Ray Peat on mitochondria

Importance of nutrients for mitochondrial function and aging

In old age, the walls of blood vessels tend to harden with calcium. In at least some tissues, calcification is known to begin in degenerating mitochondria, and mitochondria tend to degenerate in aging tissue. Nutrients such as iodine, vitamin E, magnesium, and vitamin B2 are particularly important for maintaining the function of mitochondria, which produce the majority of our energy.

Nutrition For Women

Role of mitochondrial oxygen consumption in body temperature

A high rate of mitochondrial oxygen consumption generates heat, which enables the organism to maintain an optimal body temperature. When body temperature decreases, reactive oxygen species such as superoxide increase; mitochondrial superoxide production rises slightly, while its elimination decreases sharply.

November 2020 – Ray Peats Newsletter

Regulation of body temperature through mitochondrial energy production

"Our body temperature is maintained by the rate of energy production, and this is mainly the result of the oxidation of fuels by the mitochondria."

November 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of aspirin in mitochondrial oxygen consumption and fever

"Probably due to aspirin's fever-reducing effect, medical culture tends to view it as antithermogenic, despite its known stimulation of mitochondrial oxygen consumption. Like thyroid hormone, aspirin prevents stress-induced sodium loss, which is an important component of our system for regulating temperature and energy."

November 2020 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Low cholesterol levels and their impact on mental health

"Low serum cholesterol levels have been linked to depression, suicide, violence, and increased cancer mortality. Since statins cross into the brain and inhibit cholesterol synthesis there, reduced mitochondrial function is undoubtedly a factor in the psychological side effects they can cause."

November 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Effects of stress hormones on mitochondria

"Levels of aldosterone and parathyroid hormone are increased by stress, with serotonin acting on the adrenal cortex and parathyroid glands to increase their secretion. All three of these hormones act on the mitochondria and lower oxidative energy production."

May 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Factors for healthier pregnancies and the postpartum period

"The most important factors that can be optimized with existing resources. Healthier pregnancies lead to a healthier and happier life after birth. These factors include sunlight, vitamin D, milk, cheese, eggs, fruit, as well as well-cooked vegetables, high-fiber foods, and optimizing thyroid function, as well as pregnenolone and progesterone (which support mitochondrial function and protect against aldosterone, parathyroid hormone, excess serotonin, CRK, and cortisol, and increase allopregnanolone), and using the safest anti-inflammatory and antiserotonergic medications, such as aspirin and cyproheptadine, when needed."

May 2019 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Intercellular communication through protein and mitochondrial transfer

"Human cells of different types are able to communicate with each other by passing proteins, nucleic acids, and even mitochondria. Microvesicles containing these macromolecules, which are pinched off by cells from different organs, can migrate through body fluids."

May 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The influence of various factors on mitochondrial oxygen utilization

"When cells are respiring intensively, all the oxygen that reaches the mitochondria is immediately consumed, so the oxygen concentration near the respiratory enzymes is almost zero. If something disrupts mitochondrial oxygen consumption (for example, a deficiency of thyroid hormone or the presence of too much polyunsaturated fat, nitric oxide, or carbon monoxide), the local oxygen concentration increases because it is not being used."

March 2021 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Deterioration of mitochondria in animals in darkness

"Animal experiments have shown that their mitochondria gradually deteriorate during hours of darkness."

March 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of mitochondria in nighttime brain function

"Optimizing mitochondrial function at the beginning of the night makes the brain's inhibitory signals more effective, preserves glycogen stores, and reduces nighttime catabolism."

March 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The diverse influences and effects of nitric oxide

"Nitric oxide, like endotoxin and rotenone, is a potent inhibitor of mitochondrial respiration. Endotoxin and other harmful stimuli can increase the production of nitric oxide, but it is also produced during normal excitatory processes of the nerves. In cases of overexcitation relative to energy production and inhibitory influences, it can become the central trigger of excitotoxicity."

March 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Evaluation of L-DOPA and alternative treatments for Parkinson's disease

"Despite its toxicity, L-DOPA remains the main treatment for Parkinson's disease, although the more suitable drugs bromocriptine, amantadine, and memantine are also widely used. Anticholinergics, similar to hyoscyamine and belladonna, which Charcot used, are sometimes employed to control excessive salivation. Amantadine and memantine incidentally protect against nitric oxide, serotonin, inflammation, and endotoxins, and protect the mitochondria."

March 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of progesterone in energy processes in the brain

"It seems likely that a fundamental part of progesterone's ability to protect the brain from stress is its support of the high-energy mitochondrial oxidation of glucose to carbon dioxide."

January 2018 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

NMDA receptor activation and the state of pseudohypoxia

"The NMDA receptor (like many other regulatory proteins, e.g., COX, TLR, NOS, aromatase) is activated by the reduction of its thiol groups. The reduced state that activates this excitatory system can result from actual oxygen deficiency, but also from the inhibition of mitochondrial function, thereby creating a state of pseudohypoxia."

January 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Reductive stress and its self-reinforcing biochemical cycles

"The reduced state caused by hunger or hypoglycemia, excess lactate or fat, or oxygen deficiency activates the release of glutamate. The resulting excitation can switch off mitochondrial oxidation and exacerbate the state of pseudohypoxia. Nitric oxide synthesis, activated by reductive stress, is an important factor in suppressing mitochondrial oxidation."

January 2017 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The overlooked inhibition of mitochondrial oxygen utilization by nitric oxide

"Only a very small minority of publications on the physiology of nitric oxide deal with the fact that it inhibits the mitochondrial use of oxygen for energy production."

January 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Estrogen-related antirespiratory substances and their effects

“One of the anti-respiratory substances produced by estrogen is carbon monoxide (Tschugguel, et al., 2001). Another inhibitor of mitochondrial oxidation, hydrogen sulfide, is also increased by estrogen (Lechuga, et al., 2015).”

January 2016 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Nutrition and stress resistance in age-related oxidative changes

"Avoiding oxidatively toxic heavy metals and maintaining respiration while simultaneously eliminating highly peroxidizable unsaturated fats from the diet (and resulting in lower levels in storage tissues) would likely lead to better stress tolerance in animals (EFA-deficient mitochondria are more resistant to oxidative damage, and vitamin E prevents many stress-related problems) and could inhibit age-related oxidative changes in serum albumin, red blood cells, and other tissues."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Mitochondrial damage affects hormone production and energy.

"Since the protective hormones depend on the ability of mitochondria to convert cholesterol into pregnenolone, it is clear that damage to the mitochondria impairs our supply of protective hormones, at the same time as a decline in our energy supply, forcing us to switch to atrophy-inducing stress hormones, including cortisol."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The role of mitochondrial protection in age-related pathologies

"Simple factors that protect mitochondria are known to have profound therapeutic effects. Eventually, I think we will understand mitochondrial protection well enough to prevent and cure the fundamental pathologies of aging."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

The potential of mitochondrial protection to increase biological energy

"I think it's likely that our current knowledge of mitochondrial protection could provide the average adult with about a 50% increase in biological energy. To go beyond that level, it might be necessary to start at an earlier age to allow for proper development of body proportions."

Generative Energy Restoring The Wholeness Of Life

Calcium and iron deposits in mitochondria and diseases

"Calcium and iron tend to be deposited together, and the mitochondria are usually the starting points for their deposition. Iron overload is associated with heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and many other degenerative diseases, including diseases of the brain."

February 2001

The toxic effects of serotonin and nitric oxide on brain cells

"Serotonin does not cure depression, and both serotonin and nitric oxide impair blood flow and are toxic to brain cells. Both poison mitochondrial respiration."

February 2001

Cellular excitation and hydration as fundamental properties

"I think the only way to understand the general nature of cellular excitation is to consider it in terms of the fundamental properties of living material. Only something as general and fundamental as the cell's hydration state, its moisture, can coherently explain how cells are activated, with related processes taking place at all levels—from chromosomes through mitochondria and enzymes to the structural protein network of the cytoskeleton and sensory functions."

March 2000

Neuroprotective and mitochondrial restorative effects of progesterone

"Besides its anti-estrogenic effect, progesterone is a neurosteroid, an anti-excitotoxin, and an inhibitory modulator. These effects in the nervous system have parallels in the immune system, where it modulates the activity of many cells, protects the thymus, inhibits mast cell degranulation, and prevents the shock response. It acts as an antitoxin, stabilizing cell structure and function. In the mitochondria, it preserves or restores respiratory efficiency."

March 2000

Defective mitochondrial respiration in various organ diseases

"It is now generally accepted that defective mitochondrial respiration is a key factor in diseases of muscles, brain, liver, kidneys and other organs."

July 2000

Mitochondrial functions and energy concentration

"Warburg believed that mitochondria support specialized cell functions by concentrating in the places where energy is needed."

July 2000

The role of carbon dioxide for the existence of mitochondria

"Could carbon dioxide, a major product of mitochondria, help to create mitochondria? My answer is yes."

July 2000

Skepticism regarding the exchange of organelles and the origin of mitochondria

"Although I have no qualms about accepting that organelles can be exchanged between species and that it is conceivable that mitochondria could have originated from symbiotic bacteria, I am hesitant to believe that something will happen just because it could happen."

July 2000

Theory of spontaneous formation of cells and organelles

"Since I have an idea of ​​how cells originated under the conditions prevailing on Earth, I should examine whether this idea can also reasonably explain their various components. Sidney Fox's proteinoid microspheres provide a good model for the spontaneous formation of primitive cells: variations of this idea can explain the origin of organelles (such as mitochondria and nuclei within cells, as well as chromosomes within nuclei). The value of this idea, a self-stimulating process in mitochondrial formation, lies in the fact that it reveals many opportunities to test the idea experimentally and provides explanations for developmental and disease processes that would otherwise lack a coherent explanation."

July 2000

Mitochondrial metabolism as a core problem in aging and disease

"Mitochondrial metabolism is now considered the fundamental problem in aging and in several degenerative diseases."

July 2000

Energy supply and reversal of genetic mitochondrial damage

"Providing energy while simultaneously reducing stress seems to be all that is needed to reverse the accumulated genetic damage to the mitochondria."

July 2000

The role of carbon dioxide in mitochondrial stability

"Just as carbon dioxide alters the shapes and electrical affinities of hemoglobin and other proteins, I propose that it increases the stability of the mitochondrial coacervate, thereby recruiting additional proteins from its environment as well as from its own synthesis machinery to enlarge both its structure and its functions."

July 2000

The involvement of lactic acid in mitochondrial degradation

"In the relative absence of carbon dioxide or an excess of alternative solvents and adsorbents, such as lactic acid, the stability of the mitochondrial phase would decrease, and the mitochondria would degrade in both structure and function. As a counterpart to the idea that carbon dioxide stabilizes and activates mitochondria, the idea that lactic acid is involved in the degradation of mitochondria can also be tested experimentally and is already supported by a considerable amount of indirect evidence."

July 2000

The influence of light on glucose oxidation and respiratory efficiency

"Light promotes glucose oxidation and is known to activate the key enzyme of respiration. Winter weakness (including lethargy and weight gain) and nighttime stress must be included in the idea of ​​respiratory defect, which leads to anti-respiratory production of lactic acid and damages the mitochondria."

July 2000

Natural factors for correcting edema and cell functions

"The thyroid gland, proteins, sodium, and magnesium correct most edema. Progesterone, which acts on mitochondria to increase respiratory efficiency and on structural proteins to alter their ion affinities, works synergistically with the other natural factors to correct permeability and water regulation."

January 2000 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of calcium in mitochondrial damage and cellular excitotoxicity

"Calcium released into the cytoplasm by excitotoxins triggers the release of fatty acids, the activation of nerves and muscles, and the secretion of various neurotransmitters in a cascade of excitatory processes. However, it simultaneously impairs mitochondrial metabolism and tends to accumulate increasingly in the mitochondria, leading to their calcification and death. This is further exacerbated by the anti-respiratory effects of unsaturated fatty acids and the lipid peroxidation they promote."

December 1999 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of sodium in the regulation of water and ions in cells

"Sodium binds water to itself, and this property leads to its exclusion from the normal cell. CO₂, when it is in water, especially in the presence of carbonic anhydrase enzymes, combines with water. Since it is produced in the mitochondria, this means that it transports water (as well as calcium and sodium) into the cytoplasm and out of the cell."

1998 – Ray Peat's Newsletter – 4

Treatment of scleroderma with thyroid, magnesium and progesterone

“Men diagnosed with scleroderma have reported to me that their symptoms improved with the use of thyroid and magnesium supplements, Epsom salt baths, and topical progesterone and vitamin E. I suspect that the carbon dioxide produced in the mitochondria is the main factor in the removal of calcium from them.”

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Thyroid gland and magnesium in the normalization of mitochondria

"The thyroid gland and magnesium are often the factors needed to normalize mitochondria and prevent calcification. Generally, depleted cells absorb calcium and lose magnesium."

1997 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of age pigment in supporting mitochondrial respiration

"The age pigment consists mainly of lipid peroxidation products, heme and iron. It has the adaptive function of keeping NADH oxidized in an oxygen-deficient environment where mitochondrial respiration is insufficient, so that NADH can continue the glycolytic sequence."

June 1994 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Effects of stress on glucose and fat utilization

"When tissue oxygenation is insufficient, glucose is rapidly depleted. During prolonged stress, the liver's gluconeogenic response to glucocorticoids is reduced, as is its ability to produce and store glycogen. With less glucose available, blood adrenaline levels rise, and fat is mobilized from storage depots as an alternative energy source. Free fatty acids, especially unsaturated fats, are toxic to the mitochondrial respiratory system, blocking both oxygen utilization and energy production. The increased use of fats instead of glucose leads to increased lipid peroxidation."

June 1992 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Effects of endotoxins on mitochondrial respiration and pregnenolone

"Bacterial endotoxins inhibit mitochondrial respiration, and this respiration is needed for the intramitochondrial conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone."

August/September 1992 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of succinic acid in tissue respiration and regeneration

"Succinic acid was discovered by Szent-Györgyi as a stimulant of tissue respiration. Others found that it promotes the production of protective steroids, and recently it has been found to be the best agent for chelating and removing aluminum from mitochondria. Succinic acid has been identified as the main component of Vladimir Filatov's biogenic stimulants for tissue regeneration. It would be desirable to find dietary sources rich in this substance, especially in combination with the closely related butyric acid."

January 1991 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Mitochondrial damage impairs the production of pregnenolone.

"If the mitochondria are damaged, the protective steroid pregnenolone (which is formed from cholesterol in the mitochondria) cannot be produced."

January 1991 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The importance of copper for mitochondrial respiration and aging

“Copper is an essential component of cytochrome oxidase, which occupies the crucial final position in the mitochondrial respiratory system. Copper is also a component of the cytoplasmic SOD enzyme, the levels of which decline with age. Ceruloplasmin, an important copper-containing protein, helps keep iron in its safe oxidized form. Copper is involved in the production of melanin (itself an antioxidant) and elastin. The loss of melanin, elastin, and respiratory capacity so characteristic of aging is also caused by excessive cortisol levels.”

October 1990 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The role of lipofuscin in energy production during respiratory failure

"When copper-dependent mitochondrial respiration fails, lipofuscin has the ability to maintain energy production via glycolysis (by keeping the coenzyme NAD, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, relatively oxidized). Therefore, it is possible that lipofuscin represents a primitive form of stress defense."

October 1990 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

The conversion of cholesterol in mitochondria affects hormones.

"Within the mitochondria, a cytochrome P-450 converts cholesterol into pregnenolone. The loss of both energy and steroid hormones would have significant consequences."

January 1989 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

Toxic effects of unsaturated oils on health and metabolism

"Research demonstrating the toxic effects of unsaturated oils dates back more than 60 years. An article published in my newsletter in 1985 cites some of the most important references. These substances inhibit many enzymes (e.g., in digestion, the immune system, coagulation breakdown, and thyroid function), disrupt mitochondrial energy production, and impair communication between cells. These toxic effects receive little attention, and there is not much funding available for further research in these areas."

February/March 1989 – Ray Peat's Newsletter

Therapeutic effects of radiation and mitochondrial protection

"Since long-wave infrared radiation and longer-wavelength microwaves can penetrate walls to some extent, the lack of this type of radiation in winter could be the stressor causing these changes and mitochondrial damage. It's possible that some of the therapeutic effects of natural hot springs are caused by gently matching radiation from the large masses of hot earth in the surrounding area. I think these longer waves might also have an anti-free radical effect, possibly by acting on solvated electrons."

February 1986

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