Commusings: Meet Mitch, Your Hardworking Mitochondria

Dear Commune Community,

It's not a Sunday, but we come to you with a bonus musings on the complex and volatile process of making cellular energy. If that subject already makes your head feel fuzzy… well, maybe that’s a sign you should pay attention!

As you will hear from our tiny yet impassioned narrator, your mitochondria could use a little more love and gratitude — if only so you live a longer, more energized life. This piece is inspired by our partners at Timeline, who are offering their best deal EVER for Amazon Prime Day. Timeline will be offering 40% off Mitopure®, their Urolithin A supplement, today July 16th and tomorrow July 17th on Amazon.com. It’s one of the few supplements I take regularly, as it’s backed by truly high-quality research and makes a real difference in how I feel.

In love, include me,
Jeff 

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Meet Mitch, Your Hardworking Mitochondria

Hey there! I’m Mitch, one of the approximately 18 quadrillion mitochondria powering your body. I keep your lights on, so to speak.

Just like you don’t think about your utility company that often, being the power plant of your cell is a critically underappreciated job. It’s also rather messy and unstable. A little knowledge on how I stay in tip-top shape will go a long way in helping you live a long, healthy life.

Like a traditional power plant, I require fuel, which you provide by eating food that contains glucose (from sugars and carbohydrates) and fatty acids (from fats). Energy is stored in glucose and fatty acids in the form of high-energy electrons within covalent bonds. These bonds hold electrons in a stable configuration. My goal is to release this energy in a series of manageable steps and use it to create ATP, which the cell can then use to power all its functions.

Much like crude oil is refined into gasoline, glucose and fatty acids are broken into smaller, usable pieces (NADH and FADH2). This refined fuel brings electrons to a series of conveyor belts in my inner membrane known as the electron transport chain.

As the electrons move along the conveyor belts, they power pumps that move protons (H⁺ ions) from one side of the membrane to the other, creating a high-pressure environment known as a “proton gradient” outside the inner mitochondrial membrane. This is akin to building up steam pressure in a steam engine.

The high-pressure protons want to return to the lower-pressure area, and they do this by flowing through a special turbine (ATP synthase). As protons rush through this turbine, they turn it, much like steam turns a turbine in a power plant.

The turning of the ATP synthase “turbine” provides the energy needed to convert ADP and inorganic phosphate into the all-important energy molecule ATP.

So far so good! But playing with electrons is a bit like playing with fire.

The electron transport chain isn’t perfect, and electrons leaking from these conveyor belts can react with oxygen, forming reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide.

When these highly unstable molecules bump into the delicate machinery of the mitochondria and get out into the cell, they cause oxidative stress. If not properly controlled, oxidative stress impairs cellular functions and contributes to aging, inflammation, and various diseases.

I have some pretty good antioxidant tools to limit the damage, but after a few days or weeks it’s time to retire (via mitophagy) in order to be replaced by a fresh Mitch (via mitobiogenesis).

This is where molecules like Urolithin A come into play to activate pathways that encourage mitophagy and mitobiogenesis. Interestingly, “you” don’t make Urolithin A.

You may have heard that the polyphenols found in plants can be good for you. Here’s one excellent example. When you expose your gut bacteria to the ellagic acid and ellagitannins found in certain fruits (such as pomegranates and strawberries) and nuts (such as walnuts and pecans), your gut microflora can convert these compounds into urolithins, of which Urolithin A is among the most common.

Urolithin A is then absorbed through the lining of your large intestine and helps signal your cells to retire damaged mitochondria and generate new ones. In addition to being a signaling molecule, Urolithin A also appears to act as an antioxidant, helping managing those pesky ROS.

Research is growing on the benefits of Urolithin A for muscle function, endurance, and lifespan, but not everyone even makes it! In one study, only 12% of subjects had detectable levels of Urolithin A to begin with. After drinking pomegranate juice, only 40% of subjects were able to produce a significant amount of Urolithin A. These “producers” were distinguished by a significantly higher gut microbiome diversity (yet another reason to take care of your microbiome!). However, in the subject group who received a Urolithin A supplement, everyone saw blood levels increase — 6 times higher than those who drank the juice.

So to sum up, I don’t expect you to send a thank you note to your utility company every time you flip on the lights, and the same goes for mitochondria like me. But maybe once a day, as you lie in bed at night, send a little gratitude to the 18 quadrillion of us doing the messy, hard work of powering your life.