Fundamentally, optimal health and wellbeing depends on the healthy functioning of the cell. Although you eat to sustain your basic life forces, your body cannot directly obtain energy from a hamburger, a carrot, or a piece of fruit. First it must break down and convert food into fuel that can be used directly by cells.

The Kreb's cycle, also called the citric acid cycle, is an important part of the metabolic process that allows the body to generate cellular energy from food. This cycle depends vitally on a proper balance of nutrients called organic acids. Certain organic acids are central components or intermediates in metabolic pathways that convert energy into ATP-the cell's main fuel source.

In their ongoing search to uncover biochemical triggers of chronic fatigue, researchers from the University of Newcastle in Australia recently found that low urinary levels of the organic acid succinic acid was one of the most "striking difference[s]" between patients with chronic fatigue and healthy controls.1 Another intervention study found that overweight individuals who supplemented their exercise program with pyruvate (a supplement form of the organic acid pyruvic acid) reported improved mood and vigor, increased weight loss, and reduced fatigue compared to controls.2

Organic acids also play a pivotal role in generating energy for muscle tissue, including the heart. Imbalances may also influence cardiac function, neuromuscular conditions, blood sugar regulation, exercise tolerance, and behavior. Moreover, because the energy-producing factory inside the cell, the mitochondria, influences the cell's life cycle, imbalances are also linked with the aging process and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS.

In susceptible individuals, exposure to toxins, poor diet, nutrient deficiency, intestinal imbalances, blood sugar imbalances, oxidative stress, poor diet, and other triggers may cause glitches in the cell's energy production process, disrupting the healthy balance of organic acids. As a result, cells may produce less energy and an individual may struggle with feelings of persistent fatigue.

Evaluating organic acids allows practitioners to get to the "ground level" of the body's energy production. The Cellular Energy Profile is particularly relevant for the chronically "unwell" patient, who may be experiencing multiple chemical sensitivities, fibromyalgia, fatigue, malaise, hypotonia (loss of muscle tone), acid-base imbalance, low exercise tolerance, muscle/joint pain, or headache. Test results allow practitioners to develop precise, targeted nutritional therapy to optimize the energy-producing function of the body's cells.

References

1 Bligh PC, Niblett S, Hoskin L, Dunstan RH, Fulcher G, McGregor N, Dunsmore J, Roberts TK, Butt HL, King K, Klineberg I. Biochemical abnormalities in chronic fatigue syndrome. 1999 Sydney ME/CFS Conference; Feb 26 - 28; Sidney, Australia. Available in abstract form at http://www.ahmf.org/conf99.htm#Biochemical

2 Kalman D, Colker CM, Wilets I, Roufs JB, Antonia J. The effects of pyruvate supplementation on body composition in overweight individuals. Nutrition 1999;15(5):337-40.