Mitochondrial disease

Mitochondrial diseases are very rare, but can occur at any age, and affect any organ of the body. Symptoms vary wildly and often worsen over time.

If muscles are affected (mitochondrial myopathies), this leads to progressive weakness in the affected muscular musculoskeletal system. Depending on the organs, affected patients may experience seizures or stroke-like episodes, deafness or hearing loss, convulsions, gastrointestinal problems, difficulty swallowing, heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, blindness and deafness, susceptibility to infections, and more.

In our modern industrial society, the functioning of mitochondria in the body is often impaired by an insufficient supply of necessary micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, trace elements, enzymes). 

The exposure to every day and ubiquitous environmental toxins or chronic inflammation caused by pathogens or faulty autoimmune processes can be equally causative. 

Medical research is increasingly focusing on malfunctions in mitochondria, because essential insights and new therapeutic approaches could be gained for many other diseases related to energy problems. These correlations are suspected in chronic degenerative diseases (e.g. Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, deafness and blindness, diabetes and corresponding cardiovascular diseases) or even in autoimmune diseases (e.g. multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis or Sjögren's syndrome). 

Mitochondrial dysfunction is even considered a central factor in the aging process, where it is a common factor along with the toxicity of various natural and chemical agents.