The Dr. Hyman Show - How Does Your Body Make Energy?

Episode Date: September 18, 2020

How Does Your Body Make Energy? | This episode is brought to you by Perfect Keto If you think back to your early years of biology class, chances are you might recall learning about mitochondria, which are often equated to little energy factories. Mitochondria are the microscopic powerhouses hiding within most cells and they have huge consequences for our health. Damaged mitochondria can lead to a host of insults, including metabolic disease. Healthy mitochondria, on the other hand, can result in optimal aging. Dr. Hyman discussed the topic of mitochondria, and how we can best support them in recent conversations with Dave Asprey and Dr. Todd LePine.  Dave Asprey is the founder and CEO of Bulletproof 360, creator of the global phenomenon Bulletproof Coffee, a two-time New York Times bestselling author, the host of the Webby award-winning podcast Bulletproof Radio, serial entrepreneur, and global change agent. By employing the principles of biohacking (a term added to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in September of 2018 with Dave’s influence) Dave has lost over 100 pounds, upgraded his brain, learned to sleep more efficiently in less time, and become a more effective entrepreneur, husband, father, and overall human being. In this episode, he shares his top tips and tricks for being superhuman and living to be 180 or beyond.  Dr. Todd LePine graduated from Dartmouth Medical School and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, specializing in Integrative Functional Medicine. He is an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner. Prior to joining my team at The UltraWellness Center, he worked as a physician at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA, for 10 years. Dr. LePine’s goal is to help patients achieve vitality through focusing on optimal aging, bio-detoxification, functional gastrointestinal health, systemic inflammation, autoimmune disorders, and the neurobiology of mood and cognitive disorders. This episode is brought to you by Perfect Keto. Right now, Perfect Keto is offering Doctor’s Farmacy listeners 20% off plus free shipping with the code DRMARK. Just go to perfectketo.com/drmark, and make sure you try their Nut Butters and Keto Cookies. Find Dr. Hyman’s full-length conversation with Dave Asprey, “Can You Age Backwards?” here: https://drmarkhyman.lnk.to/DaveAsprey Find Dr. Hyman’s full-length conversation with Dr. Todd LePine, “Why Fixing The Gut Is The Key To Healing Chronic Disease,” here: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/DrToddLePine

Coming up on this episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy. Your body has all these amazing repair systems that you can turn on that have been there always that are probably not turned on and every one of those repair systems is dependent on functioning mitochondria. Hey everyone, it's Dr. Mark. You know, I'm all about the benefits of healthy fats and so many of my patients have found that toning down the processed carbs in their diet is the best way to support better cognition, lose that stubborn belly fat, and even reverse signs of aging. But I often hear them say that it can be really hard to stick to, especially if they have busy lives and need food that they can grab on the go.

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and how can we care for them? Dr. Hyman has discussed the important role that mitochondria play in our health in several conversations with past guests on the podcast. Here he is in conversation with biohacking expert and founder and CEO of Bulletproof360, Dave Asprey. So in the science of aging, we know a lot now. We know a lot about what causes aging. We know a lot about the mechanisms. And in functional medicine, you know, there are fundamental laws of nature that we follow in order to create vibrant health. And there are systems in the body that are all networked together that determine the quality of your health or will determine disease. And two of those, well, many of them, all of them, in fact, are connected, whether it's

the microbiome or your hormones or your detoxification system. But two of the central features of aging are inflammation. It could be called inflammation, right? And the mitochondria, which for those listening, those are the little powerhouses of your cells that produce energy. When you eat and you breathe, you basically combust them like in an engine and these little tiny things inside your cells that produce energy in the form of ATP. That is the central quality of your health, which is the quality of your mitochondria.

The quality of your health depends on the quality of your energy. And so those two things are things you have written a lot about. And you know a lot about, and we know a lot about what makes those systems go awry and how to fix them. So can you talk a little bit about that? Diabetes is a disease where your cells can't use food in the form of glucose and air to make energy. It's a mitochondrial dysfunction,

a metabolic dysfunction disease. And that disease raises your risk of cancer and heart disease and Alzheimer's disease. Yeah. Four times the risk if you have diabetes that you're going to get dementia. Exactly. So could it be that all four of the killers are all tied to metabolic dysfunction, which is tied to mitochondrial performance, it turns out it is. It also turns out that your body has all these amazing repair systems that you can turn on that have been there always that are probably not turned on. And every one of those repair systems is dependent on functioning mitochondria.

Yeah. So when we look at these seven pillars of aging, one of the first ones is mitochondrial mutations. These mitochondria, they're ancient bacteria that are a part of our cells now. They look like little bacteria if you look at them in a microscope. And they have their own DNA. That's bacterial DNA. And so you could say that, oh, we harnessed them. But from their perspective, we found these mobile Petri dishes that walk around and do stuff. And

we're the puppet masters. And if we don't like what's going on we just make less energy and then they feel crappy then they do what we want so literally they're driving a lot of the the reason that you just unconsciously reach for the cigarette or you reach for the donut it's because your mitochondria is saying i need food right now and they're talking to you and then you find the donut in your hand or you told yourself you weren't going to smoke today and you did who's pulling the puppet strings those little bastards are so yeah let's get those no we don't want to get them we want to help them you do want to help them because when they're happy you're happy and that includes eating the right stuff it includes sleep all the the good stuff that you talk about on your show mark, they mutate relatively easily. So... They're easily damaged.

Yeah. Right? They're easily damaged. And your job is to teach your body, you know, if one of them is damaged or slow, kill it all the way and replace it with a fresh young one, because we have that ability. But if you eat too much, eat too often, eat the wrong things, don't do the other things that don't cost much if anything then the systems that exercise and sleep and yeah you know things like that yeah really basic stuff to be honest but if you do them at the right time or in the right way with a little bit of structure around them what happens is the old weak mitochondria get out of the way and make make space for young ones and when that happens all of the other repair systems can for young ones. And when that happens, all of the

other repair systems can turn on. Each cell holds hundreds or thousands of mitochondria. And mitochondria are the key energy sources for our bodies, which makes their function so important to our overall health. Dr. Hyman spoke more about this with his colleague at the Ultra Wellness Center, Dr. Todd Lapine. In functional medicine, we talk a lot about something called the mitochondria, which you're really an expert in. And it's something that is really one of the keys to solving many problems and puzzles in chronic disease, whether it's Parkinson's or Alzheimer's or diabetes or obviously fatigue issues, so forth. Fibromyalgia. Tell us about what are these mitochondria? How do we look at them? And

what do we do about it? Our mitochondria, which are the power plants of our bodies, are actually way back when were ancient bacteria that became engulfed in our cells and are now the power plants. And they have different DNA. They have totally different DNA. In fact, Lynn Margulis, who was married to Carl Sagan, I had the opportunity to meet her and have lunch with her. Yeah. It was amazing. For those of you who don't know, she's sort of an icon in the world of biology who first described this whole phenomenon. Yes, exactly.

So it was right during the 60s. Everyone was studying the nuclear DNA, which is the double helix DNA. And she made an observation that there's DNA in the cell in a circular form. And she goes, what does that mean? Where did that come from? And she was actually a protist. She studied small ancient bacteria. And she realized that that DNA reminded her of the ancient bacteria. And then she came up with the hypothesis that eukaryotic cells, which are the cells that we have, actually way back when those little bacteria came and sort of created this symbiotic

relationship where you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back. And that's really how we have mitochondria. And mitochondria are so important. And this I always tell patients is that you take cyanide you will die in a matter of minutes and the reason for that is cyanide flips the switch on your mitochondria turns them off turns them off like that yeah basically that's what happens when you die you have no energy anymore lights out and lights are out and yet there's varying forms of lights out with mitochondria they're really common whether it's autism or finding now Alzheimer's Parkinson's so mitochondria that are really common, whether it's autism, or we're finding now, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's. So mitochondria, for those people, they're these little tiny things inside your cells,

there can be hundreds to thousands of them, and they basically take oxygen that you breathe and the food that you eat, and they burn them like an engine, and out comes energy, which is what runs your body in the form of ATP. So that's what has to happen every day, every minute, for you to run every chemical reaction in your body,

to run everything that you're doing. Everything. And when that process gets bunged up, you get sick. Exactly. That's very well put. Exactly. You get bunged up, especially the highly metabolic tissues. So things like the brain, things like the heart are the highly dense mitochondria.

How do we test for mitochondria? When you go to most doctors, most doctors don't even remember mitochondria in their training, nor do they ever test for it. So we test for organic acids for it. You can also- It's a urine test. It's easy to do. Yeah, relatively easy to do. And you can also do genetic testing for mitochondria. When you get an inherited mitochondrial issue, that's where, you know, maybe seeing someone who's- That's more serious. Yeah, that's much more serious. But you can also have a lot of acquired mitochondrial issue, that's where maybe seeing someone who's- That's more serious. Yeah, that's much more serious. But you can also have a lot of acquired mitochondrial

issues. And the good news is that we can heal our mitochondria. What messes them up? What messes them up? Yeah, what messes them up? Well, excessive oxidative stress will do it. So infections- Free radicals. Yeah, yeah. So excess amounts of free radicals, oxidative stress, because your mitochondria is like a fireplace. You throw logs into your fireplace, which is food,

and you give off sparks. And you throw too much logs in the fireplace, you get too much sparks, and you get too much free radicals. Too many calories, or too many bad calories. Too many bad calories, exactly. Like sugar and starch. And too many bad calories not compensated by enough dietary antioxidants is another potential source.

Antibiotics are huge. Yeah. Especially the floxins. I mean, that's a whole topic unto itself is being floxed, which I'm sure you've seen patients with that because they definitely are, bactericidal antibiotics are definitely poisonous to mitochondria and statin medications. And they do cause muscle damage and some people are more susceptible to it. And there's genetic, I think, variations in how people respond to statins

and that probably has to do with their mitochondrial function. But it's for sure. So toxins also, like heavy metals and pesticides are poisonous, too much sugar and starch and calories, oxidative stress that comes from inflammation. I mean, that's why when you have the viral flu, you feel achy and tired and sore because your mitochondria are getting nuked, right? Nutritional deficiencies, right? We need all sorts of nutrients like carnitine, CoQ10, B vitamins, all play a big role.

Things like smoking, stress, and lack of sleep can all damage your mitochondria. Environmental toxins and eating a diet rich in refined sugar and flour can also result in mitochondrial injury. But the good news is there are many things that you can do to support your mitochondria. Avoiding ultra-processed foods is key to supporting your mitochondria. Instead, focus on eating real, whole, colorful plant foods and high-quality proteins and fats. Be sure to choose organic and grass-fed whenever possible. Support your detoxification system by drinking plenty of water.

Make sure you're eliminating your bowels at least one to two times a day. Exercise regularly and focus on getting quality sleep. Consult a healthcare practitioner to determine if you might also benefit from nutritional supplementation. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a comment below or sharing the episode with a friend. Until next time. Hey, everybody. It's Dr. Hyman. Thanks for tuning into The Doctor's Pharmacy. I hope you're loving this podcast. It's one of my favorite things to do and introducing you to all the experts that I know and I love and that I've learned so much from. And I want to tell you about something else I'm doing, which is called Mark's Picks.

It's my weekly newsletter. And in it, I share my favorite stuff from foods to supplements, to gadgets, to tools to enhance your health. It's all the cool stuff that I use and that my team uses to optimize and enhance our health. And I'd love you to sign up for the weekly newsletter. I'll only send it to you once a week on Fridays, nothing else, I promise. And all you do is go to drhyman.com forward slash PICS to sign up. That's drhyman.com forward slash PICS, P-I-C-K-S, and sign up for the newsletter and I'll share with you my favorite stuff that I use to enhance my health and get healthier and better and live younger, longer. Hi, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode.

Just a reminder that this podcast is for educational purposes only. This podcast is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This podcast is provided on the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. If you're looking for help in your journey, seek out a qualified medical practitioner. If you're looking for a functional medicine practitioner, you can visit ifm.org and search their find a practitioner database.

It's important that you have someone in your corner who's trained, who's a licensed healthcare practitioner, and can help you make changes, especially when it comes to your health.