondrial dense organ in the body. Weak mitochondria lead to poor circulation and an increased risk of heart disease. In fact, there is a term for this. It's called mitochondrial aberration, and it's widely considered an early hallmark of heart disease. Next would be autoimmune disorders. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been linked to conditions like lupus, multiple sclerosis, Especially when somebody has low energy and chronic inflammation. And I want to walk you through the different conditions and the mitochondrial count. Now, when you think of mitochondria, you think about, okay, well, this means that you have a set number of mitochondria, and those just get lower energy. Two things happen when you have poor mitochondrial function. One, the mitochondria that you have, their batteries get lower. But the other thing that happens is your body actually has less mitochondria. Okay? So you actually have less mitochondria in total. So in your cell, you don't just have one mitochondria, you might have thousands of mitochondria. Okay? So there's many power plants in each of your cells. Well, those might be cut in half with certain medical conditions. And so think about that. If you have half the batteries or half the power plants, of course it can't run smoothly. And so in healthy individuals, they have very high levels of mitochondria. So your body can produce ATP and reduce oxidative stress. Remember, your mitochondria do two primary things. They produce energy and they lower oxidative stress on the body, which keeps you aging slower. Now, if somebody is aging more quickly, we see around a 10 to 50% decline in their total number of mitochondria. So that's lower ATP and increased oxidative stress. In chronic fatigue syndrome, they found in a medical study, they had a reduction of around 30 to 50% less mitochondria. That is a lot. So think about it. You can have somebody with chronic fatigue syndrome, and they literally, their body is putting out only 50% of the amount of energy as somebody else that's healthy. I mean, of course, somebody's going to be fatigued and tired. So this is Really a severe ATP deficiency, as we see in chronic fatigue now, type 2 diabetes. Here's another big one. They found that people with type 2 diabetes had 30% fewer mitochondria in their muscle cells and their pancreas. This reduces insulin sensitivity and causes poor glucose metabolism. And so we see that with diabetes now, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease and dementia, they found around 30 to 50% fewer neurons in the brain with mitochondria. So you can actually see you can actually have more mitochondria in one area of the body and less in others. And that's why in certain practices, like ancient Chinese medicine, what they would do to help boost mitochondrial function is they would actually pair certain herbs together. I'll give you an example of this. In Chinese medicine, they will pair an herb like ginkgo biloba, which actually supports the brain producing more mitochondria. And they would pair it with. With something that also helps produce it, like lion's mane mushroom and cayenne pepper. So to increase circulation to where you're not only increasing mitochondria, you're increasing blood flow to one specific area of the body. And so this is why oftentimes, using not only one supplement or one herb or product, but using multiple together, you'll get better results. And this is why in Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, you'll typically rarely see like one, one herb by itself. Most of the time it's herbs in combination because it tends to be more effective at healing certain areas of the body. Cardiovascular disease. They found heart muscle cells have 40% fewer mitochondria. This weakens heart function. In cancer, this varies. And most of the time, some tumors have less mitochondria, but some have more. And that's actually some unhealthy cells can actually have more mitochondria, which is why the cancer cells can multiply in something like metastatic cancer. And this is a total sort of. There's a different way of treating that that we may touch on in future episodes. So let me go through what causes mitochondrial damage and the biggest things. Well, according to medical research, here's. This may surprise you, but the number one biggest thing that causes mitochondrial damage is poor sleep. Your mitochondria in your body repair themselves during sleep, specifically deep sleep. And if you have chronic deprivation of sleep, it leads to oxidative stress and damaged mitochondrial DNA. There's something called mitogenesis, where your body creates new mitochondria that is put on halt when you don't sleep. So your body stop producing new and repairing their own mitochondria. Studies show that sleep deprivation triggers brain inflammation in particular. So one of the biggest areas of mitochondria that are damaged is your brain cells. Now here's another big one. Toxins and pesticides like glyphosate. There is a in the, in the medical journal Springer. Here's what they say. Environmental toxicants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, air pollution, heavy metals, endocrine disrupting compounds like phalates, pesticides, and other things like forever chemicals can damage the mitochondria in varied ways by changing and damaging the DNA and causing oxidative stress. And so what we see here is that toxins and pesticides, heavy metals will damage the mitochondria. Here's a few other things that do. Excessive alcohol damages the mitochondria. Sugar damages the mitochondria. Chronic stress damages the mitochondria via inflammation and of course, an inflammatory diet, primarily sugar, seed oils, fried foods, artificial ingredients and refined carbohydrates. Carbohydrates damage the mitochondria. Now, if you're a person who wants to be able to test and know for certain if you have damaged mitochondria, there are medical tests to do. So and I'm walking you through these. But I do want to mention you don't have to do a medical test. There are ways you can tell again, if you have low energy or any of the conditions we talked about. You most likely and almost certainly have mitochondrial damage and low function. So there are herbs and supplements and foods and some lifestyle things you can do to start to repair the mitochondria. But I do want to go through the top lab work you can get done. The number one test for testing mitochondrial health is an ATP production and mitochondrial function test. This can be done as a cellular energy panel. And why it's important is this measures ATP production, mitochondrial efficiency and how well your mitochondria generate energy. And so this is a great test to do. Again, it's called an ATP production in mitochondrial function test, which can be part of a cellular energy. Next is known as an organic acids test or an OAT test. This is one of the best functional mitochondrial markers. This is something I've done with thousands of patients over the years and it's one of my favorite tests I've done because it tells you so much more. In addition to mitochondrial function, it works because it measures metabolic byproducts that would indicate mitochondrial function. Also it tells you nutritional deficiencies like vitamin and Mineral deficiencies, amino acid deficiencies, and it shows your levels of oxidative stress. As I'm a big fan of doing an O or an organic acids test because it tests for micronutrients, mitochondrial function and oxidative stress, which will give you a really good picture in the mitochondrial health. Number three, you can do a mitochondrial DNA test, damage test, that's another good test. A fourth would be a lactate to pyruvate ratio test. This basically shows if your mito, if you have mitochondrial dysfunction or your body's not producing enough ATP, that's another test option and a fifth one. And I think this is a really good test. You can also test for coenzyme Q10 and NAD levels. This is a good test for being able to tell your mitochondrial energy support. Here's why it's important. CoQ10 and NAD are essential for mitochondrial energy production and they can decrease with age. And if CoQ10 is low in NAD, it's a warning sign that your cells don't have what they need to produce energy, which can tell you a lot as well. And there's one other test, it's called a mitoswab test, and this is a great single test that measures mitochondrial dysfunction. It basically evaluates ATP production, oxidative stress and a mitochondrial enzyme all in one test. So that's another option. But I think if you want to look at the best of the best, doing a cellular energy panel, so an ATP production and mitochondrial function test and or an organic acids test known as an OAT test, those are the top two tests you could do for testing mitochondrial health and dysfunction. Now I want to walk you through now the top foods, diet and herbs to help heal and repair your mitochondria. And these also very much align with the top foods that support slowing the aging process and promoting longevity overall. I would say if you want to know the best general diet, it would be a diet you would find in a place like Japan. I would say an ancient Asian diet or a Mediterranean type diet tends to be the best for energy production and longevity. So here is what this diet would look like. Number one, consume more organ meats, liver, heart, adrenal. These organs in tissues are rich in coenzyme Q10, B vitamins, iron, selenium, B12 that help run your organs. And so organ meats are at the very, very top of the list. Number two is going to be super fruits like pomegranates, raspberries, goji berries. These are great foods that help. They actually contain polyphenols which help clear out damaged mitochondria and have components that help with creating cellular energy. Now here's other big ones. Salmon and wild caught fish. Salmon is high in astaxanthin, which protects mitochondria from oxidative stress. And it's rich in omega 3s, which reduce inflammation and support the cellular membrane and help heal mitochondria as well. So wild caught fish, like salmon especially, are one of the greatest mitochondrial healing foods ever. Extra virgin olive oil provides healthy fats that support mitochondrial function. Leafy greens contain antioxidants that fight mitochondrial damage. And then herbals can be great too. And I'll get into some of those specific herbs in a minute. Coenzyme Q10 is essential for ATP production and acts as a powerful antioxidant that protects the mitochondria. Now, this starts to decrease as we age, but especially if you have high blood pressure, if you have high cholesterol, if you have high triglycerides, if you have any heart related issues. You want to be taking coenzyme Q10? Absolutely. Or if you have mitochondrial dysfunction. You know, there was a randomized control controlled trial and they found that coenzyme Q10 supplementation RED reduced fatigue. It can also help with pain and fatigue due to long Covid due to its positive effects on mitochondrial function. So remember, if someone has long Covid or an infection like Lyme or mold or Epstein Barr, any of these issues, there's mitochondrial damage. And coenzyme Q10 is one of those supplements that can help prepare and heal that. Now here's a couple other big ones, NAD and pqq. Now, NAD is known as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and it's essential for cellular energy and DNA repair. In fact, it might be the single most important nutrient nad. And by the way, you'll see this in supplements as different names based on where it's at in a, in a cycle. But it could be labeled as NAD plus, it could be nadh, it could be nmn. But NAD plays a role in cellular metabolism and is a co substrate for enzymes that play a key role in pathways that modify aging and really helps heal your mitochondria and help run your mitochondria. Your body, your mitochondria has to have it to produce energy. And research shows that NAD therapy, whether that you can get an NAD plus iv, you could also take it as a capsule or take it as a peptide like injection, and it helps restore mitochondrial function and slow aging. But again, it's one of the most powerful Things I've seen and I've had so many people have said, I actually physically notice a difference. You know, sometimes you take supplements, you don't really feel it. This is one you will feel because of the impact, as on the mitochondria. So probably the single biggest synthetic nutrient or ingredient that you could take, NAD plus, is going to be very, very high on that list. Now, the other one here is pqq and this is a powerful antioxidant and CO factor that supports mitochondrial function because it supports the growth of creating new mitochondria. It's called, I talked about this earlier, it's called mitochondrial biogenesis. So remember, you should have thousands of mitochondria in your cell. So PQQ helps your body create more mitochondria. And so it's really powerful in that way. And in clinical studies, it's been shown to boost cognitive function, improve heart health and overall longevity. And I want to walk you through the top foods that are rich in pqq. Number one is natto. This is one of the top superfoods consumed in the Okinawan diet. In Japan, where the people have the longest lifespan in the world. Today, one of the top foods they consume is natto, which is a fermented soy product. It has 61 nanograms of PQQ. So parsley is the number two PQQ food. And then we have green pepper, kiwi, papaya, spinach, fava beans, carrots, miso. Really, if you want to get the best of the best, it's natto, it's parsley, it's green peppers, it's kiwis, it's papaya and spinach. Those are the highest foods in pqq. If you've been doing everything right, eating clean, exercising, but somehow you're still not feeling your best, your energy's dragging, your memory is slipping, and it's frustrating because you know there's more to your potential. Well, what if the issue isn't just in your routine, but it's deep down inside your cells? You know you're investing in the best supplements, working out regularly and sticking to a clean diet. But if your cells are stuck in what's called cell danger response, all the hard work might not be paying off as it should. Think of your cells like a house under renovation. You can bring in the highest quality materials, like the best supplements in clean foods. But if the workers inside the house or are on lockdown because of a storm, nothing gets done. The materials just pile up unused. That's what happens when your Cells are in cdr, they can't fully use the good stuff you're giving them. Getting out of cdr. The cell danger response is the key to unlocking your body's full potential. When your cells are no longer in protective mode, they can finally use the nutrients, hormones and energy you're working so hard to provide. That's when everything starts to click. Your energy improves, your workouts become more efficient, and you start to feel like yourself again. Go to BeyondBloodwork.com to learn how to break free from cell danger response and make the effort pay off. Now, I want to talk about a nutrient that also supports mitochondrial function. And this is by really protecting the mitochondria. And it's a compound called urolithin A that you're going to get via ellagic acid. And ellagic acid is found in higher doses in certain types of fruits and plants. And I want to mention here, in order to create this urolithin A, you have to have a healthy gut microbiome. So what I would say is eating the foods I'm about to go through, along with taking a probiotic supplement or consuming probiotic rich foods, is going to be the ideal way for your body to create more urolithin A, B, C, D and E. And so the top foods that are going to support your body in getting more allergic acid, which can be converted to urlithin A, is number one, is going to be yellow raspberries. Now, most of us have maybe never had a yellow raspberry, but it's number one on the list. Has nearly 2,000 milligrams per weight of urolithinate or allegic acid specifically. Next is gonna be something called cloudberries. It's a more rare type of berry. Number three is gonna be pomegranates. Pomegranates are. And because you probably eat more of them than cloudberries, probably even higher up, I would put that as number two on the list. Pomegranates have 270 milligrams per hundred grams. Pomegranate juice has 811 milligrams of ellagic acid. So pomegranates are, to me, probably the greatest fruit, period for longevity because I didn't hit on. There are other compounds in pomegranates, not just allegic acid, that support longevity. By the way, pomegranates are prized in the Middle east, in Asia, they're talked about in the Bible. They're probably the number one longevity food in my professional opinion. And so again, pomegranates are amazing, probably the number one food for mitochondrial function, but they're very high in illness. Number four are raspberries. Number five, blackberries. Number six, black raspberries. So raspberries are all over this board you're seeing here, raspberries and blackberries and then rose hips, strawberries, walnuts and pecans. These are the foods that are high. So it's mostly berries and superfruits like pomegranates, rose petals and hips. And then we're seeing walnuts on there as well. And then pecans are the best for mitochondrial function. And then there's another compound I want to mention here. It's called L carnitine. This is an amino acid that helps transplant port fatty acids into the mitochondria. So it is critical for mitochondrial function. And a lot of endurance athletes will also supplement with L carnitine because it's so good for mitochondrial health. This is found as well in organ meats like heart. And so that's why one of the reasons why heart is so beneficial is it has carnitine, I believe it has taurine, it has creatine, it has, you know, a lot of these compounds we've talked about, like Coenzyme Q10 as well. So that's a very amazing organ for supporting mitochondrial function. And remember we talked about this, there's an ancient Chinese principle and it's like supports like. So remember we said as an organ, heart contains the highest levels of any tissue in your body of mitochondria. So think about how important your heart is and how much it has to be and how much energy it produces. The heart is like a battery for your body as well. Well, it has the most mitochondria. So if you're eating the heart of an animal, that's probably the greatest animal based product for supporting your own mitochondrial health. So if you have low mitochondrial energy, eating more hard is very healing and healthy. Now in terms of vitamins and minerals, B vitamins are critical, especially vitamin B12, B6, B2 and B9. B vitamins act as coenzymes in mitochondrial energy metabolism. B vitamins are crucial for con carbs and fats and proteins into ATP for energy. And again, they're all important. B1, B2, B3, B5. Actually every single B vitamin pretty much is almost critical for the Krebs cycle, which is really where your body creates this mitochondrial energy. It's absolutely critical. The last compound I do want to mention here is N acetylcysteine and glutathione Okay. N acetylcysteine is a precursor to glutathione. So if you're doing a supplement as a capsule, doing N acetylcysteine is great. If you're getting an IV direct, then doing glutathione is great. But again, this is very important for mitochondrial function as it supports the liver. So I want to walk you through the animal organs and glands which are most impactful for your mitochondrial health. And this is why people are starting to consume more of a nose to tail diet and taking more glandulars like liver on a regular basis because they're so loaded with peptides. We haven't even gotten into these yet. I will in a minute. But they're so high in peptides and components that support your mitochondria. So number one is the heart. It's very high in coenzyme Q10 and other compounds that heals the heart. Number two is the liver. Liver is also high in second highest in CoQ10. It also is iron. It also is high in B vitamins, also has creatine in it. It's great for healing and repairing your cells. Number three is kidneys. Kidneys contain B vitamins that support mitochondrial function and selenium. Number four is brain. Brain is high in phospholipids, omega 3 fatty acids which are crucial for mitochondrial health and cell mem health. Spleen offers iron and antioxidants and things that support immunity. Number six is adrenals. Consuming adrenal glandulars contain the highest concentrations of vitamin C, cholesterol and other healing components that support ATP synthesis and function. Now I want to walk you through peptides. Now you might be familiar with GLP1 and things like BPC157, but I want to hit on the top peptides you can consume that both promote longevity and support mitochondrial function. The first one is called MOTS C. MOTS C And it's a unique mitochondria derived peptide that plays a key role in regulating energy metabolism and cellular resistance. It enhances your sugar and glucose uptake and fatty acid oxidation, which helps the body generate more ATP while reducing stress on the body. And research suggests that MOT C may improve endurance, insulin sensitivity and longevity by mimicking some of the benefits of exercise at the cellular level. So this is one I've recommended for people that want to age more slowly and that we know have mitochondrial dysfunction. Here's another big one, SS31. This is a powerful antioxidant peptide that studies show directly targets and protects the Inner mitochondrial membrane. So the first one, Mot C really supports and energizes your mitochondria. SS31 protects your mitochondria from damage, which allows it to work more efficiently. And so this is another amazing, another amazing one as well. And it's been shown in studies to enhance muscle performance, improve recovery, and help protect against neurodegenerative illnesses. And the third is BPC157. It's known as the regenerative peptide. In fact, it stands for body protective compound. It protects your body, but also it supports cellular and mitochondrial regeneration repair. Specifically, it's called mitochondrial biogenesis. Genesis means beginning, right? Bio means birthing. Right. So again, we're birthing new mitochondria is what BPC157 helps you do and helps you repair your already damaged mitochondria. And so if you have any sort of, let's say you, you went through an infection or an injury and after that thing happened, you just haven't felt the same. This is where BPC157 would be really good for helping repair those damaged mitochondria and helping you heal. So when it comes to exercise, VO2 max training, which is a type of doing more intense cardio, triggers mitochondrial biogenesis. And so what this would look like. And by the way, it does something else too. It activates something called ampk, which is the master switch for mitochondrial production. Okay. So it actually like turns your switch on to create mitochondria. And so what this might look like is doing short bursts with having a little bit longer recovery. And so it could be where you're going one minute on in two minutes, where you're going light. So maybe you're sprinting one minute. This could be on a spin bike, it could be on an elliptical. It could be running if you're younger and, and your joints are well at doing it, or swimming. And I tend to do this personally via on a peloton bike, so cycling. And I tend to do it swimming. So I will go all max. I will go really hard for one minute and then I'll go two minutes easy or something like that. Tends to be about the amount of time that most people do. So it can be a little bit longer recovery. But again, you are going pretty hard during that period of time. So there was a study published in a medical journal on this, it was the journal Cell Metabolism. And they found that doing this type of HIIT training increased mitochondrial density by nearly 50% in young adults and 70% in older adults, showing that mitochondrial Function can improve as we age. But think about that. If you added this in one to two days a week. Think about this study. This isn't like a 5% or 10% increase. Doing VO2 max training or high intensity interval cardio increased your amount of mitochondria by 50% in young adults and those over 40, 70%. So if you're not incorporating this at least one day a week into your workout routine, you are not anti aging at the optimal level. And so again, and this could be a different amount of burst. Maybe it's 30 seconds hard and you take a full one minute or two minutes off. Okay, it could be, by the way, doing things uphill is very good for this could be hill running or stair climbing can be even more efficient at doing this. Again, spin, bike swimming tend to be some of the best ways to really, really activating your bigger muscle groups. So cycling, swimming or using your whole body or going upstairs, so your butts included are the best ways to do this. Another thing could be a full body rower. That's another way to really do this in a great way. And I would say the mat for VO2 max training, you tend to not want to go over three minutes. So you could do like. And by the way, I used to do a lot of VO2 max training when I was training for track. I ran the 800 in high school. And so what we would do is we would do around, we would do a lot of. We did two workouts. We would do a sprint 300 and then we would walk 100 very slowly for the equal amount of time or a little bit less. And so that might take, I don't know, let's say you ran a 300 a day and that took you one minute. And then you would wait about two minutes as you kind of walk back and forth and you would start again. So we would do that at a track training that way. And so that's a way to do it. But also swimming, you could do it again. You could go and swim hard for one minute or swim 50 or 100 meters and then you rest. Maybe the equal amount of time is about right if you're going to do really true VO2 max training in that way. And so these are great ways to do. Another good thing you can do is breath training or exercise without oxygen therapy or exercise at altitude. This also triggers more mitochondrial function. My wife and I and our kids were just in Park City, Utah. And so I would go up there and I would, you know, I would rent a bike and I would do sort of light mountain biking in that way and do some VO2 max training. Or I would hike up a hill. Sometimes I would walk down backwards. If it was steep, I wouldn't walk down backwards because I didn't want to fall, you know, I didn't want to fall backwards down a hill. But there are different ways you can do this and incorporate it. Now, I want to talk about a few other ways to improve mitochondrial health. And one is red light and infrared light therapy. Near infrared light stimulates mitochondrial energy production, and it's been shown to reduce inflammation, boost circulation, and enhance brain function. And a study published in the Medical Journal of Neurology found that red light therapy can reverse mitochondrial damage in patients with Alzheimer's disease. It's really powerful. The other therapy I love for supporting mitochondria is hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Hyperbaric oxygen increases the amount of dissolved oxygen in the blood, directly impacting mitochondria, which use most of your body's oxygen. And while short term hyperbaric oxygen therapy may actually temporarily increase oxidative stress, long term treatment has been shown to enhance mitochondrial function and reduce oxidative stress by boosting all of your antioxidant defenses. Because oxygen, when it's driven deep into your cells, actually protect it acts as an antioxidant for your body, which is also why it fights cancer and can reverse neurodegenerative diseases. It can fight infections, speed recovery. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, especially in a heart chamber, is incredibly power for this. Number four is cold exposure, cold showers and ice baths. Now, I want to give you a fair warning. You don't want to overdo it. If you've never done it before, start with a cold shower before doing a cold plunge and just do it for one minute and then heat it back up again. Your body back up again. Okay? Now, studies show that cold exposure activates brown fat, a mitochondrial rich tissue that burns fat for energy. So we know that it can help that via something called hormesis, which is stressing yourselves in the right way. But think about it like this. You don't want to walk into a gym and immediately start trying to bench press £500. Okay, you're going to hurt yourself. You're going to go in there and depending on your body weight, okay, maybe you get tens, maybe you get twenties, maybe you get forties, but you're going to start doing dumbbells that you can easily do 12 to 15 times. If it's the first time you're ever doing it, that's how you want to apply. That's how you want to approach cold therapy. And if you have hypothyroidism or your body temperature is cold and poor circulation, you don't want to start off doing this. Or if you do, you do it very lightly and you combine it with doing a hot tub or an infrared sauna, where you do it very short and your temperature is not low. It's not in the 40s, it's more around 60. And you do it for short periods because you want to build up your tolerance again, you want to start with those tens, then go to 15s, then 20s, then 25s and 40s. You want to build up over time. So I want to mention, with cold therapy, if you don't do it right, you will hurt yourself and you will damage your mitochondria and you'll make yourself worse. So if you're doing cold therapy and cold plunge, you want to start a flight. Now, listen, if you're a CrossFit athlete and you are really fit and you're in your 20s and you're producing a lot of body heat, you can start cold plunging, okay? And still you want to build up over time. But again, if you're a person that's actually in a state of disease, you want to really start light with cold therapy. But it can medically improve your mitochondrial function. According to studies, sauna therapy actually increases something called heat shock proteins and mitochondrial repair. So this is where infrared saunas especially are very helpful. You're getting the infrared light and the heat, which help repair damaged mitochondria. That's also great. And then I want to mention one of the biggest threats to your mitochondria is emotional stress. Emotional stress, when your body produces high levels of cortisol and other stress hormones, it triggers reactive oxygen species, something called ros, which damages your mitochondria. So you really want to be careful with emotional stress. And this is why spending time more outdoors, the sun, getting sun, and standing barefoot on the ground also helps heal your mitochondria. So you just want to practice a good lifestyle and some ways to reduce stress. I love prayer and meditation. Studies have actually shown that can be good for mitochondria. A study in the Journal of Psychology found that people that meditate have higher levels of telomerase, an enzyme that slows aging and supports mitochondrial function, longevity. So prayer and meditation in gratitude are also important. Finding your life purpose actually energizes your mitochondria. So this can be great as well. In that way. I Want to walk you through, really, the ancient idea around poor mitochondrial function. Now, in Chinese medicine, there was a diagnosis and it was called a Qi deficiency or kidney, which is really an adrenal Qi deficiency, which we know if somebody has adrenal fatigue or chronic fatigue or even hypothyroidism, there are issues where the adrenal glands are overrun, stress hormones are overproduced, and there's cortisol issues. And so in Chinese medicine, and if somebody had a Qi deficiency that's really tied to mitochondrial function, and there were certain herbs that were prescribed to help fight this poor mitochondrial function. One of the most common used was known as rhodiola rosea. And rhodiola is an adaptogenic herb that improves ATP production and your resilience to stress. In fact, it's been used in traditional Chinese medicine and Russian medicine for centuries to enhance stamina and fight fatigue. Another big one are cordyceps mushrooms. These have been shown in clinical studies to boost ATP levels, enhance oxygen uptake and increase endurance. This was used widely throughout Chinese medicine for something called a lung Qi deficiency and kidney Qi deficiency. Again, that word Qi, there is very much tied to ATP health and production and mitochondrial health. And then we've got Matcha green tea. Matcha is rich in egcg. It's a powerful antioxidant that protects the mitochondria and also contains L theanine, which enhances cognitive function and focus. So Matcha is another superfood that's great for mitochondrial health. And you think about Matcha, cordyceps, rhodiola. These are all energy enhancers, Qi enhancers that are great for mitochondrial health. And I want to go through my list of the top 12 herbs for boosting mitochondrial function throughout history. Number one is ginseng or Panax ginseng. This enhances ATP production and mitochondrial function as well. Number two is resveratrol. Now, I want to say resveratrol is very different than ginseng. Ginseng actually energizes the mitochondria, whereas veritrol protects the mitochondria and helps the body create more. More mitochondria themselves. Another big one would be curcumin. This reduces inflammation and oxidative stress, which protects mitochondrial membranes. Number four is quercetin. Quercetin has been shown to be effective against long Covid. It's found in high levels in onions and apples and supports mitochondrial biogenesis. And then another one here would be parsley. Again, this was used, as we've talked about, parsley or nattokinase as a supplement or even coenzyme Q10. But parsley in particular is vital for mitochondrial and electron transport chain function. And then as I mentioned, Rhodiola rosea, this improves ATP synthesis, very similar to ginseng. Ashwagandha is another one, very similar to rhodiol and ginseng and improving the energy of the mitochondria. And then ginger would be on that list. Very similar to turmeric. Nine would be reishi mushroom. This has been shown to enhance mitochondrial function. Number 10 are cordyceps. Number 11, green tea. And number 12, I'll just mention adaptogens in general like schisandra and astragalus. These are herbs that also support your mitochondrial health. So remember your mitochondria, listen, they're powerful. They are the power plants of your cell. And I think most people are aware, if you're fairly educated in how health at this point, that your mitochondria make ATP and run the energy of your cells. But I also wanted to mention quite a few other things that your mitochondria are responsible for. Not only do they create energy via ATP, your mitochondria actually make water, they make CO2, they make infrared heat, they make ROS, reactive oxygen species. They make pregnelone, which is a type of hormone you need for, for anti aging and for hormone balance. They make melatonin to help you sleep better. They regulate autophagy, so they help clean up and recycle damaged cells. They regulate apoptosis, so they fight cancer. They regulate something in your body called cell danger response, which is really critical for overcoming chronic infections like long Covid and Lyme and mold issues. They also support cellular communication and, and protect your DNA. So mitochondria, yes, they produce energy and it's probably their most well known function, but they do so much more than that. And remember what we talked about? Boosting your mitochondria is connected to your brain and your body, mind and spirit. So working on being grateful, on prayer and meditation, having a purpose that strengthens mitochondria, we also see your lifestyle is really key. You know, we see things today like doing some intermittent fasting can help. Ketogenic diet, interval training or VO2 max training, infrared light, heat, doing some cold and heat, like cold plunges, you know, diet, taking herbs, all of these things can help stimulate mitochondrial function as well. So lots and lots of benefits there. And when we're talking about a diet that's optimistic, optimal for mitochondria, it's really gonna be wild caught fish like salmon. It's going to be doing some organ meats and just general healthy meat like red meat, like beef and venison and bison. Eggs can be great as well. So you're getting that healthy protein in meat. It's gonna be a lot of berries and superfruits like pomegranate. It's gonna be vegetables like spinach and carrots. It's gonna be do maybe even some beans in particular. Fermented beans like natto and miso are gonna be on that list. And then it's gonna be healthy fatty acids particular, extra virgin olive oil, and then maybe some nuts like walnuts. I mean, that's the basis of the diet. And if you can follow that type of diet, your mitochondria are gonna be healthy. And as I talked about earlier, there are certain nutrients that are critical for mitochondrial function. If you're missing any of them, your mitochondria can't work as well well as it should. One of Those is coenzyme Q10. We talked about quercetin. We talked about NAD, also L, carnitine, creatine, PQQ, omega 3 fatty acids, and B vitamins are critical to mitochondrial function as well. We need all of these to be healthy. But if you're following the diet I talked about, it's gonna be very helpful in healing your mitochondria. And so remember, your mitochondria are literally the power plants. They're the. The engines of your cell that light up the entire city, all your organs. If you have an organ issue, well, oftentimes it's a mitochondrial issue. We want to go to the cell and even deeper into the mitochondria of the cell in order to heal. By the way, I do want to mention I do have a virtual clinic. And so if you're a person who wants help, you can look up Dr. Axe the Health Institute, or Dr. Axe Longevity Clinic and learn more about what I'm doing to kind of help patients recover and heal. But you can go to thehealthinstitute.com if you're a person who wants to learn more about how to heal your mitochondria. Here are your hormones. And maybe find a practitioner that can help walk you through a very specific diet and plan to heal if that's something that you are looking for and you're at that place in life. Hey, I want to say thanks for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Axe Show. Remember, each and every week, we're diving deep into how to truly heal and regenerate your body. Physically, mentally and spiritually. And I also want to say, make sure to subscribe. We have so many amazing people coming on the podcast. Everyone from Mark Hyman to Lisa Bevere and others coming up real soon on the show. So make sure to subscribe so you don't miss a thing. Also, thank you for liking and loving this. And also thank you, all of you who are on mission with me, for sharing this. This information for so many people can help transform their health and life. So, no, just thanks. You know, thanks so much for being on the mission with me here as well. Hey, I'm praying you're blessed. I can't wait to see you on the next episode.