In my mid-20s, I went back to school to student study massage and energy-work therapies. Various anatomy courses were part of the curriculum, and I remember feeling truly appalled that it was the first time I was being educated about how the body actually works. I didn’t get that in college. I didn’t get that in high school. Only out of my own election of further study did I learn how the body functions — at a fairly basic level (I wasn’t studying to become a doctor).
It seems to me that if anything should be mandated in schools, it ought to be knowledge of the body — it is the only physical thing we have our entire lives! People can do with the information as they please, but making choices from a position of understanding is incredibly beneficial and empowering.
Knowing the “why” of anything helps people make better decisions. In light of eating healthy food and endeavoring to lead a healthy lifestyle, I think it is important to dig into the why for that. In this day and age, that is especially true, especially considering the incredibly slick marketing of less-than-stellar products.
As an example, have you ever seen Monsanto’s website or heard their commercials? They have a very savvy team of marketing professionals that know how to make a silk purse out of that sow’s ear, no doubt about it. For those who have no clue what’s going on in their bodies, they have no basis for scrutiny of the shiny, pretty things they’re shown.
Of course that is not the Azure Community, but we’re going to dive into a little bit of anatomy to give us a broader understanding of at least one realm of the body and health: mitochondria and glutathione. We’ll start with a brief on mitochondria for the framework because what they do is vital to everything we do and because what we do or don’t do affects their ability to function.
THE WORLD OF MITOCHONDRIA
You likely remember mitochondria as the power plants of the body, and not just our bodies. They are present in almost every complex-celled organism on the planet, including animals and plants. Inside our cells, there are subunits called organelles. Generally, each organelle is enclosed in its own membrane (a lipid bi-layer), which enables it to perform its specific role by segregating its processes from the neighboring organelles or the cell on the whole. You can equate the organelles to micro-departments of the cell.
In a “typical” animal cell, there are roughly 14 organelles, such as the nucleus — the “brain” of the cell — and the mitochondria, etc. Interestingly enough, mitochondria contain their own set of DNA, their own genome set, not that of your cell’s. It is thought that ancient mitochondria may have been bacteria that eventually entered into such a symbiotic relationship with our cells that they became part of them. And, we only inherit mitochondrial DNA from our mothers.
In this short article, we won’t have time to dive into epigenetics combined with the bacterial interplay within our bodies, but boy if that isn’t a fun rabbit hole to explore. Maybe another time! The number of mitochondria per cell varies dramatically throughout the body based on energy needs. There are none in the red blood cells, but a lot in muscle cells, and as many as 2,000 in the liver. Their size and shape vary as well.
We are generally taught that they are small, oblong structures, but in actuality, they can also be filament-shaped, and they directly interface with cell networks/pathways that facilitate both communication and other critical cell functions.
ENERGY & EXERCISE
Mitochondria have several functions, and the most well-known and prominent one is that of energy production, hence the nickname power plant. There are lots of different ways to say it, but I particularly like the imagery that they harvest energy sources from the food we eat (or have stored) and exchange them into a currency that the cells and body can use for the energy they need to function. That currency is called ATP, adenosine triphosphate.
The more energy needed — building muscles, exercising body parts, growing — the more mitochondria needed to produce that power.
So ... ATP is the energy currency of the body (one of them). It’s what powers us to do whatever it is we do in life, and mitochondria produce it. That’s a big and important job! Thank you, mitochondria. They are constantly undergoing change through fission (dividing and multiplying) and fusion (joining together). Each time a cell regenerates (throughout our lives we grow and shed cells), the mitochondria do so as well. As mentioned before, it’s usually more than a 1:1 ratio as there are often multiple mitochondria per cell, depending on cell type.
The more energy needed — building muscles, exercising body parts, growing — the more mitochondria needed to produce that power. Because of this, they need a continuous supply of the phospholipids which make up and create the integrity of their lipid bilayer. Our bodies can and do produce phospholipids (they are endogenous), but they are also assimilated via the diet in foods such as egg yolks, liver, wheat germ, peanuts, pretty much all fat-containing foods, and krill oil (think astaxanthin).
CELL METABOLISM
In addition to power production, mitochondria also regulate cell metabolism. Metabolism comes from the Greek work metabole, which means “to change.” In very simple terms, metabolism is the breakdown (catabolism) or the construction (anabolism) of cellular components. It is, according to Wikipedia, “the set of life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of living organisms. These enzyme-catalyzed reactions allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments.”
Again, huge job, mitochondria. Kudos!
CALCIUM LEVELS
Mitochondria regulate and help maintain calcium homeostasis (balance/equilibrium) in the cells. Calcium plays a critical role in the transmission of cell communication, and it is finely regulated in the body. Inside the cells, the mitochondria act to maintain proper concentration levels by storing and releasing as needed.
Dysfunction in calcium balance is a root cause of various neuro-degenerative diseases, and even in less than dire scenarios, it certainly interferes with your cells’ abilities to properly communicate with each other.
VITAMIN D AND MITOCHONDRIA
Vitamin D is a hormone synthesized by our skin from the sun. It is found naturally in small levels in dairy products, but nowhere near the levels we need to thrive. Vitamin D is critical for the proper absorption of calcium and phosphorus (as is K2!), and the correlation between vitamin D and mitochondria is getting a lot more attention.
Recent findings by Dr. Akash Sinha and associates, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, show that there is a direct relation between vitamin D levels and mitochondrial performance, particularly as it relates to vitamin D deficiency and fatigue (muscle or otherwise). It also indicates that vitamin D levels directly relate to ATP production and cycle recovery times.
This by no means is a comprehensive list of mitochondrial function, but it begins to give an idea of the importance of mitochondria vitality in our bodies and how that translates into vitality in our lives.
Now, in order to move on, there is one more piece to understand: Just like most power production of any kind, there are “by-products” of ATP production. In the course of creating ATP, free radicals are produced. A free radical is basically a reactive oxygen molecule that bounces around the cell causing damage as it goes. It is a normal part of cell operation, and the body has defense systems and antioxidants in place to neutralize them (as long as there aren’t too many).
The antioxidant we’ll look at here has been dubbed the “Master Antioxidant” because it helps all the other antioxidants in the body maintain peak performance as well as performing its own essential duties.
INTRODUCTION TO GLUTATHIONE
Did you know that glutathione is one of the most studied and written about elements in the body? There have been roughly 80,000 papers published on its role and importance in the body, and unequivocally, they agree that both sickness and reduced longevity correlate directly with low glutathione levels. It is a tripeptide that our bodies produce (endogenous), made up of cysteine, glutamate and glycine amino acids.
There are many vital antioxidants out there, but glutathione is a bit different because it is intracellular. It requires ATP for synthesis, and already you can see its relationship with the mitochondria. But the relationship is not one-sided. While glutathione needs the ATP produced by the mitochondria, the mitochondria need glutathione to clean up and neutralize the free radicals produced during the creation of ATP.
Glutathione is especially well-equipped to do this because of a sulfur compound in its cysteine amino acid. That sulfur is “sticky” in a sense, and free radicals along with other toxins and heavy metals basically stick to it. Another beauty of this master is that it is recycled by the body and reproduced as needed. The crux in modern day life is that the demands for glutathione are great due to our ever-increasing exposure to toxins in the food we eat, water we drink, air we breathe, EMFs from our electronic devices, and mental and emotional stress as well.
Anything that stresses your body demands glutathione for cleanup. Anything that demands glutathione requires mitochondria for energy. Glutathione keeps pace in the healthy body, but as exposures increase over time, greater damage is done to the mitochondria. Free radicals beat on the mitochondria if they aren’t “swept up” and removed, and the mitochondria do get weary from the burden if not supported.
Anything that stresses your body demands glutathione for cleanup.
Similarly, glutathione takes a beating from working so hard to clean up, and the ATP production is slowed so they aren’t recycled and regenerated as quickly (what you might call a catch-22). That is why “aging” is closely related to the vitality of the mitochondria and the presence of active glutathione.
EXERCISE & EAT HEALTHY
Don’t fret! There are easy enough ways to increase the viability of both your mitochondria and your glutathione levels. Take a look at this:
Exercise! Mitochondria like to work. They excel at reproducing when they are vital. Just like you, exercise keeps them fit and healthy, so give them a job to do – exercise your body and your mind.
Eat well, but eat less. Studies show that reducing your caloric intake decreases the oxidative stress on the mitochondria, prolonging the vitality of their ATP production ability. Reduce overall oxidative stress by eating organic foods rich in antioxidants, lots of veggies and high quality organic fats — plant and/or animal based — such as coconut or palm oil, grass-fed butter, and healthy, minimally processed meats.
One thing to keep in mind is that mitochondria can produce ATP from glucose as well as from ketones, which are substances created when the body breaks down fat. Glucose is chosen first, but when it is lacking (i.e. you eat fewer carbohydrates and sugars), your body turns to its fat storage. This is also interesting because adipose (fat) tissue stores toxins, so reducing your fat storage compartments reduces your overall toxic load. Intermittent fasting and exercise turns on your body’s fat-burning switch.
Regular detoxing is going to help glutathione — essentially, giving it less work to do. Recently, I heard someone say that actively detoxing our bodies is no longer a “luxury.” It’s something we simply have to do if we want to keep our bodies healthy and thriving because the burden of exposures is simply too great at this point for our systems to handle without some help.
Think about the exposure levels our human bodies had to contend with prior to say 150 years ago. It was nothing compared to the thousands of chemicals and toxins we now expect our bodies to process on a daily basis. So, to help our glutathione clean up, we can help replenish it or its precursors (the amino acids it’s made up of):
Bio-active, nondenatured vital whey is one of the best ways to get glutathione in your diet. It needs to be from grass-fed cows without exposure to chemicals and hormones, and it has the three amino acids that make up the glutathione tripeptide.
Sulfur-rich raw vegetables such as garlic, onions, cruciferous veggies and avocados have significant glutathione levels. Cooking destroys glutathione, so eat them raw and organic. Raw, unpasteurized eggs, milk and meats, especially the alpha lipoic acid in organ meats, are also viable sources.
Silymarin is the active component in the Milk Thistle herb and has been used for centuries to treat liver illnesses. It acts to reduce the oxidative stress on the mitochondria and the burden of cleanup on glutathione. It is a potent ally.
Vitamin C and E, along with several of the Bs, help to recycle glutathione. Trace amounts of selenium are essential for the synthesis of proteins.
A glutathione supplement can be taken, but it might not be the best in the long run as it potentially encourages the body to produce less. Precursor supplements such as NACS (N-Acetyl-Cysteine), alpha lipoic acid, and Acetyl L-Carnitine, along with the other supportive nutrients mentioned above may be better as they will support the body’s natural ability to synthesize glutathione.
But, again, if you endeavor to reduce your overall toxic load (including mental/emotional stress), and eat a diet rich in glutathione or glutathione precursors, your body is built to do the rest. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the importance of hydration. Among other things, that keeps the toxins flushing out!
FURTHER RESEARCH
www.pnas.org/content/103/6/1768.abstract
www.alternativemedicine.com/alternative-medicine/features/glutathione-closer-look-master-antioxidant
http://chriskresser.com/adrenal-fatigue-glutathione-status-and-rheumatoid-arthritis
http://naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2011-02/health-dividend-glutathione
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