Why mitochondria are important to our health. How they influence the speed at which we age

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1 Why mitochondria are important to our health How they influence the speed at which we age 01

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3 CONTENTS 04 What are mitochondria? 08 What happens when things go wrong with your mitochondria? 12 Introducing MitoQ 05 What happens to mitochondria as we age? 09 How to support your mitochondria 06 Why do mitochondria decline with age? 10 Mitochondriatargeted antioxidants 03

4 What are mitochondria? Mitochondria you might remember them from high school biology class. They are tiny organelles in almost all our cells, and they re responsible for generating the energy our cells need to function. Mitochondria are like tiny power plants that combine the food we eat with the air we breathe, to make the energy our cells need to operate. It turns out that having lots of energy available to our cells is incredibly important to our health. It s simple, really if our cells don t get the energy they need, then they can t do all the jobs they are tasked with. Over the last decade, scientists have begun to recognize the link between mitochondrial function (or decline of function) and our health and certain diseases. It is becoming increasingly apparent that our overall health and even how fast we age are closely related to how well our mitochondria are functioning. 04

5 What happens to mitochondria as we age? When we are young and healthy our mitochondria are working at 100%, delivering all the energy our cells need. We are growing, full of energy, we bounce back from illness and injury quickly, we sleep well and for the most part we are free from serious disease. As we get older our mitochondria naturally start to decline in function. They are thought to decline at around 10% per decade from our thirties and beyond. We don t notice it immediately but we start to have less energy, we don t recover from illness or injury as quickly, and our immune systems decline, increasing the risk of serious health issues. Our organs age. We start to look older as our skin cells no longer have the energy to produce as much collagen and elastin. Less visible changes happen inside us as well. We may start to notice small things like mental fogginess or heart health problems, for example, as our brain and circulatory system lose energy. We get by because our cells are incredibly clever at reorganizing their activity so that the main jobs get done. But their lack of energy means some other important but non-urgent jobs don t get done like processing and removing waste, or repairing cellular components. Over time we experience a slow breakdown of our cellular machinery. This starts to impact on how well our cells function and on our overall energy, health and wellbeing. What we are experiencing is the aging process. 05

6 Why do mitochondria decline with age? The truth is we don t fully understand why yet. However there are some well advanced theories. One of them relates to the mitochondria s free radical defense system. Mitochondria are responsible for 90-95% of the free radicals in our cells. Free radicals are byproducts from the energy generation process. It s a bit like how an engine burns fuel and generates polluting exhaust. Because mitochondria are right at the core of this energy generation process they are exposed to 10 times more free radicals than the rest of the cell. For this reason they are literally stacked with antioxidants to protect themselves. As we get older the level of antioxidants inside our mitochondria declines. With less antioxidant protection, free radicals start to damage the mitochondrial membranes and because the energy generation process happens in the membrane this effects how much energy the mitochondria can produce. To make things worse, as the mitochondria s natural antioxidant system declines they start to leak free radicals into the cell, where they damage vital cell components and our DNA. Year by year, this slow process damages our mitochondria and results in less and less energy being available to our cells. When combined with increasing free radical leakage into the cell, the result has significant consequences for our health. A WORD ON FREE RADICALS For a long time it was thought that free radicals were the enemy and it was recommended we take antioxidant supplements to counter them. We now know that free radicals are not all bad. In fact, a certain level of free radicals is good for us. We use them to send important messages within our cells and to neighboring cells. Our immune cells also use free radicals as part of their defense mechanism against infection. Free radicals become a problem when they get out of balance and we shift into a state called Oxidative Stress. Too much oxidative stress at the cellular level can lead to cell damage and disease. 06

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8 What happens when things go wrong with Mitochondria? Mitochondrial dysfunction is now known to be associated with over 200 diseases or conditions. There are three types of mitochondrial dysfunction. 1 Age-related mitochondrial dysfunction. The gradual decline of function as we age that happens to us all. 2 Primary mitochondrial dysfunction. This is where your mitochondria stop working optimally by themselves and stop delivering energy as they used to. 3 Secondary mitochondrial dysfunction. This is when you have a disease or condition that puts stress on the mitochondria and negatively affects how they work. Primary and secondary mitochondrial dysfunction can happen to anyone at any time, and depending on how severe the dysfunction can cause a life-threatening medical emergency. If you have a health condition it is fairly easy to find out if it is related to mitochondrial dysfunction. Simply Google mitochondrial dysfunction and xxxx (your disease or condition). Improving mitochondrial function to improve health span and lifespan If you can improve your mitochondrial function then you can help slow the aging process by improving the energy available to your cells. This allows your cells to act younger for longer, slows free radical leakage into your cells, and reduces the daily wear and tear that is damaging your cell contents and DNA. When your mitochondria are functioning optimally, your cells get enough energy and will start to act young again, and in many cases because cells are self-repairing you will see a reversal in the effects of aging on the cell. You will notice an improvement in overall energy and wellbeing as your whole body starts to feel and react to the increase in available energy. Improving mitochondrial function is something that anyone can do at any time of their life with two or three simple steps. 08

9 How to support your mitochondria. All the things that you associate with being good for your health a good diet, exercise and having a healthy environment are very important for your mitochondria as well. When your diet is unbalanced by too much sugar and refined carbohydrates it overloads your mitochondria and puts them under stress. When you exercise, your mitochondria thrive. When we are inactive they decrease in number and don t function optimally. Our environment and lifestyle also impact negatively on mitochondria be it through exposure to pollutants or over-consumption of things like alcohol or tobacco. But it s important to note that even if you look after your mitochondria through a healthy diet and exercise, they still decline naturally. This is why taking a supplement that supports mitochondrial function is a very good strategy to help you stay younger for longer. Taking a supplement that supports mitochondrial function, in combination with a good diet and exercise regime, will put you in the very best position for optimal health and longevity. A WORD ON ANTIOXIDANTS Because free radicals are important for cell messaging and the immune system (amongst other things) you don t want to be taking megadoses of broad spectrum antioxidants that may interfere with these natural processes. For this reason it s best to carefully choose which antioxidant to take and to not take too many. Some of the best antioxidants are ones that stimulate our natural antioxidant protection systems, because these systems have evolved to ignore the good free radicals and target the bad ones. Newly discovered mitochondria-targeted antioxidants that ignore good free radicals whilst fighting bad free radicals are an important and significant advance. 09

10 Mitochondria-targeted antioxidants Mitochondria-targeted antioxidants are a brand new type of antioxidant, able to deliver a payload of free radical defense directly into the mitochondria. Discovered at Otago University (Dunedin, New Zealand), they are considered to be a significant advance in antioxidant technology. Until this discovery, no-one had been able to restore the mitochondrial antioxidant defense system in a meaningful way. This is because the mitochondrial membrane is particularly impermeable to substances. Many supplements are simply not able to get to where they need to be inside the mitochondria in your cells. Developed at Otago University, MitoQ delivers antioxidants into the mitochondria, right where they are needed. By restoring the mitochondrial free radical defense system, we achieve the double benefit of both restoring mitochondrial function and reducing free radical leakage into the cell. This supports optimal mitochondrial function and results in improved energy production for the cell. Our cells and organs get an energy boost, and that helps them operate like they did when they were younger. 10

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12 Introducing MitoQ When the researchers at Otago University identified a way to target mitochondria with antioxidants, they looked carefully to identify the most important antioxidant within the mitochondria. That antioxidant was CoQ10. MitoQ is a mitochondria-targeted form of this very popular supplement. MitoQ reaches into the mitochondria 847 times more effectively than all other forms of CoQ10 supplements. And when you increase levels of CoQ10 in the mitochondria it is like tuning up your cellular engine, making more energy available to your cells. Over the last decade, MitoQ has been studied by researchers all around the world as they look to understand what happens when you improve mitochondrial function and reduce oxidative stress in various models of human disease and aging. Recently, MitoQ was selected for a world-leading independent research program in the USA to evaluate its effect on slowing and potentially reversing the aging process. To date, more than $50 million of Research and over 200 scientific papers have been published investigating MitoQ s effect. TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MITOQ PLEASE VISIT MITOQ.COM Along with a good diet and exercise, MitoQ sets your mitochondria and your cells up with optimal energy for cell function. When your cells have all the energy they need, they stay younger for longer, you slow the aging process, and your cells have the resources to support your body for an optimal health span and lifespan. 12

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14 Always read the label and use as directed. If symptoms persist see your healthcare professional. MitoQ Limited, PO Box 1671, Shortland Street, Auckland, NZ YOUR CELLS POWER YOUR BODY. MITOQ POWERS YOUR CELLS. 014 MITOQ.COM