Mitochondria: Fuel, Fluxxx and Heat (NSFW)

Buddha Bar (Sex Lounge)
Credit: Youtube.com

Fuel and Fluxxx...

Why do we store fat? Why do we eat?  A scientist who wrote about reproduction, fuel, photoperiods and fecundity wrote the below abstract...[1]

"While there is a relatively direct connection between
circulating levels of metabolic fuels and the GnRH [gonadotropin releasing hormone] pulse generator [in SCN behind the retina], this might not be the only energy-related pathway influencing the secretion of this neuropeptide. The overall control of energy balance is an immensely complex process and a number of pathways involved in it might secondarily influence the activity of GnRH neurons. Peripheral signals influencing energy balance and thus possibly GnRH secretion could come from the liver, pancreas, stomach, duodenum or adipose tissue, and these signals could be sent to the brain via the vagus nerves or by hormones such as leptin, insulin, insulin-like growth factor 1 or ghrelin. These hormones could act directly on the neural circuits controlling the GnRH neurons or they could act by modulating the availability of metabolic fuel. Likewise, the neuropeptides regulating GnRH secretion in the forebrain could also include galanin, orexin, the urocortins and endogenous opioids. Recent interest has focused on kisspeptin, the product of the KISS1 gene. The presence of kisspeptin is necessary for normal reproductive development and it can override the reproductively detrimental effect of mild food restriction."

Obviously how we expend fuel is highly complex and humans are ruled by a big, big, big, hungry, hot brains... Grow or growl? Feast or fast? F-ck or forage? Repair or repast?





HEAT: Cellular Bioenergetics Creates Wildly Explosive, Exothermic Reaction Generating Water



CALORIES IN  ≠  CALORIES OUT

...we are not neat bomb-calorimeters, but open, conserved, networked metabolic and energy systems...

Photos credit: [2].













The Evolution of Body Heat?

When oxidized, the great majority of our food and stored energy goes to the production of HEAT.      What governs this? It is multifactorial but adrenaline, thyroid, cortisol and mitochondria quality are just a few [2]. Active tissues contain more mitochondria. Heat makes us mammals and birds. We have hot bodies, precisely 37C for the great majority.


In the 'Hot Brain:  Survival, Temperature, and the Human Body' the authors theorized that temperature gave us advantages over eukaryotic infections (yeast, fungal origins -- we are eukaryotic) which plagued bird/reptile species which were not armed with high 37C temperatures or fever-inducing capabilities [3].  It is a very interesting theory. Control of thermoregulation (heat loss v. heat gain) is believed to have evolved in the brain of therapsids. Our sinuses are larger. Mammalian brains have a Circle of Willis where 4 arteries (internal carotids and vertebral arteries) provide a complete internal brain circulation with collaterals, such that despite blockage of one or more of the 4 major arteries circulation in the brain and to the body remains intact.  Unfortunately only 25-33% of us have a 'perfect' classic circle of Willis; others have degrees of narrowing or asymetry in certain areas or another. Photos courtesy: Hot Brain, pp. 44, 142.

Recently a microbiologist, Casadevall, from Albert Einstein had the same theory that the rise of mammals can be attributed to 'endothermy and homeothermy [which] are thought to contribute to mammalian resistance to mycosis by creating a thermal exclusionary zone that inhibits most fungal species. The remarkable resistance of mammals to mycotic diseases is probably a combination of a vertebrate immune system, with both innate and adaptive arms, and elevated body temperatures... The currently favored hypothesis for the demise of dinosaurs and end of the age of reptiles is a bolide impact approximately 65 million year ago with the possibility that other events, such as increased volcanism, contributed to disrupting the cretaceous ecosystem. That ecological calamity was accompanied by massive deforestation, an event followed by a fungal bloom, as the earth became a massive compost. Although one cannot know which spores were present at the time, the likelihood that pathogenic fungi existed at the K-T boundary is enhanced by the finding that the potential for pathogenicity probably arose independently several times in evolution...'[3]

'Although we do not know the timeline for the recovery of the planet climate, it is estimated that photosynthesis was shut down for 6 months and climate cooling persisted for at least 9 years, and the occurrence of a fungal bloom sufficient to have left fossil evidence implies that surviving animals were exposed to massive numbers of fungal spores. The darkened skies and cooler temperatures that accompanied the K-T cataclysm would have shielded the sun and reduced the ability of ectothermic creatures such as reptiles to induce fevers by insolation, a necessary activity for protection against fungal diseases. Hence, it is reasonable to posit that ectothermic creatures unable to induce behavioral fevers and in weakened states from environmental stress would have been at a severe disadvantage relative to small mammals with their innate thermal exclusionary zones for fungal growth. Further complicating the situation for reptiles is that eggs can be vulnerable to fungal attack, whereas mammalian progeny would be protected in placentae.'[3]

I think it has merit. We generate a lot of HEAT and it comprises a cr*pload of our total energy losses (as many in NY know without electricity due to Storm Sandy and no heat to fight night time drops to freezing temperatures). As Casadevall reported  'the mammalian lifestyle is energetically costly.'






Mitochondria: Water (H2O) = 286 kJ of P-O-W-E-R

Many obesity researchers appear to forget these multiple evolutionary and hormetic factors in their Big Pharma funded, tenure-track equations. One did not (though partly Joslin funded which is Big Pharma).


In a Nature article, Tseng et al discuss mechanisms to find a drug target to increase cellular bioenergetics and energy expenditure as an anti-obesity strategy [2]. (But... Drug targets are always silly, no?) They discuss PPAR-delta, AMPK and several other pathways with potential promise.  A succinct explanation of how mitochondria produce energy on demand by harnessing the energy from the formation of water in the cellular bioenergetics of mitochondrial metabolism of fuel is provided. They define bioenergetics as the 'Studies the flow of chemical bond energy within organisms. In a living cell, the principal reactions of fuel metabolism take place in the mitochondria, where food energy is released,oxygen is consumed, and water and carbon dioxide are produced.'

All life on earth utilizes the energy formed from water formation to power pathways and metabolism. Remember the Calvin Cycle/Photosynthesis where carbs (glucose) are formed from air (CO2), and energy of the sun? In the mitochondria, the opposite reaction occurs. Energy from the exothermic reaction of water forming from air (O2) and the enzymatic burning of fuel (oxidizable food, glucogen, glucose, fat) result in HEAT and ATP. When one mole of H2O is created from one H2 (hydrogen) and half O2 (oxygen), 286 kJ of power are released (in other words, 68 kcal, which is about one small potato).... FROM FORMATION OF ONLY ONE MOLE OF WATER.

CO2 1/2 O2  =   one mole H2O (~18 grams water = 3.5 teaspoons)  =  286 kJ

Photo Credit: The Art, Mystery and Science of Water

Fuel Efficiency of Our Mitochondrial Cellular Respiration

With cellular respiration, instead of an enormous, exothermic explosion (like a hydrogen bomb), the electrons and protons are added step-wise on a gradient known as the electron transport chain (ECT) in plants and animals.  A biological mitochondrial 'battery' is created with the 'anode' on the inner mitochondrial membrane side and the 'cathode' on the other.  Heat is energy released when oxygen is the final proton acceptor and coupled to the enzyme (F1F0-ATPase) that forms ATP, the universal currency of cellular energy in the body. When the protons fall across the proton channel, ATP is formed.  We use ATP as fuel every minute every day for all cellular work, then recycled back to ADP.  In one day, it is estimated that our mitochondria may produce our own weight in ATP [5].

Efficiency of the theoretical transfer of energy from oxidizable fuel to ATP and heat is pretty darn good: 39% ATP and 61% heat [5]. Mitochondria are energy rockstars. Obviously many biolgical factors determine true efficiency: iron status (cytochromes are composed of heme), ubiquinol, oxidative and inflammatory state, thyroid, HPA axis function, hormones, etc.

Plants (chloroplasts) get 3-6% efficiency from transfer of solar energy to the energy bonds of plant starches and fatty acids. Particular C4 plants can get 7-8% (sugarcane) and one super cyanobacteria strain Chlorobaculum tepidum achieves 10%. Various modern fuel efficiencies are approximately -- for coal (~20-30s%) and solar (20%). Photo credit: [5].



References

1. Climate change and seasonal reproduction in mammals. Bronson FH.Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 Nov 27;364(1534):3331-40.

2. Cellular bioenergetics as a target for obesity therapy.Tseng YH, Cypess AM, Kahn CR. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2010 Jun;9(6):465-82. [Free PDF here]

3. The Hot Brain: Survival, Temperature, and the Human BodyCarl V Gisolfi, Francisco Mora Teruel. MIT Press (Bradford Book), 2000. [Free SCRIBD text here]

4. Fungi and the rise of mammals.Casadevall A. PLoS Pathog. 2012 Aug;8(8):e1002808.  [PDF]

5. http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073525502/930160/mad25502_ch08.pdf

New Paradigms

Nouvelle Vague:
In a Manner of Speaking

Bruce Lipton PhD: SPONTANEOUS EVOLUTION

Been reading a lot of books lately... I'll share later but first and foremost is Dr. Bruce Lipton, PhD that friends and readers Brent, Todd and Nima linked to earlier or recommended. Sincere and kind thanks!

I was lucky enough to meet Dr. Lipton recently at a talk near his local town near Santa Cruz. Amazingly humble, brilliant and down to earth, Dr. Lipton connected the dots for me regarding linking biological sciences, environmental sciences and how the universe may just be a FRACTAL AMPLIFICATION of our trillions of cells (not including the other trillions of our symbiotic bacteria and biofilms), from his new book Spontaneous Evolution released last year with comedian Steve Bhaerman. Life is quantum, not strictly Newtonian. Darwin was mildly off, spontaneous and egalitarian evolution trumps survival of the fittest. Lipton energetically explains the new brave world.


New Paradigms

Principle One: Wealth is well-being
Principle Two: Ecology and economy are the same
Principle Three: Efficiency is the key to thrival
Principle Four: Currency must represent real wealth (ATP=wealth!! *haa ahaaa!*)


In Principle Two, wealth is actually explained in agricultural terms by weighing chloroplasts/photosynthesis (e.g. Calvin Cycle biochemistry) as the measurable metric. Yes. This makes sense. 'In the words of scientist-turned-economist Frederick Soddy, "Chlorophyll was the original capitalist." Chlorophyll molecules are responsible for photosynthesis, the process through which the sun's energy transforms water and carbon dioxide [e.g. AIR!!! see prior animal pharm posts] into nutritional sugar molecules. Plant cells harvest their solar-powered sugar molecules and use them for both metabolic building blocks and life-sustaining energy. The growth of a cornstalk, from a sprout to the eight of an elephant's eye is made possible by the accumlated nutritional wealth manufactured by the plant's chlorophyll. Almost all life on this planet, including our own, is dependent upon photosynthesis-create sugar molecules.'




True Farmers Almost Extinct?

A book I've ordered and can't wait to dig into is about a sassy, New York gal transformed into a small town, sustainable, HAWWWWWWWT, farmgrrrrrl named Kristin Kimball A Dirty Life. Where are the true farmers are are tied to the deep, moist, fertile soil, growing plants of diverse genetic variety and biodiversity and raising pastured, sun-drenched farm animals? Kimball and her husband are first generation farmers who raise produce and animals for 100 members ($2800 per member per year). They milk their own cows by hand and till the fields by horse-drawn equipment, no machinery. The milk and cream are 'taxicab yellow'. Kimball's writing is so fun to read (in the excerpt) and carries warm alacrity and urban sharpness. It's about as dirty as her herbicide-free, pesticide-free, compost rich soil on their rich, wealth-providing, nutrient-dense acreage.

Lipton discusses Charles Walters who has a book Unforgiven and a magazine called Acres which serves the almost extinct population of small farmers. Walters 'has seen in his lifetime, the virtual disappearance of family farms. In their place, more and more factory farms operate monoculturally outside the rhythms of Nature, producing de-natured food and toxic waste. Meanwhile, science and technology have given civilization the opportunity to wantonly mine Gaia's wealth in order to support the excesses of monetary economy.'




Ecosphere Wealth = Reflection of Our Collective Health

Lipton's argument is that 'our ignorance of the planet's fragile web of life has blinded us to the profound damage and havoc we wreak by pillaging the environment's resources and then, adding insult to injury, contaminating that environment with discarded waste.'

'The wealth of the ecosphere, like that of any living organism, is a direct reflection if its health. Decimated rain forests, festering open-pit mines, species harvested to exctinction, toxic smog, pharmaceutically poisoned waterways, discarded radioactive waste, and many other man-made catastrophes have compromised the environment's well-being and devalued its ability to produce health and wealth. Our misperceived efforts to dominate and control Nature have unwittingly disturbed the ecosphere's natural balance and exacerbated environmental crises that now threaten our survival.'

Jenni Vartiainen:
Missä muruseni on
(Toinen HERE)

Meat Made Us Smart But... Marine-based, BAD*SSED

Meat Made Us Smart?

Making the evo/paleo blogs are the latest headlines... meat made us smart. NPR's article which is excellent: HERE. Love love LOVE NPR's new series. However. Meat. So what? I'm a carnivore and LUST4MEAT but my higher IQ is not attributed to meat. Figure from Richards et al PNAS 2000 and thank you to Stephan for the forward and rich insights HERE and HERE. Update: Richards et al later re-dated the Neanderthal bones to ~33-40 kya, not the stated ~28,500 yrs ago in the original article (Vindija 207 208 data).




Q: What Made Ancient Humans Rapidly DOMINATE the GLOBE?

A: Marine seafood (fauna and flora) including stems, leaves, tubers, berries, mollusks, crustaceans, fish, seals, dolphins, eels... and etc.




*** Summer Reading ***

Been doing some lightweight, softcore summer reading...
(a) MATT RIDLEY, 'Sex and the evolution of human nature: The Red Queen'
(b) 'Sex at dawn', authored by a psychologist and psychiatrist, C. Ryan and C. Jatha
(c) 'Carbs Can Kill!' by a pharmacist/physician, Dr. Robert Su MD, his personal account of complete health reversal (angina/CAD, skin issues, abdominal obesity, sleep apnea) from an MD point of view on a high saturated fat, carbohydrate-restricted (grain-free) diet. He is a fan of Feinman, Volek and the entire body of low-carb, high fat evidence, which he reviews in articulate and simple terms in his wonderful book. He interviews Sally Fallon author Nourishing Traditions (one of my favorite cookbooks) and WAPFer, HERE. Over 1100+ high sat fat, carb restricted cancer, disease and health references are listed conveniently on his site: HERE.

All 3 were extremely entertaining, enlightening and entirely edifying. Without really arguing the diet point, each of these scientific or sexual-psychosocial or medical/nutritional nonfiction are all for highly descriptive of a behavior or lifestyle written by evolution. (Thanks Dr. Dan for that motto!~) Unfortunately books #1 and #2 don't appear to understand the wild-human diet part... HHHhmmm.

Regarding Sex at dawn, like Melissa who reviewed it earlier HERE at hunt gather love, I agree the authors miss out on romantic love. Where is the LOVE??? Granted... lust does revolve the world around, but again, where's the *heart* sounds.

Also I believe in our human evolutionary history based on our close evo ties to ALL animals, including birds and fish... Ridley argues a better animalistic point that humans are somewhere in behavior (and the genetic studies appear to verify) between the birds and the bonobos/primates... Sexual dimorphism, behavior (mono- v. polygamous depending on fecundity of resources), courtship, songs, pair bonds + affairs, egalitarianism, child/egg rearing, paternity protection, etc. Elaborate shelter construction, prenatal and gestational nesting, omnivorous diet, etc-- Ridley forgot these factors, but I believe these are also common traits.


Biggest Organ

Surprisingly our largest organ which has made the most progressive advances over the last 25 million years... is the BRAIN. Cranial volume has tripled since primates branched off. Neanderthal brains were ~20% larger than current humans. Ancient human brains were also larger but by a smaller fraction, an estimated ~11% larger than currently. An MSNBC 2006 article discusses the microcephalin gene (D variant) which regulates brain size being found in both modern humans and Neanderthals, HERE. Does size matter? I believe so. Above diagram from Trinkaus Richards PNAS 2009, comparing isotope data between Neanderthals, ancient humans and related faunal assemblages.

Author Matt Ridley has tied together an eloquently argued subject that links sexual adaptation, success, survival with human intelligence.

[Smart? He is indeed smart. And funny as H*LL.]


Bigger brains lead to more food.

More food ---> More S*X

More S*X ---> More progeny and so on and so on

Food maybe a relative (Red Queen) euphemism...for any sustenance and nourishment (intellectual, emo, spiritual).




Obviously I've oversimplified and omitted the best thoughts.

Actually the beauty and clarity of Ridley's tight, dense, razor sharp scrutiny of all the lines of evidence and parallels drawn from the wealth of examples from the animal kingdom is how he scintillates the essence of human nature. 'Be different.'

Like a peacock's display, the brain's neurologic display (intelligence, humor, creativity, personality) is the point of attraction that he proposes was selected for over time. It's an interesting contention and makes insanely logical sense.

==>Recap: big brains-->big display-->big S*X-->big progeny





Ancient Humans: More Seafood (More S*X?)

Ridley discusses how bottle-nosed dolphins are perhaps the only other animal (mammal) with intelligence that rivals human intelligence and our complex language skills. However, dolphins brain:body ratios are only ~0.9% whereas humans are vastly higher ~2%. What do ancient humans have in common with our marine cousins, the social pack animal and s*xy/lusty predators, the dolphins?

Neanderthals were incredibly robust, hormonally superb specimens with excellent, dense, powerful bones, and complex communication for large mammal hunts and emerging culture 50-30,000 years ago. Shipman from PennState wrote in PNAS 2008 'Importantly, marine mammals, fish, and mollusks were systematically exploited by both Neanderthals and modern humans throughout the stratigraphic sequences at these caves.'

Above diagram, again, from Trinkaus Richards PNAS 2009. Obviously clear ancient humans were Marine Carnivores and Neanderthals were Herbivore Carnivores (?with possible broad spectrum sourcing including legumes and grasses).

Marine-sourced food is the most highest concentrated sources of omega-3 (marine veggies ALA, marine protein EPA DHA). Most fish or marine mammals don't produce it; THEY EAT IT. From sources concentrated up the food chain starting with algae and phytoplankton up the network, nitrogen and carbon atoms gradually change and can be measured a millenia later.


Omega-3 is BRAIN food.




We are what we eat: Stable 15N 13C Isotope Profiling

Right diagram, courtesy Prof White at Cornell for Geobiochemistry and stable isotopes in paleontology. Nitrogen concentrations up the food chain and marine food networks are laced with more complex hierarchy compared with terrestrial. Carbon is also concentrated up the food chain with again marine sources richer and with higher density carbon atoms compared with land-origin sources. Plants diversified and evolved during the early Miocene 25 mya from Calvin cycle only plants (C3) to more advanced plants that adapted to less water losses (via heat and/or via aridity) with an extra carbon altering step to malate (in the mesophyll vein) before entering the Calvin cycle (C4 plants). During cooling temps or droughts or fires that displaced lush forests and woodlands, grasslands, legumes and grains filled in then eventually flourished (C3 and C4 plants). See Left diagram.

As we can see from Prof White's diagram (right) that Neolithic Europeans who consumed less meat and seafood and more vegetables (C3, C4) had lower density 15N and 13C, compared with marine carnivores: (a) historic Eskimo hunter-gather-fishermen and (b) mesolithic Denmark people.

Go back and examine the 13C data (under 'Big Organ' or HERE) from Richards and Trinkaus PNAS 2009. C13 density is lower for Neanderthals compared with ancient humans yet about the same levels as other carnivores and omnivores (wolf, fox, respectively) and terrestrial small-large herbivores they were known to hunt and consume.

Data exists as early as 50,000 years ago, Neanderthals foraged small grain grasses, legumes and cereals in a small but non-neglible manner. See prior post.

Personally I think it is quite plausible that Neanderthals sourced their food in a very wide way that excluded much marine-based resouces, as indicated by the lack of density in the 15N and 13C isotope evidence.

Why?

I dunno.

Perhaps Neanderthals with their larger brains and early utilization of marine-based foods had a staggering boost in intelligence which translated to a more immense broad-spectrum resource utilization of legumes, small grains and cereals before ancient man got a clue (circa 12,000 years ago, neolithism).

Perhaps Neanderthals failed to figure out how to ferment and displace toxic legume and cereal-containing phytic acid? Ambient warm temperatures are required for fermentation. Perhaps this did not occur sufficiently (and/or by serendipity) until the last glacial maximum ended ~ 16 to 12,000 yrs ago as temperatures rose again finally.

Can a race over-innovate?

Can a race over-innovate to extinction? Esp when the other race is eating omega-3 fish oils by the ton having more s*x and more progeny?

Plants Produce Carbs From Air: Calvin Cycle

Homology Across 3 Phyla: Bacteria, Plants and Animals

Across 3 phyla, great homology (>90%) in our enzyme pathyways exist. The domains for energy production, synthesis and coordination are shared. See prior post: Animal Amour and Metabolic Networks

--Carbohydrate metabolism
--Energy metabolism
--Amino Acid metabolism
--Nucleotide metabolism
--Lipid metabolism




Plant Energy Conversion: Calvin Cycle

Plants produce energy for higher life forms to consume and spread seed. Flowering plants are only a recent blimp in the evolutionary timeline. Seeds in high-carbohydrate-containing fruit co-evolved with multi-cellular animals it appears.

From air (CO2) and light (sun UV energy) carbohydrates, fatty acids and proteins are biochemically produced. Magic?

Yes.

The CALVIN CYCLE.



Plant Bio 101: Fructose, Glucose, Sucrose Produced from Calvin Cycle

Courtesy of msu.edu and Pearson Education

How the Calvin Cycle Works Animation + Quiz (click)

Light is absolutely required. The Calvin Cycle cannot occur without UV energy, sunlight.

Fructose (monosaccharide) is first produced then interconverted to glucose (monosaccharide) with a one-carbon change, then sucrose is fused which can be transported throughout the plant. Sucrose (disaccharide) is fructose + glucose linked. Starch is complex carbohydrates linked together; digestion is the process of breaking down starch by our salivary amylases (enzymes = 'cutters'), our pancreatic enzymes and gut flora into glucose. Diagram courtesy of plant physiology Prof Ross Koning.

Table sugar = sucrose = fructose+glucose
Lactulose = galactose+fructose (see Dr. Ayers post)
Lactose = galactose+glucose (dairy)
Maltose = glucose+glucose

Starch = complex carbohydrate
High-Fructose-Corn-Syrup (HFCS) = fructose + contaminants (pesticides, GMO corn residues, LEAD)



Glucose is a 6-carbon chain Derivatized to Carbs, Protein, Fatty Acids

Outside of the Calvin Cycle, glucose can be made into other molecules for use into starches, cellulose, protein and fatty acids. Glucose is flexible. It can be made into so many useful things.

Plant products are ubiquitous and humans have figured out ingenious ways to use them for centuries outside of food and shelter:
--food (fruit, fats, lignans, roots/tubers, stems, leaves, etc)
--fatty acids (oils, biodiesel, fragrances)
--medicines (antioxidants, vitamins, herbals, rejuvenants, chemotx)
--musical instruments (wooden flutes, guitars, violins)
--shelter
--clothing (cotton, hemp, etc)
--compost (nitrogen renewal, etc)



Plants -- Calvin Cycle; Animals -- GNG + Fat Burning

From single carbons from carbon dioxide (air) and light, plants can produce a 6-carbon ring known as glucose for energy and storage of energy (starch, fatty acids, protein) via photosynthesis and a special energy pathway known as the Calvin Cycle. ATP is used up in the process and light energy is absolutely mandatory.

On the other hand, animals have an advantage with the evolution of an analogous special energy pathway for glucose production, known as gluconeogenesis (GNG), without requiring sunlight. Unlike plants, animals do not require sunlight for production of energy and glucose, and therefore the advantage of more mobility and movement.

Mitochondria are absent in all lifeforms except the eukaryotic branch. Bacteria (prokaryotes) ARE mitochondria *haa*. Plants and animals hijacked their technology...aka, endosymbiosis...

Fat energy release provides almost four-times more energy per molecule. On a carbon-per-carbon basis, 33% more energy is produced (when I compare Stearate 18:0 and Glucose 6-carbon by pure stoichiometry, which is wrong but oh well).

Carbs. Glucose is equivalent to only ~1 tsp (5 grams) in our blood. Glycogen is stored ~100-200 grams in muscles and ~400-500 grams in the liver. Less than one kilo of carbs is stored and running through our veins.

Fat. For 10-20% body fat (composition like most omnivores or carnivores), an average human carries 5 to 10 kilos of fat.

Super powered fuel may be utilized anytime for energy conversion whenever we are in the fat-burning mode.

By harnessing fatty acids for energy, in many ways this propelled organisms with mitochondria to the top of the food chain. Read more about mitochondria in Nick Lane's Power, Sex, Suicide and prior posts HERE.

The birth of PHAT hominid babies with enormous stores of super powered fatty acids produced the evolution of walking, hairless, bigger-brained hominids to the top-tiered creatures that we supposedly are now. Read Stephan Cunnane's Survival of the Fattest and prior posts HERE and HERE.

See prior post: Aerobic Glycolysis (~38 ATP; 6-carbon) v. Aerobic Fat Beta-Oxidation (~146 ATP; 18-carbon)

Courtesy N Engl J Med 2007;356:1140-51.

Mitochondria: Fat Burning Powerhouses + Source of All Chronic Diseases

Without mitochondria derived from bacterial origins of 3.8 billion years ago, animals would not have the ability to efficiently burn the most powerful energy source, fatty acids, and become the most successful predators on the planet.

Not only are mitochondria the nuclear powerhouse of energy, that produce ATP from powerful fats, they are also believed by many who study evolutionary medicine to be the source of all chronic ailments and conditions. Glucose energy is cheap fuel and kills mitochondria when excessive. Many drugs are mitochondrial poisons (e.g. statins). By affecting the thermostat of energy controllers (ratios of NAD/NADP and ADP/ATP) the imbalance affects SIRT-1, AMPK, PPAR and mTOR in a variety of tissues. Depending on the organ, these are known as chronic conditions -- autoimmunity disorders, heart failure, hypertension, adiposity, infertility, cancer, diabetes, et cetera.