Why mitochondria

are important to
our health
How they influence the speed at which we age

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CONTENTS

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What are
mitochondria?

What happens
when things
go wrong with
your mitochondria?

What happens
to mitochondria
as we age?

How to support
your mitochondria

Why do
mitochondria
decline with age?

Mitochondriatargeted
antioxidants

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Introducing MitoQ

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What are mitochondria?

Mitochondriayou might remember them
from high school biology class. They are
tiny organelles in almost all our cells, and
theyre responsible for generating the
energy our cells need to function.
Mitochondria are like tiny power plants that
combine the food we eat with the air we
breathe, to make the energy our cells need
to operate.
It turns out that having lots of energy
available to our cells is incredibly important
to our health.
Its simple, reallyif our cells dont get the
energy they need, then they cant do all the
jobs they are tasked with.
Over the last decade, scientists have begun
to recognize the link between mitochondrial
function (or decline of function) and our
health and certain diseases. It is becoming
increasingly apparent that our overall health
and even how fast we age are closely
related to how well our mitochondria are
functioning.

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What happens to
mitochondria as we age?
When we are young and healthy our mitochondria are
working at 100%, delivering all the energy our cells need.
We are growing, full of energy, we bounce back from
illness and injury quickly, we sleep well andfor the most
partwe are free from serious disease.
As we get older our mitochondria naturally start to
decline in function. They are thought to decline at around
10% per decade from our thirties and beyond.
We dont notice it immediately but we start to have less
energy, we dont recover from illness or injury as quickly,
and our immune systems decline, increasing the risk of
serious health issues.
Our organs age. We start to look older as our skin cells
no longer have the energy to produce as much collagen
and elastin. Less visible changes happen inside us as well.
We may start to notice small things like mental fogginess
or heart health problems, for example, as our brain and
circulatory system lose energy.
We get by because our cells are incredibly clever at reorganizing their activity so that the main jobs get done.
But their lack of energy means some other important
but non-urgent jobs dont get donelike processing and
removing waste, or repairing cellular components.
Over time we experience a slow breakdown of our cellular
machinery. This starts to impact on how well our cells
function and on our overall energy, health and wellbeing.
What we are experiencing is the aging process.

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Why do mitochondria
decline with age?
The truth is we dont fully understand whyyet. However
there are some well advanced theories. One of them
relates to the mitochondrias free radical defense system.
Mitochondria are responsible for 90-95% of the free
radicals in our cells. Free radicals are byproducts from the
energy generation process. Its a bit like how an engine
burns fuel and generates polluting exhaust.
Because mitochondria are right at the core of this energy
generation process they are exposed to 10 times more
free radicals than the rest of the cell. For this reason
they are literally stacked with antioxidants to protect
themselves.
As we get older the level of antioxidants inside our
mitochondria declines. With less antioxidant protection,
free radicals start to damage the mitochondrial
membranes andbecause the energy generation process
happens in the membranethis effects how much energy
the mitochondria can produce.
To make things worse, as the mitochondrias natural
antioxidant system declines they start to leak free radicals
into the cell, where they damage vital cell components
and our DNA.
Year by year, this slow process damages our mitochondria
and results in less and less energy being available to our
cells. When combined with increasing free radical leakage
into the cell, the result has significant consequences for
our health.

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A WORD ON FREE RADICALS

For a long time it was

thought that free radicals
were the enemy and it was
recommended we take
antioxidant supplements to
counter them.
We now know that free
radicals are not all bad.
In fact, a certain level of
free radicals is good for
us. We use them to send
important messages
within our cells and to
neighboring cells. Our
immune cells also use
free radicals as part of
their defense mechanism
against infection.
Free radicals become a
problem when they get out
of balance and we shift into
a state called Oxidative
Stress. Too much oxidative
stress at the cellular level
can lead to cell damage
and disease.

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What happens when things

go wrong with Mitochondria?
Mitochondrial dysfunction is now known to be associated
with over 200 diseases or conditions.
There are three types of mitochondrial dysfunction.
1 Age-related mitochondrial dysfunction. The gradual
decline of function as we age that happens to us all.
2 Primary mitochondrial dysfunction. This is where your
mitochondria stop working optimally by themselves and
stop delivering energy as they used to.
3 Secondary mitochondrial dysfunction. This is when
you have a disease or condition that puts stress on the
mitochondria and negatively affects how they work.
Primary and secondary mitochondrial dysfunction can
happen to anyone at any time, and depending on how
severe the dysfunctioncan cause a life-threatening
medical emergency.
If you have a health condition it is fairly easy to find out if
it is related to mitochondrial dysfunction. Simply Google
mitochondrial dysfunction and xxxx (your disease or
condition).
Improving mitochondrial function to improve health
span and lifespan
If you can improve your mitochondrial function then you
can help slow the aging process by improving the energy
available to your cells. This allows your cells to act younger
for longer, slows free radical leakage into your cells, and
reduces the daily wear and tear that is damaging your cell
contents and DNA.
When your mitochondria are functioning optimally, your
cells get enough energy and will start to act young again,
and in many casesbecause cells are self-repairingyou will
see a reversal in the effects of aging on the cell.
You will notice an improvement in overall energy and
wellbeing as your whole body starts to feel and react to the
increase in available energy.
Improving mitochondrial function is something that anyone
can do at any time of their life with two or three simple steps.
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How to support your

mitochondria.
All the things that you associate with being good for
your healtha good diet, exercise and having a healthy
environmentare very important for your mitochondria as
well.
When your diet is unbalanced by too much sugar and
refined carbohydrates it overloads your mitochondria and
puts them under stress.
When you exercise, your mitochondria thrive. When we
are inactive they decrease in number and dont function
optimally.
Our environment and lifestyle also impact negatively on
mitochondriabe it through exposure to pollutants or
over-consumption of things like alcohol or tobacco.
But its important to note that even if you look after your
mitochondria through a healthy diet and exercise, they
still decline naturally. This is why taking a supplement that
supports mitochondrial function is a very good strategy
to help you stay younger for longer.
Taking a supplement that supports mitochondrial
function, in combination with a good diet and exercise
regime, will put you in the very best position for optimal
health and longevity.

A WORD ON ANTIOXIDANTS

Because free radicals

are important for cell
messaging and the
immune system (amongst
other things) you dont
want to be taking megadoses of broad spectrum
antioxidants that may
interfere with these natural
processes.
For this reason its best
to carefully choose which
antioxidant to take and to
not take too many.
Some of the best
antioxidants are ones
that stimulate our natural
antioxidant protection
systems, because these
systems have evolved
to ignore the good free
radicals and target the bad
ones.
Newly discovered
mitochondria-targeted
antioxidants that ignore
good free radicals whilst
fighting bad free radicals
are an important and
significant advance.

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Mitochondria-targeted
antioxidants
Mitochondria-targeted antioxidants are a brand new type
of antioxidant, able to deliver a payload of free radical
defense directly into the mitochondria. Discovered at
Otago University (Dunedin, New Zealand), they are
considered to be a significant advance in antioxidant
technology.
Until this discovery, no-one had been able to restore the
mitochondrial antioxidant defense system in a meaningful
way. This is because the mitochondrial membrane
is particularly impermeable to substances. Many
supplements are simply not able to get to where they
need to beinside the mitochondria in your cells.
Developed at Otago University, MitoQ delivers
antioxidants into the mitochondria, right where they are
needed.
By restoring the mitochondrial free radical defense
system, we achieve the double benefit of both restoring
mitochondrial function and reducing free radical leakage
into the cell. This supports optimal mitochondrial function
and results in improved energy production for the cell.
Our cells and organs get an energy boost, and that helps
them operate like they did when they were younger.

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Introducing MitoQ
When the researchers at Otago University identified a
way to target mitochondria with antioxidants, they looked
carefully to identify the most important antioxidant within
the mitochondria. That antioxidant was CoQ10. MitoQ
is a mitochondria-targeted form of this very popular
supplement.
MitoQ reaches into the mitochondria 847 times more
effectively than all other forms of CoQ10 supplements.
And when you increase levels of CoQ10 in the
mitochondria it is like tuning up your cellular engine,
making more energy available to your cells.
Over the last decade, MitoQ has been studied
by researchers all around the world as they look
to understand what happens when you improve
mitochondrial function and reduce oxidative stress in
various models of human disease and aging.
Recently, MitoQ was selected for
a world-leading independent
research program in the USA to
evaluate its effect on slowing
and potentially reversing the
aging process.
To date, more than $50
million of Research and
over 200 scientific papers
have been published
investigating MitoQs effect.

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TO LEARN MORE
ABOUT MITOQ PLEASE
VISIT MITOQ.COM

Along with a good diet

and exercise, MitoQ sets
your mitochondria and
your cells up with optimal
energy for cell function.
When your cells have all
the energy they need, they
stay younger for longer,
you slow the aging process,
and your cells have the
resources to support your
body for an optimal health
span and lifespan.

Always read the label and use as directed.

If symptoms persist see your healthcare professional.
MitoQ Limited, PO Box 1671, Shortland Street, Auckland, NZ
Email: customerservice@mitoq.com

YOUR CELLS POWER YOUR BODY.

MITOQ POWERS YOUR CELLS.
MITOQ.COM
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