Gut-Mitochondria Connection

It’s 3 pm on a Wednesday- mid of the week! Carlos, Head of Operations at a leading financial services company, is facing low energy & fatigue. He has a lot of tasks to deliver before the close of the day! Not able to cope up with falling energy, he reaches for coffee with hot chocolate topping or energy drink. He somehow manages to complete all the tasks. The energy drink- Red Bull did a trick for him. But is this the right solution? Does consuming such stimulants have an impact on your gut health? Let us dig more on this.

1. Energy drinks: Most of the energy drinks offer a bad combination of caffeine & sugar. These drinks contain both sucrose & glucose. The excess amount of sugar is bad for our body, human cells & most importantly our gut microbiome. Excess caffeine is bad specifically for those who suffer from caffeine intolerances.
2. Stimulants: The artificial stimulants have a high amount of caffeine to keep you alert. However regular consumption of stimulants can create issues such as chest pain, stomach issues, acid reflux, trouble in sleeping or irregular heart beat.
3. Coffee: Besides caffeine intolerance, consumption of caffeine is not good for your gut microbiome since catechols in your coffee can harm bacterias in your colon driving you to a state of gut dysbiosis.

If you do not feel rested even after sleeping throughout the night, you may feel a lack of energy & experience fatigue to accomplish the tasks that you need to complete during the entire day. This is a serious issue if you are suffering from acid reflux & continuously face fatigue. Resorting to stimulants can further amplify the state of gut dysbiosis. So if you experience fatigue regularly & stimulants are not the ultimate solution, then what should you do?

Your body & gut has answer to all these questions

Our body creates energy in the form of ATP which is produced by mitochondria that lives within the cell in our body. It turns out that mitochondria is home to bacterias that directly communicate with their microbial cousins living inside our colon (gut). Mitochondria, also referred to as energy powerhouse of the cell, is capable of undergoing biogenesis- division of growth of existing mitochondria to meet cellular energy requirements. Cells energy production requirements are met through cellular respiration process through three major steps:

1. Glycolysis: This converts glucose to pyruvate while producing ATP
2. Kreb’s cycle: This is an aerobic process that metabolises Pyruvate into CO2 & H2O
3. Electron Transport Chain: Energy  stored in reduced coenzymes is used to stimulate synthesis of large amounts of ATP.

It is important to note that supply of nutrients is essential for smooth functioning of mitochondria & cellular respiration process. When your body does not get specific nutrients or in other words, your diet does not feed your gut microbiome to release these nutrients & short chain fatty acids such as Butyrate, your mitochondria does not get right building blocks to produce ATP to give you required energy for carry on your daily tasks.

Different people require different nutrients depending upon their gut microbiome profile which can be met through food to address cellular needs at molecular level. On one hand some people may need activities to enhance energy production pathways while others require antioxidant mitochondrial biogenesis support. As a matter of fact, the same nutrient or food can be recommended to different people for different reasons/conditions. For instance, for an individual dark berries may be required to suppress oxidative stress while for others, it may be required to improve insulin response.

So the key to the energy production process is to learn which food & nutrients will provide required building blocks to mitochondria. However, it is important to note here that not all nutrients are right & aligned to gut microbiome profile of every person. So the question arises how do you know what food & nutrients your body, mitochondria & your gut microbiome require to keep you away from fatigue & keep your energy intact without resorting to stimulants? 

Learning about your gut microbiome profile & how your gut bacteria interacts with food you eat is essential is your health mascot. Our gut intelligence solution can help you unlock your true energy potential by learning about your mitochondrial health, cellular health & energy production. Sign up for our free discovery call here.