Autism And Mitochondria

I would like to discuss briefly the role of mitochondria. We know that in the body's metabolism in autism, the mitochondria play an important role. This is also true to some extent for everyone because mitochondria play a role in our overall health in the way we produce energy. There are people who have an underlying mitochondrial disease, which can be life threatening and is usually detected very early in life. Others have what is called mitochondrial dysfunction. If mitochondrial dysfunction is not life threatening, it can be very problematic when the person is exposed to environmental stressors. The disease, vaccine reaction or toxicity of heavy metals in an affected person may overstate their bodies.

For example, we know that in the chronic fatigue syndrome, mitochondria can become so stressed they do not produce enough energy and they are always tired. We know that mitochondrial dysfunction may adversely affect the immune system, detoxification and the nervous system in a person with autism.

The mitochondria can be described as small factories within our cells that produce a lot of energy. Mitochondria primarily use fat and protein as fuel. Fat and energy metabolism creates a huge amount of by-product of sugar metabolism. The energy change is very dependent on mitochondria.

A simple analogy that I use to explain this is to build a campfire. As you begin to build a campfire, you start with small branches and dried leaves to serve as kindling for the fire began. The ignition is sugar or glucose in this example. It will burn quickly, but not for a sustained period. Once you light the kindling and the fire starts, you can add chunks of wood, or fat and protein, so that the fire takes hold and lasts longer. Our body uses sugar as a quick start, inefficient form of body metabolism, but a source of energy in the long run, our body is usually converted to fat burning.

However, you encounter problems when you start having problems in the mitochondria and its ability to regulate your metabolism. This is something commonly seen in autism, the different factors within the mitochondria become dysfunctional. Supplements such as CoQ10, NADH and ribose try to fuel the mitochondria to help them function more appropriately. Again, the mitochondria are the energy systems of the cell. You hear of mitochondria and about them being the power plants of our cells. Mitochondria produce huge amounts of energy to stay healthy and keep all the organ systems in our body functioning properly.