The Oxygen-Mitochondria Link For Superhuman Energy with Dr. Todd Watts

Content By: Ari Whitten and Dr. Todd Watts

In this episode, I am speaking with Dr. Todd Watts about optimizing your mitochondria for superhuman energy and abundant health.

In this episode, Dr. Watts and I discuss:

The 3 vital functions of mitochondria (and why you need bigger ones and more of them!)
The difference between aerobic and anaerobic metabolism – and when you what to be relying on either
Which kind of toxins often inhibit the normal aerobic metabolism, causing lactic build-up and serious problems with normal energy production
The only supplement proven to remove glyphosate from the cells and restore proper functioning
The three key supplements which helped Spartan racers achieve phenomenal results
The best ways to oxygenate your body (it is not what you think!)
How hydrogen supplements can be far more effective than just drinking more water

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Transcript

Ari: Hey there, welcome back to the Energy Blueprint Podcast. Today I have with me, Dr. Todd Watts, who is a national board-certified chiropractic physician in Idaho, a functional wellness practitioner, and is licensed with the Pastoral Medical Association. Many know him as the parasite guy, which hopefully is not an insult. Not that he is a parasite, but that he’s an expert on parasites. But he also has extensive knowledge in functional blood chemistry, biochemistry, and in helping those with chronic illness overcome their struggles to restore their health.

He’s also the co-founder of Microbe Formulas and CellCore Biosciences, and loves to research to formulate products, which will change the world. Dr. Watts was the first to bring Mimosa Pudica seed to the general health market in the US, and he has an amazing health journey which has led him to be able to help others. And in this talk, he’s going to be sharing all about how to optimize your mitochondria for superhuman energy, which is my favorite topic. And I know he’s got some really novel ideas lined up for us here. So I’m excited to get into this. So welcome, Dr. Watts, such a pleasure to have you.

Dr. Watts: Thanks for having me on.

The mitochondria’s role in energy

Ari: Yeah. So talk to me about mitochondria and their role in energy. I mean, we can assume most of the listeners by now have heard, you know, some basic concepts of what mitochondria are and have a basic understanding of their importance to energy. But you can do a quick refresher of that and then kind of get into the unique angles that you want to talk about.

Dr. Watts: Sure. So the mitochondria, one thing that is important to understand is there’s a variety and number of mitochondria per cell. So we can have a range of 500 to 10,000 per cell of mitochondria. So for example, in the liver, we may have 2,000 mitochondria per cell; in the brain, we could have 10,000. In the substantia nigra, there’s research showing that it has 2 million mitochondria per cell in the substantia nigra part of the brain. The heart requires a lot of mitochondria as well. So the more requirements of energy and regeneration, the more mitochondria we’re going to have in those tissues and organs in our body.

So with that, understanding is, what does the mitochondria do? And I look at it in three main areas, and that is, one, it creates ATP. And ATP is that energy molecule that fuels the body to be able to have like the energy you want to get out there, but it’s also the energy it requires to build and rebuild your body. The energy that’s required to make your neurotransmitters, your hormones, to activate enzymes; to do many activities within the body. That molecule also is used outside the cell as an immune signaler.

And people that have listened to Dr. Bob Naviaux, and to cell danger response, understanding the importance of ATP being used to signal and provide that communication within the body; that, “Hey, something’s going on here, we need to go after this.” And third, it actually creates a lot of water within our body, actually very pure water. And Dr. László Boros has talked a lot about that, and I know you know him, on the deuterium depleted water. So it creates amazing water that our cells need for optimal health and vitality.

So that’s where I always look at the base of what we need to do. And so in my journey of health and energy, I looked at, there’s three types of fatigue. So there’s three types of energy at the same time. There’s the general fatigue, this is what I went through in battling Epstein Barr, chronic Lyme disease, babesia, bartonella, parasites, heavy metals, toxins, and all of that whole sort of thing that goes with chronic illness. And during my 40s, being able to work out again was a goal I had that I reached when I hit 50.

It’s one of those things where I’d go through the process but essentially, I would work out and then it would take me seven to 10 days to recuperate from that workout. So I had some issues going on within the mitochondria that weren’t working, right, that was creating me to go over to lactic acid. So the second part was muscle fatigue. The third is brain fatigue. And I felt like in my chronic illness area, and even people that want to optimize their health, those are things that they need to consider in optimizing their overall health and vitality.

So when we would go back to the mitochondria, what’s the process and how does it work? So in creating energy in the body, we get energy from three main molecules. One is sugars, carbohydrates, two is protein, and then the third is fat. So there’s one mechanism which where protein can get converted to a sugar molecule, as well as sugars go to glucose, and go through this thing called glycolysis. And it creates a molecule at the end of that called pyruvate. And then pyruvate comes into the mitochondria and they create this whole process to make energy.

Well, there’s some mechanisms that can inhibit that process. And then that pyruvate is converted to lactic acid and creates more of a metabolic acidosis or a lactic acid condition, or lactic acidosis is another name. And so when you’re working out or if you’re optimizing in health, so whether you have chronic illness, and you just have to just barely walk across a room, or if you’re an athlete that wants to recover faster, the objective is to be sure that you’re converting pyruvate, taking it into the mitochondria to then make energy; instead of having it go to lactic acid.

How oxygen ties into mitochondrial function

So there’s some limiting factors within that process. One is just oxygen. So if oxygen is depleted from the body and is not being delivered through the cells, then there’s going to be that that kick off over to lactic acid. And most of us know the difference between, like if you’re sprinting versus if you’re jogging, the anaerobic versus aerobic respiration. So our goal is to be in aerobic respiration to be able to last and endure longer.

Ari: Just to clarify the goal, certainly while at rest, is to be in aerobic respiration. You don’t want to be in the anaerobic respiration of like when you’re sprinting, while you’re at rest.

Dr. Watts: Well, yeah, you’re going to get benefits of that while during sprinting, but if you have more oxygen, you can go longer in that anaerobic condition because you have oxygen that will keep it going longer and better.

Ari: I was just trying to clarify that it is normal to be in more of an anaerobic metabolism and producing lots of lactic acid in the context of very high intensity activity.

Dr. Watts: Absolutely.

Ari: But you’re talking about in normal day to day light activities or at rest, we want to minimize this lactate pathway.

Dr. Watts: Correct. And you’re right, it is normal in any type of, you know, working out, pushing weights, high activity, sprinting, you’re going to go into lactic acid, you’re not going to have, you know, unlimited amount of oxygen. But if we can up regulate oxygen, then you’re going to do better in those areas and you’re going to recover faster as well. And so, the other things that can do that is mercury. So there’s heavy metals and toxins that can go in there and create problems within that mechanism of converting pyruvate to acetyl CoA, or also, in the membranes part of it, it can block it from coming into the mitochondria.

So the ultimate goal is if you have heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, mercury, you have glyphosate in there, some environmental toxins, they can inhibit that conversion and then we don’t get to go through the next level in the mitochondria, which is what we call the Krebs cycle. So, toxins can be a major problem within this process, as well as other things such as mold toxicity. So mold mycotoxins is what they’re known as, can really in a way, as I always say, suffocate the cell from oxygen, and then it creates all kinds of free radicals.

The other thing to look at in this process, so the next level of understanding is that the oxygen needed is really important. The power of oxygen is incredible because without it, we die. Right? You can go without food for a long time. You can go without water for a long time, but you can only go seconds or minutes without oxygen. So cells can adapt to levels of changes of oxygen. And that’s where we see in chronic illness, they’re going to reduce and adapt until they’re able to overcome what’s creating the problems within that system.

The more energy you make, you create free radicals in the cell. So when you create the free radicals there within the cell or within the mitochondria, then you have to be sure you have something that will bind onto that free radical to clear it out. And the thing that binds onto that free radical, through that process of making energy or ATP is oxygen. So oxygen is needed for that conversion there from pyruvate to acetyl CoA, otherwise as an inhibitory mechanism, but also is needed to bind onto that free radical.

And then eventually, the goal is to convert that to water. So that’s that water process that we talked about, where you use things like catalase or glutathione, and superoxide dismutase to convert that process, that free radical over into water. And those enzymes can be controlled by mycotoxins and the mycotoxins inhibit the Nrf2 pathway, and can inhibit those enzymes from working the way they need to. For example, okra toxin, which is a common mycotoxin that I see clinically, that one has demonstrated to inhibit multiple things, but specifically that oxidative stress response pathway with the Nrf2.

So if you can’t turn those enzymes on to convert that free radical over into water, then you’re creating a lot of what we call oxidative stress or stress within that mitochondria, which then it doesn’t function so well, and eventually, it just doesn’t work. So that’s the area we consider and we have to eliminate. If you live in a moldy environment, which more and more Americans are and you’re trying to have superhuman energy, how are you going to do that if you’re living in a toxic environment?

The other thing to look at is, is going back to those chemicals and metals, you know, seeing how many people have lead in their water. You know, we’ve heard about Flint, Michigan having so much lead in the water, but there’s 1,100 other cities that was published that have just as high and as much lead. So lead pipes can be a concern. Another thing is, is understanding heavy metals from other things such as arsenic and mercury, they’re very common within the foods. Arsenic is in the sprays, so the chemicals that are sprayed can also do that. And then just the spray themselves, the glyphosates can cause multiple issues that we’ve seen, especially up to 291 enzymes that are downregulated with the presence of glyphosate in the body, even just a minimal amount.

So there’s been a ton of research gone into that. And then that highly affects this whole process of creating energy. So if you want to have energy, what I’ve seen people typically are doing is they’re taking all these products and supplements, that are nutrients that are needed within the mitochondria to make energy, not realizing that probably isn’t the fact that they’re depleted of nutrients because they eat good foods; but it’s really the fact that there are these toxins that are creating the downregulation of what’s happening within there. And if you clear out the toxins and you clear out all the oxidative stress, then all of a sudden, now, it kicks on and things start to work so much better.

How to clear toxins from the cell

Ari: So, I want to make sure we get into how you do that. I don’t want to throw off your flow here and jump too much ahead, if you plan to get into that later. But I definitely want to flag that as something to come back to. So if clearing out toxins from the cell, from the mitochondria is a big goal, how do we do that?

Dr. Watts: So that’s part of what I work on, is I work with a group of scientists that we create products that will go in and provide the oxygen, provide the hydrogen, provide the [inaudible] carbons to be able to either feed the Krebs cycle with the acetyl CoA molecules, the sugar molecules it needs, or to be able to donate a hydrogen or receive a hydrogen. And that’s very important, or donate an oxygen or receive that oxygen. So it plays a role where we use these fulvic molecules that are extracts that are able to discharge electrical energy.

And so they can either absorb both positive and negative charges from free radicals or they can also help with reactivating enzymes, with increasing just that enzymatic activity. As well as being able to bind toxins and clear those toxins out.

So we created, with the help of some amazing scientists, and some PhD plant pathologists and their research… for example, Dr. Don Huber has researched glyphosate since the year after it came out, around 1974, ’75. And he’s followed that and has the biggest amount of research in the world on glyphosate. And so we use some of his research, with my scientists, who are good friends now, and created a product to help bind that glyphosate and clear it out of the body.

Ari: I’m curious, what is in that product? Because I’ve spoken to a number of people who’ve talked about glyphosate, and I haven’t yet heard somebody talk about a product that specifically binds to glyphosate and can help detoxify that.

Dr. Watts: I don’t know any other products in the United States that does that. And so, right now, we’re running through multiple lab testing through that process, because we’ve had several people that have gone through that process and have proved it, out there. But we want to have a large array of people to do that. We’ve been able to do that and designed it in a lab, first in a lab process to see and do it there. And then we went through and did it through individual in vivo type of subjects.

Ari: Is this a fulvic acid based molecule?

Dr. Watts: Yeah. Fulvic acid, humic acid based molecules that go through an extraction process. So it’s a multi-layer process to get it into its final product. To be able to have the ability to bind onto that.

Ari: Interesting.

Dr. Watts: Because most products that are on the market, they can help go and do some repair based off what they do, but they don’t have enough energy to bind onto it and clear it out. And that’s the key to what we’re talking about. Like, how do we bind and clear it out, not just try and repair the cell or the intestinal wall?

Ari: Got it. So we have this story of mitochondria. We want our mitochondria to be consuming lots of oxygen, staying in aerobic respiration, pumping out lots of ATP, knowing that this aerobic respiration pathway is much more efficient in producing lots of energy than the anaerobic, lactic acid pathway.

We know that toxins, heavy metals, glyphosate, things of this nature can interrupt that process, mycotoxins, things like that. Where do we go from here?

Dr. Watts: I want to go back a little bit about to what we’re doing with this. So we’re removing the environmental toxins, the heavy metals. So these fulvic molecules demand order. They went through a test on lead, iron, a multitude of different elements within science and they looked, and they watched the interaction of a fulvic molecule with these elements and how it created order within that. So it’s phenomenal how it gathered these both organic and inorganic metals together. And that’s something that that has been phenomenal to see because now not only do they have the ability to find heavy metals, but also, we’ve been able to figure out how to then clear out the environmental toxins, which are really detrimental to not only ourselves, but we’re using them and creating products for the bee population.

We’ve used them in shrimp, how to up regulate the shrimp population. We’ve used them in other animal type of studies also. In looking at how to optimize the nutrients you’re taking. So they’re really helpful in protecting the nutrients through the digestive system to be able to have the most absorption and what we call a driver or protector, through the digestive system. To activate the right pH and oxygen levels within the body. So, what we look at in doing this is, is it going to take oxygen away? Is it going to rip up the molecules? And so when we’re putting things together, we’re always looking at how effective this is going to be after it gets through our digestive system.

So then, looking back then at your question, is where do we go from here? Well, optimizing your health. So in my journey of 10 years of overcoming these issues myself, now I’m in my early 50s, I’ll be 52 this year, my goal is to optimize. Be in optimal shape, you know, live the longest possible. I have kids that are really young, I have a five year old and so I started later in life with having children. And so I need to be around for a long time. Well, how do we get optimal? We’ve gone through and worked with professional athletes, Spartan racers, and there have been optimal function with using these products because they can recover so much faster.

And so that’s why by looking at this at a biochemical level, what do we do to help these athletes get so much more energy throughout the whole process? You know, I had a guy that he did a Spartan Race that was 70 miles, it was a beast. And within one race, he dropped his time from 19 minutes a mile to 12 minutes a mile. And his recovery was literally next to nothing. Compared to before, all his other races, he was cramping for a week, he had a hard time recovering. So our bodies, when we look at it, what does that mean to me? It means our bodies are made up of what, 96.6% carbon, hydrogen, and

oxygen. So if we can feed the body high energetic carbon, hydrogen, and oxygens, then we’re going to be able to repair, we’re going to be able to upregulate function, energy, and reduce aging.

Ari: Beautiful. So I’m curious what you did with that particular athlete that you were referring to? Can you talk some specifics of some of the strategies you implemented?

Dr. Watts: So what we did is we had him on three of our products. So that’s really what we did, is we pre-loaded him up for the week of his race, on our biomolecular oxygen, which is a stabilized oxygen molecule with carbon and hydrogen, our bioactive carbon minerals, and our ATP or MitoRestore product. So our mitochondrial product, which really helps to upregulate the energy and regenerate the cell quickly. By giving him higher doses and then throughout the race, he was taking some through that process, his oxygen levels just maintained much higher and he was at an elevation of 2,000 feet higher than he was the year before, at the same race.

So it was a year later, at a higher elevation from 4,200 to 6,200, was the previous race, this race was from 6,200 to 8,200 and it was a mile longer than the previous race. And he was able to increase his time. And we’ve had two gals that got into Spartan racing and they both have placed second in worlds in their age groups, using our biomolecular oxygen product and our minerals. And then we have other athletes, professional athletes that are having the best career. But our goal right now is getting things all NSF certified so that they can actually talk about it because without the certifications, they can’t really talk about the products. And so we’re going through that process right now of getting NSF certified. Yeah, it’s made a huge difference on their recovery and the ability to train, they can train harder because they’re recovering faster; because they have the right molecules to do that.

How to increase your oxygen intake

Ari: Got it. So I want to talk about the biomolecular oxygen. Now, why do we need to take a supplement with oxygen when we breathe, we consume oxygen, obviously with every breath? What is a supplement with oxygen that we consume orally; like, how is that going to be different than just breathing oxygen?

Dr. Watts: So we breathe oxygen and the other way we get oxygen is water. So those are the two main ways we get oxygen throughout the body. And sometimes there’s more of a demand for a higher concentration of stabilized oxygen. And this high energetic oxygen molecule can be either placed topically, can be taken in drinking, or it can actually be nebulized. So I’ve worked with a number of people from injuries, say, fractures, surgeries, even one gentleman that had a stroke; that had the whole left side of his body not moving and functioning. That was able to restore that process by getting the higher levels of oxygen within that. So the demand for oxygen was much higher than he could get from breathing and from drinking water. So that’s where we see is that something that’s an oxygenated process, it just helps healing the body to heal faster. That’s why people do hyperbaric oxygen but once they’re out, they don’t have that oxygen coming in anymore.

Ari: Right. So definitely, as far as hyperbaric, there’s obviously a huge amount of very positive research for a whole bunch of different things. I’ve seen some things involving oxygenated water, I think that’s been a thing for many years now, where people are selling this sort of highly oxygenated water. Where I think they concentrate… I’m going to get the numbers a bit wrong here, but they concentrate the oxygen at, you know, 21 ppm instead of, you know, the normal 12 ppm or something like that; that’s parts per million. And I’ve only seen a bit of research on it and the research I’ve seen didn’t really show any benefit. So, your supplement, what is the form of how the oxygen is getting into the body and is it different from the oxygenated water?

Dr. Watts: It is different. It’s from a bioactive carbon. So we have oxygen attached to carbon and hydrogen that are highly energized, that allows that oxygen to be stabilized and not to be flashed off. So a lot of times, oxygen is not a stabilized molecule, especially in the gaseous form. And so this has gone through a process to be stabilized and then to be able to deliver it through the body. And our scientists is the one that put this together and created it. And we’re in the process of creating a state of the art lab that will be able to show these things at an atomic level. So we recently purchased an atomic microscope.

Ari: Wow. How much did that cost you, just out of curiosity?

Dr. Watts: 90,000. The mass spec machine we have is the most updated mass spec machine in the United States. We’re the first ones in the US to buy that. There’s one in Europe. And then we have a number of other incredible machines to be able to look at molecules at such a more atomic level and to see what things are doing, and how things are changing. So our goal to be able to… like, how can we help people not only create more energy, but also, in a way, reverse or slow down aging? And so without the help of looking at things at a deep, deep level, you know, I don’t know how you can make the claim of what things do what.

For right now, we’ve seen more on the lab work, changes there, and we’ve seen more on how people’s symptoms are but I want to see things on a level of science that no one else is doing; how we can make those changes. And I love some of the work that other people are doing, like Dr. Amen does stuff on the brain. He’s looking at the brain scans and things and following and measuring before and afters.

Ari: Agreed. You also mentioned a hydrogen product. I’m curious if you can talk a bit about that. And you mentioned also, the fact that mitochondria produce highly purified water. You mentioned this in passing, I know there’s a lot more details there. But do you want to talk a bit about the story of deuterium, about hydrogen, and how that is affecting mitochondrial function?

Dr. Watts: So hydrogen is a molecule that’s needed in recycling a lot of enzymatic processes. Not only that, but it’s part of, in the mitochondria, how we build a gradient. And so it’s really important and that’s where NADH and FADH2 release a hydrogen through the membrane of the mitochondria. And by doing so, creates this gradient and they release an electron; hence, it’s called the electron transport chain, that goes across to allow these hydrogens to go through. Really at the end, the importance of that is that it takes three hydrogen molecules to attach on to this enzyme called ATP synthase or complex five, which takes phosphate and attaches it to ADP to make ATP. That’s our whole goal of this whole process to make energy, is to do this. Well, it needs to be powered by these hydrogens.

And Dr. Boros has talked about how that’s a nanomotor, he calls it a nanomotor that spins to be able to allow this to happen. And the hydrogen, when there are heavier hydrogen, called deuterium, it can blow up these nanomotors or these ATP synthase, or complex five molecules that then you’re not making ATP and you’re creating more free radicals and problems. So what it means to you and I, and all the listeners is that basically you’re blowing up your mitochondria and you’re going to be more exposed to disease. You’re going to be more exposed to aging, which is the whole point of everything I talked about earlier.

It’s not just the deuterium but it also can be mycotoxins, it can be chronic illness like viruses and Lyme disease. Or it can be all this glyphosate and everything you’re eating in your foods and is in your water systems, it’s in your medications and your vaccines. It could be the heavy metals that you’re exposed to. It could be radiation that creates a ton of free radical oxidation in your cells. All of these things, what do we need to do to help clear them out?

And that’s where these hydrogens are really important in helping, say, glutathione, for example, you’ve got to have a hydrogen to go onto a glutathione molecule to now make it available to give it off, to create water. And then there’s the catalase enzyme that helps also to create water. So the importance of hydrogen in this process is many activated enzymes require that extra hydrogen on there. And if they don’t have the hydrogen, then they’re not active. They don’t have it to give, they don’t have the energy to do so.

So the molecules that I work with are high energy carbons, which we’re mostly made up of, which is organic material, hydrogens, and oxygens. And so, even in our oxygen product, you have these high energy hydrogens as well, that will do and take this. And that’s the wonderful thing about these fulvic molecules is they can give hydrogen or they can receive a hydrogen, depending on the need of the cell and the processes within that. It can bring on an electrical charge that’s negative or positive, depending on the need. So it’s a phenomenal molecule that scientists have studied for years. I mean, it goes back in Ayurvedic medicine for 5,000 years.

Ari: With shilajit.

Dr. Watts: With shilajit. So what we’ve done is taken extract, not just using that molecule, but take it through a process that helps us to structure it in a way that allows it to be more effective and a lot more energy. So the pH matters on it, the amount of oxygen saturation in it matters. And then there’s a number of other things we take a look at that are more proprietary in our system that we’re measuring and looking at. And then there’s specific other molecules that are bound to those so that they can then attach, like in the glyphosate thing.

Ari: Got it. So when it comes to this hydrogen, obviously just drinking pure water, it’s H2O. There’s a lot of hydrogen, we’re consuming massive amounts of hydrogen in the water that we drink. What’s the difference between that hydrogen and consuming this hydrogen in supplemental form?

Dr. Watts: I think it’s probably the amount of energy within that molecule. That’s probably the difference. So the potential of it is much higher. Now, I will have to say that many people I see don’t drink enough water.

Ari: That’s true.

Dr. Watts: It’s true, right? They wouldn’t be as sick if they drank more water. But yeah, it’s the potential energy of the molecule.

Ari: Interestingly enough, Dr. László Boros, who you mentioned earlier, has some what I think are quite controversial ideas around water. He actually recommends to limit water consumption, which I don’t agree with him on. And I don’t know if you listened to the two podcasts that I did with him, but in podcast number two, I really challenged him on that. And I mean, there seems to be a quite a large body of evidence on the subject of water consumption. And from what I can tell, basically all of it is pointing in the direction of most people not consuming enough water and various health problems that are resulting from that.

And while it’s theoretically possible or not just theoretically, while it is possible to over consume water, I mean, if you drank four gallons of water in the next 10 minutes, you can cause permanent brain damage and put yourself into a coma, and die. So it’s obviously possible to take it to a level of toxicity. But from what I can tell, I definitely agree, most people are not drinking enough. But you’re saying that the hydrogen molecules are sort of ionized differently, they’re in a more charged, energetic state, or something to that effect?

Dr. Watts: Yeah. They’re in a more charged, energetic state. So then the potential energy of it is much higher. So this is why people feel the results. I mean, it’s something that’s noticeable for many people. Compared to most products where they don’t notice the change, these things, people notice a change right away.

Ari: Got it. And as far as the fulvic acid molecules, I know you’ve got some proprietary processes around how you’re processing this, but what do you think of just standard fulvic acid as far as health benefits? And how does that compare to the fulvic acid molecules that you’re using?

Dr. Watts: Well, part of that is understanding the process. So people, when they’re making it, they’re not looking at the energy that they need to be at. And energy, I mean by the pH, for example. People want to make everything alkaline and when they make it alkaline, they make it less energetic. So pH is just a measurement in millivolts and if you can stabilize a molecule at a lower pH, then you’re going to have a molecule that’s much, much higher energy to give. And so, what we see a lot of people in the industry are doing is that they’re making everything alkaline, which is they’re reducing the potential energy of that product.

Ari: And are they making it alkaline because they think alkalinity is better or because they are trying to stabilize the molecule and alkaline pH works better?

Dr. Watts: I don’t think they understand the stabilization. I think it’s just the alkaline works better in their minds because that’s the mantra out there. But it’s very much a misunderstood topic. And I think everybody wants to try and alkalize their bodies and then they don’t really understand what that means. And people talking about it, they don’t really understand what it means.

Ari: Well, its fulvic acid. I mean, so shouldn’t it be acidic? I mean, it’s odd to me that someone would try to alkalize an acid.

Dr. Watts: Okay, so then they have it in the base form, right? So there’s the acid in the base, but all along the process, even up to the point of 13.5, 13.9, and get to 14, it has some acid in it. It’s just that the majority is not in the acid form, it’s in the base form. That alkaline form, right? So when you look at it, it’s going to be in the fulvic acid or the fulvic form. So if it’s in the fulvic form, then it can bind on to another molecule and create a salt. So the potential energy of that salt is very little, compared to the potential energy of the acid. The acid has the energy to give, once you take it.

Ari: Got it.

Dr. Watts: So you go back to chemistry from high school or junior high, what did all the reactions do? They went from A to B plus C. So it was a splitting of a molecule and there was energy that was involved in that process. If you were to go to get that B plus C in one of those molecules, there’s no energy left to give to move it forward, again. So, it’s the basics of chemistry is this acid has the ability to give the hydrogen. The base doesn’t have the hydrogen to give anymore. It’s gone.

Ari: Got it. Well, this has been excellent. Dr. Watts, I’ve really, really enjoyed this. I’m wondering if you could wrap up kind of the big picture of your vision of strategies to optimize mitochondrial health, just kind of in list form. Just recap everything you covered.

Dr. Watts: So when we’re looking at optimizing energy in the body and having superhuman energy here, that’s going to occur down to the mitochondrial level. We want our brain to work amazing, then we need to have optimal brain function, we’ve got to have an optimal mitochondrial function because that’s where the energy is coming from. You want your livers to detox? Well, you want to have a great hormonal function. The hormonal function won’t occur if we have these toxins in the body and we have the mitochondrial function. The mitochondria is where the hormones are being made.

So when you really look deep down into it, for optimal life, for the slowing down of aging, and to have optimal energy, function, to be an athlete, to overcome chronic illness, you have to have optimum mitochondrial function. For the reasons of what we talked about at the beginning, which was for the ATP molecule of production for energy and activation of lots of enzymatic reactions, and then also for immune function, and then for creating water in the body. Now, that does not replace drinking water. I’m with you on understanding that process. But when you do that, what you’re going to notice is you’re going to be able to just perform so much better and your body is going to be repairing.

Remember, your body is composed 96% of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, only three 3.4% of minerals, but yet most people do what? They just take minerals and minerals. And they’re not even necessarily in the form that our bodies can use. They’re not in the right valence or charges. They’re not in a plant derived form. They’re more in an ionic or inorganic form. So what we’re bringing into our body, the life that we bring, the life energy we bring from plants, it’s really important to help our bodies have optimal vitality and energy.

So, I look at when I’m working with somebody and coaching these clients through this process of healing from chronic illness, the first thing I focus in on is drainage, opening up drainage so they can detox before. And I also focus on energy because that way those organs can work and we can start upregulating the immune system function. And they can start making energy to actually activate enzymes to detoxify or to fight infection, or to do anything that they need to do going forward. And if you don’t address that first, then it’s an uphill battle forever. That’s why energy is so important in anything that you do.

Ari: Beautifully said, Dr. Watts, love it. Thank you so much for coming on the summit and sharing your wisdom with my audience. For anybody who’s interested in reaching out to you and either working with you, or for people who are interested in getting the supplements that you mentioned, where should they go to do that?

Dr. Watts: It’s on microbeformulas.com.

Ari: Beautiful. Thank you so much, Dr. Watts, really appreciate it. This was a lot of fun.

Dr. Watts: Thank you.

Ari: Yeah, to everyone listening, I hope you enjoyed the interview and I will see you in the next one.

Show Notes

The mitochondria’s role in energy (01:18)
How oxygen ties into mitochondrial function (05:48)
How to clear toxins from the cell (12:15)
How to increase your oxygen intake (21:15)