Summer Fitness: Fueling Your Body for Maximum Energy

It doesn’t matter what body function you consider…pumping blood and oxygen, using your muscles, getting nutrients into your cells, repairing tissues, detoxifying pollution and wastes, etc., the one thing they all require is ENERGY! And where does that energy come from? It is produced by your cellular furnaces or power-plants called mitochondria, which use oxygen to generate ATP, your body’s “energy currency".

All Body Systems & Functions Require Energy 

On the other hand, consider how many of your organs or tissues function normally with inadequate energy? None of them! So for those who are feeling down, experiencing a health challenge, or simply feeling the seasonal effects of a long winter one of the fastest ways to produce an improvement and feel better is to boost your energy production by perking up your mitochondria.

The Brain is Energetically Demanding

This is particularly true of brain function, which is intimately dependent on energy produced using oxygen in the mitochondria , i.e. “aerobic metabolism”. You don’t need a double blind study to show this. As we have said before, cut off the circulation in your arm, and in 10 minutes it will be purple, and numb. But give it some time, and the feeling will return, and normal function will ensue. Yet, don’t try this around your neck! 3 minutes, and for most of us brain damage will occur.

Likewise, one of the fastest ways to wake up your brain is to breathe oxygen enriched air! Yet, it doesn’t matter whether you improve mitochondrial function by boosting oxygen levels, or simply using the oxygen you have more effectively. Either will enable better production of feel-good neurotransmitters, and improve brain function in general. [1]

Further, if you want more energy and stamina for physical activities, then support your mitochondria!

Comprehensive Mitochondrial Support

Better physical performance and improved brain function were two of the reasons behind the development of Optimum Health’s Optimized Mitochondrial Support formula, called Cell FuelⓇ, which includes the 5 ingredients ALCAR, ALA, NAC, Ubiquinol, and Micro-PQQ.

Having more energy is also often the first step in successfully starting a new exercise "habit". 

Cell Fuel® took shape over many years of research and experience.

 An Anti-Aging Breakthrough

Shortly after I began learning through the Institute for Functional Medicine in 1999, a renown researcher named Bruce Ames published studies showing that a combination of Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR) and Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) dramatically improved the speed and activity of old rats, making them move around like they were young again. [2] This provided much promise as an anti-aging combination by improving the health and output of the mitochondria. [2,3,4]

As discussed by the authors, greater oxygen consumption increased metabolism and produced higher activity in the rats:

"Thus, ALCAR+LA supplementation not only reverses the age-related decline in oxygen consumption, a cellular parameter of metabolic activity, but also increases ambulatory activity, a general physiological parameter of metabolic activity."

In a nutshell, the rats had more energy, and more energy allows for more youthful function.

[Related energy article - How To Effectively Unleash More Energy From Your Oxygen]

More Pieces of the Puzzle Fall Into Place

While this discovery was being popularized in the media, there was also a mountain of research being published on the benefits of Co-Enzyme Q10 for the mitochondria.

Recommending this trio of nutrients - ALCAR, ALA, and Co-Q10 - became a "go to" at Optimum Health for a myriad of different situations and conditions (especially when combined with a broad spectrum herbal anti-inflammatory.)

We saw great results for years! And if a person was amenable to it, I would get them go a step further to add N-Acetyl-Cysteine, (NAC), to boost their levels of the all important master cellular antioxidant called glutathione.

Yet... this was a lot of products!

A More Efficient Formula

We were spurred to putting together a single formula including these ingredients with the emergence of PQQ (Pyrroloquinoline Quinone), which in addition to enhancing mitochondrial function, also causes an increase in the number of mitochondria...a process known as mitochondrial biogenesis.

Even better was the development of Micro-PQQ, i.e. a timed released version of PQQ. (Regular PQQ is a highly water-soluble substance, and blood levels peak and fall-off after a few hours. But with timed-release Micro-PQQ blood levels are sustained for up to 9 hours, giving an all-day effect on your energy without stimulants.)

[Related PQQ article: How To Grow New Mitochondria To Live Better]

A Truly Unique Supplement

Regardless of which health challenge or condition you experience, virtually all of them will benefit from a boost in energy production by supporting your mitochondria. This is the thrust behind Cell Fuel® In addition to improved metabolism, and better oxygen utilization, many of our clients who use Cell Fuel® say they noticed effects in their energy levels and how they felt in 1 to 3 days.

Personally I find it combines extremely well with testosterone-boosting formulas, like CanPrev's new Rocket T Testosterone Recharge, to give me great workouts in the gym, and athletic reports of improvements in strength, endurance, and stamina are common.

The recommended dosage is 2 capsules daily, either together, or split morning and afternoon, (though some start out by taking 2 in the morning, and one more in the afternoon to initially boost the levels of the nutrients it contains.)

We Knew it Worked Before We Made It

At Optimum Health we have always started with the question "does it work?", and Cell Fuel® is the culmination of years of experience, looking at the research and then seeing what actually works in the real world!

Until next time, be well!

John

References:

1. Mitochondria impact brain function and cognition http://www.pnas.org/content/111/1/7
2. Feeding acetyl-L-carnitine and lipoic acid to old rats significantly improves metabolic function while decreasing oxidative stress https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC122286/
3. Prevention of Mutation, Cancer, and other Age-Associated Diseases by Optimizing Micronutrient Intake https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2945683/
4. Delaying the Mitochondrial Decay of Aging with Acety-L-carnitine http://www.direct-ms.org/sites/default/files/Ames%20Delaying%20Aging%20with%20ALCAR.pdf