The answers to these questions come down to the part of our body called mitochondria, which is one million times smaller than a grain of sand. Mitochondria is the energy factory of cells, and it is also the place where sugar, fat and amino acids are finally oxidized to release energy. Mitochondria play a greater role in our health and fitness, which enables us to keep fit, prevent diseases and delay aging.
What is mitochondria?
Mitochondria are organelles that exist in most cells and are covered by two membranes. It is the structure that produces energy in cells and the main place for cells to carry out aerobic respiration. It is called "Power House". It takes away electrons from our food and produces energy in the form of ATP. As a part of oxidative metabolism, it uses oxygen to transfer energy from carbohydrates, fats and protein to ensure the normal physiological function of the body. When mitochondrial dysfunction occurs, diseases will increase and energy level will decrease. With the decrease of energy consumption, the body's ability to use glucose and fat is impaired, so it becomes difficult for the body to lose fat.
How does mitochondrial dysfunction occur?
Every cell contains genes that make new mitochondria. Usually, you will get two functional genes from your parents, one from your mother and the other from your father. Because of mitochondrial diseases, you can't get a pair of normal genes. On the contrary, the new DNA codes for gene mutation, which means the existence of defects and leads to nervous system diseases such as muscular dystrophy. These are congenital mitochondrial dysfunction, but acquired aging, lack of exercise, obesity and chronic diseases will also affect mitochondrial health.
As we get older, our mitochondrial DNA will mutate. When the accumulation of these mutations prevents mitochondria from producing enough ATP to provide energy for cells, it will lead to the energy crisis of the body and the function of tissues and organs will gradually decline. This loss of mitochondrial function is considered to be the main reason why human beings experience physical collapse with age.
For example, scientists designed a mouse to make its mitochondria dysfunctional after gene editing. Compared with normal mice, the life span of these mice with "defective mitochondria" is only half that of normal mice. Their fur is aging, their hearing is declining, their muscles are shrinking, and their brains are shrinking faster than normal.
Another example is human skin aging. Once you are over 40 years old, you can feel the change of skin quality. The inner layer of skin begins to lose moisture, cells and elasticity. These changes are consistent with the decrease of mitochondrial ability, which leads to the thickening of the dead cortex and makes the skin dry and stiff.
What is the function of mitochondrial movement?
One way to protect mitochondria is to exercise. Intuitively, mitochondria have a great influence on sports performance, because it is a power plant for muscle cells, which converts fat, glucose and protein into usable energy and provides energy for sports.
There are three things that affect the performance of mitochondria:
[If! SupportLists] 1。 [endif] The number of mitochondria in cells, especially muscle cells.
[If! Support list ]2. [endif] Mitochondrial density per cross section of muscle fiber.
[If! Support list ]3. [endif] The function of mitochondria at present.
Let's break down the above three factors:
With the birth of new mitochondria, cells increase the available energy, but where do the new mitochondria come from?
It takes stress to make your body produce new mitochondria, which is literally a challenge to the body system. Exercise is the main factor for the growth of newborn mitochondria. When you start exercising, you will put pressure on your body to generate a lot of energy quickly. When the body feels stress, mitochondria will respond quickly, allowing you to better convert blood and oxygen into energy for you to use.
Therefore, it is obviously a good thing to have more mitochondria in your body, but the most critical place is the density of mitochondria. When new mitochondria are produced, the cross-sectional area of muscle will also increase. This means that each muscle fiber will have more energy for exercise. However, researchers have always believed that only aerobic exercise can increase mitochondrial density, while anaerobic training modes, such as interval and strength training, will have the opposite effect, because such exercise stimulates muscle growth. It is believed that the mitochondrial density (the number of mitochondria per unit muscle) will decrease with the increase of muscle. Theoretically, the way of stimulating muscle structure (mTOR) inhibits the way of new mitochondria growth. However, the latest research shows that things are not so simple. Anaerobic exercise such as high-intensity training will increase muscle mass and mitochondria at the same time, which can keep their density unchanged.
The same thing happens when strength training is combined with aerobic or interval training. It seems that only strict muscle training mode will lead to the decrease of mitochondrial density. This is why a good training plan must include all forms of exercise and do aerobic exercise regularly.
The third question is how mitochondria work. In order to make mitochondria work normally, special enzymes and protein are needed. For example, mitochondria need enzymes different from carbohydrates to burn fat. That's why when you switch from a high-carbohydrate diet to a low-carbohydrate and high-fat diet, you will have flu-like symptoms, mainly because mitochondria don't function optimally, because at this time, you don't use the enzymes needed to convert fat into ATP. With the passage of time, the adaptation of cells and the increase of lipase will make you feel better and better and improve mitochondrial function.
Exercise is a particularly powerful catalyst, which can increase the enzymes that stimulate fat burning and improve the function of mitochondria. In fact, in diabetics and obese people, exercise can trigger changes in mitochondria. For example, in one study, it was found that 12 men with excellent body composition and 10 obese men were given high-fat and low-carbohydrate diets for three days respectively. Men with excellent body composition increased body fat consumption, while obese subjects did not. It concludes that if you are not overweight and limit your carbohydrate intake, gene signals and fat burning will be improved to help fat burning. At least in the short term, obese people will not respond to this change, or it may be because of their mitochondrial dysfunction.
In the second part of the study, exercise is a good balancer. After a period of training, the same two groups of men did aerobic exercise 10 day. The results showed that both groups of subjects improved the reaction efficiency of fat burning. Scientists believe that exercise promotes the change of mitochondrial function, thus making metabolism more flexible.
This worries me about another key factor that changes mitochondrial health: diet. The effects of different dietary components on mitochondria are beyond the scope of this paper, but there are several key points to pay attention to:
[If! Support list ]l? [endif] Avoid adding sugar and refined carbohydrates and reduce the number of free radicals, which are by-products of oxidative metabolism.
[If! Support list ]l? [endif] Eat fish, because these omega-3 fats can improve mitochondrial function.
[If! Support list ]l? [endif] Eat more fruits and vegetables. Colorful plant foods contain antioxidants, which can reduce the free radical load of the body and reduce the damage to mitochondria.
[If! Support list ]l? [endif] Don't be afraid of saturated fat. When saturated fat exists in the cell membrane of mitochondria, it can reduce the damage of cell membrane, produce less free radicals and reduce the damage to DNA.
[If! Support list ]l? [endif] Supplement: Magnesium, coenzyme Q 10, creatine, alkali, lipoic acid and vitamin D have all been proved to improve mitochondrial function.
final conclusion
By fine-tuning your nutrition and exercise, you can ignite your mitochondria and change your health. The simple suggestions in this article will make you feel more energetic and reduce the risk of chronic diseases.
Reference:
Effects of resistance training on biogenesis, content and function of skeletal muscle mitochondria. The frontiers of physiology. 20 17. Early publication.
Enhanced protein translation is the basis for young people and the elderly to improve their metabolism and physical adaptation to different sports training modes. Cell metabolism. 20 17.25, 58 1-592.
Endurance exercise saved the premature aging of mtDNA mutant mice and induced systemic mitochondrial regeneration. Journal of the National Academy of Sciences. 20 1 1. 108( 10), 4 135-4 140.