FEATURE significant increase in mitrochondria content in the muscles. 8 The more mi-trochondria in muscles, equals increased production of ATP. Interestingly, in a study where exercise variables such as intensity and volume (duration/fre-quency) were manipulated, this pro-moted specific and diverse mitochon-drial adaptations. 9 Exercise restores function of the mitrochondria, returning muscle mass, strength, endurance and improves muscle health and quality of life. 10 DNA methylation, Histone modifica-tion, and regulation of noncoding RNA-associated genes. 22 Recent evi-dence suggests that epigenetic modifica-tions of the mitochondrial genome, in-cluding the DNA, could contribute to the etiology of human diseases. Environ-mental factors, as well as nuclear DNA genetic variants, have been found to impair mitrochondria DNA methylation patterns. 23 A central role of both endur-ance and resistance exercise has been identified to reorganize sarcomeric pro-teins and to improve the capacity of cells to build efficient organelles. 24 However, care is needed because the same resist-ance exercise stimulus can illicit different epigenetic responses in resisted trained vs. sedentary men, and provides a mo-lecular mechanism underpinning the DNA methylation in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue and directly influ-ences lipogenesis. 27 In a systemic review, it was reported that resistance exercise in humans induced epigenetic changes with energy metab-olism and insulin sensitivity, contribut-ing to healthy skeletal muscle. Endur-ance exercise caused modifications to metabolism via changes in DNA meth-ylation and specific miRNAs. However, both resistance and endurance exercises are necessary for a better physiological adaptation to properly tackle the in-creasing prevalence of non-communi-cable pathologies. 28 The link connecting exercise and skeletal muscle adaptation, lies in the interplay between metabolism Potential of exercise The more high quality and quantity of mitrochondria ATP that is synthesized via diet or exercise, the more energy and health the physically active person will have. Due to daily stresses and especially when exercising, certain nutrients will assist and benefit the mitrochrondia ATP system. The diet should be well balanced to deal with the increased energy demands. With moderate-or high-intensity exercise, the muscle fibers undergo micro trauma, which causes inflammation and affects the production of the mi-trochondria ATP system. Antioxidants such as vitamins C, 11 D, 12 E 13 and mel-atonin, 14 along with a protein supple-ment, 15 will control the inflammation and assist with the mitrochondria ATP production. AMPT 16 will assist with the ATP-producing catabolic pathways, while suppressing the ATP-consuming anabolic pathways, and is necessary for homeostasis, along with the NAD+ dependent lysine deacetylase SIRT1. 17 To protect the mitrochrondia ATP production during exercise, from oxi-dative stress, key nutrients are required, such as vitamin D, 18 CoQ10, L Carni-tine and alpha-lipoic acid. 19 With regu-lar moderate –high exercise training, the above supplements should be taken regularly, along with a good multi vita-min and minerals which will provide magnesium, 20 and with added mush-rooms, are necessary for numerous pathways in the ATP system. 21 Nutrition and mitrochondria ATP Regular exercise improves[...] metabolic phenotype in a number of tissues, including skeletal muscles. need for differential training stimuli. 25 Regular exercise improves metabo-lism and the metabolic phenotype in a number of tissues, including skeletal muscle. The changes are partly medi-ated by transcriptional responses that occur following each individual bout of exercise, which increases oxidative ca-pacity and influences the function of myokines and extracellular vesicles that signal to other tissues. The epigenetic and transcriptional mechanisms that mediate the skeletal muscle gene ex-pression response to exercise, as well as their upstream signaling pathways, leads to the following: Exercise is effec-tive in the primary prevention of 35 chronic diseases. The adaptive response to exercise is an important contributor to these health benefits. 26 Current re-search data suggest epigenetic modifi-cations (DNA methylation and histone acetylation) and microRNAs (miR-NAs) are responsive to acute aerobic and resistance exercise in brain, blood, skeletal and cardiac muscle, adipose tissue and even buccal cells. Six months of aerobic exercise alters whole-genome and epigenetics. Researchers have stated that the key health benefit of physical activity is to extend the human healthspan, which is defined as the years of life spent in good health. Physical activity is physi-ologically stressful, causing damage to the body at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels. The body’s response to this damage, however, is essentially to build back stronger. This process causes the release of exercise-related antioxidants and anti-inflammatories, and enhances blood flow. In the ab-sence of physical activity, these re-sponses are activated less. The cellular and DNA repair processes have been shown to lower the risk of diabetes, obesity, cancer, osteoporosis, Alzheim-er’s and depression. The researchers state that the key take-home point is that because we evolved to be active throughout our lives, our bodies need physical activity to age well. 29 Exercise also benefits telomeres which are located at the ends of mam-malian chromosomes. It is one of the main indicators of biological age and is www.Cndoctor.ca Epigenetics and methylation Epigenetics is the field that studies gene expression changes heritable by meiosis and mitosis, by changes in chromatin and DNA conformation. The three ma-jor studied epigenetic mechanisms are 18 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor January/February 2022
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