Mitochondria Food

Posted by Void on 08/08/2005

Caveat: I’m an electrical engineer. Do not construe this to be medical advice.
It is NOT.
I have chosen to use allopathic meds as the basis for my treatment, and I will not change my mind – at least not until after menopause! But with my pdoc’s blessing I am allowed not only to take supplements, but to choose them myself. I don’t take the supplement-du-jour, I wait until they’ve been proven out and people have been using them for a couple of years.
I am taking:
SAMe, mitochondria food. It has been proven effective in mood disorders and my psychiatrist suggested this one. A couple of studies showed some anomalies in mitochondral functioning in bipolars, probably mediated by the cell rather than in the mitochondria themselves.
The mitochondria, small organelles within each of our cells, provide the main source of energy at the cellular level. They use glucose and oxygen to modify a molecule called Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP) and change it into another substance called Adenosine TriPhosphate (ATP). Coincidentally our cells break down ATP for energy, and so the mitochondria are still with us. Without them, we’d very quickly die.
Incidentally, mitochondria are symbionts – they are foreign, they even have their own separate DNA. Fascinating stuff. They must have been parasites that infested our prokaryote ancestors.
Pantothenic acid – another mitochondria food. I’m going to choose between this one and SAMe at some point.
Lipoic acid – necessary in utilizing Essential Fatty Acids (EFA). You’ve heard the fuss about Omega-3s and Omega-6s. EFAs are an effective single supplement for bipolar disorder. There has even been preliminary information relating ADHD in children to low fat diets. Your brain is over 60% fat.
On the topic of evolution again, there some evidence that the sudden brain growth that resulted in our species was enabled by an increase in EFAs in the diet. It’s likely that this level of EFAs wasn’t available when we came down out of the trees and into the grasslands. However, the level of EFAs needed could have come from seafood, from our protohominid ancestors who found a seashore environment.

Categories: Alternative, Drugs, Ethnobotany, Health, Medicine, Nutrition, Philosophy & psychology, Psychiatry, Self-Help. Tags: , , , , .

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