Guidance on Lifestyle based on Energy Production by the Body

The History of Energy Production in the Body

At some point (1.5 billion years ago), out of necessity for survival, smaller bacteria penetrated the interior of larger ones and began producing energy for them, a practice that continues to this day. These smaller bacteria are now the mitochondria of animal cells.
Mitochondria are very small organelles that can be found in the thousands in cells. The number of mitochondria in each cell depends on the role that each cell has to play in the organism. If the purpose of the cell is to transmit a nerve impulse, then this cell will have fewer mitochondria than a muscle cell, which needs much more energy to perform its function. If a cell cannot obtain enough energy to survive, more mitochondria may be created. Eventually, mitochondria can grow, move, divide, and combine with other mitochondria. However, this seemingly beneficial fact about mitochondrial activity includes a major paradox: the greater the number of mitochondria within cells, the shorter the life expectancy of the animal species in question, perhaps due to the fact that mitochondria are also the largest generators of free radicals in the organism.
This paradox of mitochondria being the generators of energy for the organism and at the same time the largest generators of free radicals will be the main subject addressed in this book so that it is possible to understand how organisms commit metabolic errors that can persist throughout the chronological existence of living beings and extend to future generations. Mitochondria transform resources from food and respiration into energy, and a failure in this mechanism causes a deficient production of energy. Mitochondria capture oxygen that travels from the environment through the bloodstream, through the lungs, and into the cells where it is used for energy production. It is the mitochondria that initiates cellular activity by providing it with energy. Mitochondria are the only part of the body considered by most scientists to be non-human because the DNA found inside them is similar to the DNA of a bacterium and not to human DNA. Studies of mitochondrial DNA genetic sequencing confirm the theory of the bacterial origin of mitochondria, which are responsible for transferring information to the rest of the cell and thus organizing its function. Human cells contain thousands of mitochondria and thousands of copies of the mitochondrial genome. The mitochondrial genome originates exclusively from maternal inheritance. Sperm cells do not contribute their mitochondrial genome to the formation of the cell that will give rise to the embryo. Therefore, during the fertilization of the egg by the sperm, the sperm, upon penetrating the egg, does not include its own mitochondria in this process, and the new embryo formed will only have mitochondria of maternal origin. Mitochondria divide independently of the rest of the cell, reinforcing the thesis of their ancestral origin as bacteria, now proven by mitochondrial DNA genetic sequencing. The environment provides the raw materials for mitochondria to generate this energy; more precisely, it provides nutrients from food, oxygen from the atmosphere, and some energy from solar radiation.
In order to fully understand the role of mitochondria in balancing energy in the body, it is helpful to understand the specifics of how the body works to maintain a neutral pH in the bloodstream.