Top 10 Ways to Boost Mitochondrial Health for All-Day Energy

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 the 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 triphosphate. 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, 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, your body's battery is down here. He said, where you should have 5 bars, you have 3. And he said, we need to get it back up to at least a 4. I said, okay. And then 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— that's it. Those are probably the 2 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, uh, not, not being healthy, having a condition like leaky gut. It could be just chronic, uh, 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 1, low energy and fatigue issues. Number 2, brain fog and difficulty concentrating. Number 3, 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, um, 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 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— what my mom— 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 2 words: exhausted and overwhelmed. And I distinctly remember my mom getting home from work.

My mom worked part-time as a teacher, and she would get home and she would just try— 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, 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, 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. And 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 Uh, a few years after going through her, her natural cancer treatment, finished second in her age group. Um, in her— and she was in her— that would have been her late, almost 60 years old, uh, in her late 50s. And, 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, 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 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 you can get— 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. No, 2 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, 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.

Yeah. In healthy individuals, they have very high levels of mitochondria so your body can produce ATP and reduce oxidative stress. So remember, your mitochondria do 2 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, 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— Interesting.

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 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. And 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, that is put on halt when you don't sleep. So your body stops producing new and repairing their own mitochondria. Studies show that sleep deprivation triggers brain inflammation, uh, in particular.

So, so one of the biggest areas of mitochondria that are damaged is your, your brain cells. Now, here's another big one: toxins and pesticides like glyphosate.

Um, there is a— in, 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 phthalates, 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, 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 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'll walk 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 1 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 and mitochondrial function test, which can be part of a cellular energy panel. The The 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. And so I'm a big fan of doing an OAT or an organic acids test because it tests for micronutrients, mitochondrial function, and oxidative stress, which will give you a really good picture into mitochondrial health. Number 3, you can do a mitochondrial DNA test, damage test. That's another good test. A 4th would be a lactate to pyruvate ratio test.

This basically shows if your mitochondria— if you have mitochondrial dysfunction or your body's not producing enough That's another test option. And a 5th 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 and NAD+, It's a warning sign that your cells don't have what they need to produce energy, which, 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 2 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 1, consume more organ meats— liver, heart, adrenal.

These organs and 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 2 is going to be superfruits 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 controlled, controlled trial and they found that coenzyme Q10 supplementation reduced 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 repair 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, in a, in a cycle. But, and it could be labeled as NAD+, 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+ 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 noticed a difference.

You know, sometimes you take supplements, you don't really feel it. This is one you will feel because of the impact it has on the mitochondria. So probably the single biggest synthetic nutrient or ingredient that you could take, NAD+ is going to be very, very high on that list.

Now, the other one here is PQQ, and this is a powerful antioxidant and cofactor 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 cells.

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 1 is natto.

This is one of the top superfoods consumed in, 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 2 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 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, And 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, um, I want to mention here, in order to create this urolithin A, you're— 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 ellagic acid, which can be converted to urolithin A, is number 1 is going to be yellow raspberries.

Now, most of us have maybe never had a yellow raspberry, but it's number 1 on the list, has nearly 2,000 milligrams. Wow. Per weight of urolithinate or ellagic acid, ellagic acid specifically. Next is going to be something called cloudberries. It's a more rare type of berry. Number 3 is going to be pomegranates.

Pomegranates are— and because you probably eat more of them than cloudberries, probably even higher up, I would put that as number 2 on the list. Pomegranates have 250, 270 milligrams per 100 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 ellagic 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 Number 4 are raspberries. Number 5, blackberries. Number 6, 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 transport. Transport 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, um, like coenzyme Q10 as well. So, so, so that's a very, uh, 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 beat 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, it— that's, that's the probably the— that's probably the greatest animal-based product for supporting your own mitochondrial health. So if you have low mitochondrial energy, eating more heart 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 converting 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. And 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 mitochondrial health. So number 1 is the heart.

Very high in coenzyme Q10 and other compounds that heals the heart. Number 2 is the liver. Liver is also high in— second highest in CoQ10. It also has iron. It also is high in B vitamins. Also has creatine in it. It's great for healing and repairing your cells. Number 3 is kidneys. Your kidneys contain B vitamins that support mitochondrial function and selenium. Number 4 is brain.

Brain is high in phospholipids and omega-3 fatty acids, which are crucial for mitochondrial health and cell membrane health. Spleen offers iron and antioxidants and things that support immunity. Number 6 is adrenals. Consuming adrenal granulars 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 GLP-1 and things like BPC-157, 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, M-O-T-S-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 MOTS-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, SS-31. This is a powerful antioxidant peptide that studies show directly targets and protects the inner mitochondrial membrane. So, the first one, MOTS-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 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 BPC-157. 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 BPC-157 helps you do and helps you repair your already damaged mitochondria.

And so if you have any sort of Let's say you went through an infection or an injury, and after that thing happened, you just haven't felt the same. This is where BPC-157 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 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 1 minute on and 2 minutes where you're going light. So, maybe you're sprinting 1 minute. This could be on a spin bike, it could be on an elliptical, it could be running if you're younger 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'll go really hard for 1 minute, and then I'll go 2 minutes easy or something like that. It 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 is 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 1 to 2 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 1 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 bursts, maybe it's 30 seconds hard and you take a full 1 minute or 2 minutes off. Okay, it could be hill— by the way, doing things uphill is very good for this. Could be hill running or stair climbing. Cycling 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, you're using your whole body, or going upstairs so your butt's included are the best ways to do this. And another thing could be a full-body rower. That's another way to really do this in a great way.

And I would say for VO2 max training, you tend to not want to go over 3 minutes. So, you could do— 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 2 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. started today, and that took you 1 minute. And then it— you would wait about 2 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.

Um, and so that's a way to do it. But also swimming, you could do it again. You could go and swim hard for 1 minute or swim 50 or 100 meters, and then you rest. Maybe the equal amount of time is about right, um, if you're going to do really true VO2 max training in that way. And so these are great ways to do it.

Another good thing you can do is Breath training, um, 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, uh, you know, I would rent a bike and I would, 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 Number 4 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 1 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 pounds, okay? You're going to hurt yourself.

You're going to go in there, and depending on your body weight, okay, maybe you get 10s, maybe you get 20s, maybe you get 40s, 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 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 some— or, 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 10s, then go to 15s, then 20s, then 25s, and 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 off light. 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, and, 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 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.

Um, 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 and 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, chi 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 1 is ginseng or Panax ginseng. This enhances ATP production and mitochondrial function as well. Number 2 is resveratrol.

Now, I want to say resveratrol is very different than ginseng. Ginseng actually energizes the mitochondria, whereas resveratrol protects the mitochondria and helps the body create more— Okay. More mitochondria themselves. Another big one would be curcumin. This reduces inflammation, oxidative stress, which protects mitochondrial membranes. Number 4 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, 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 rhodiola and ginseng in improving the energy, energy of the mitochondria. And then ginger would be on that list, very similar to turmeric. Number 9 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 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 pregnenolone, which is a type of hormone you need For, uh, 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, uh, ketogenic diet, interval training or VO2 max training, infrared light heat, doing some cold and heat like cold plunges, um, you know, diet, taking herbs. All of these things can help stimulate mitochondrial function as well. So lots and lots of benefits there. And if when we're talking about a diet that's Yeah.

Optimal for mitochondria, it's really going to 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 and meat. It's going to be a lot of berries and superfruits like pomegranate. It's going to be vegetables like spinach and carrots.

It's going to be— do maybe even some beans, in particular fermented beans like natto and miso are going to be on that list. And then it's going to 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 going to 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. As 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 going to be very helpful in healing your mitochondria. And so remember, your mitochondria are literally the power plants. They're 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, heal your hormones, and maybe find a practitioner that can help walk you through a very specific diet and plan to heal, um, if, if, uh, if that's something that, 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. I, 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.