Do I Have A Metabolic Disorder? A Quick Review of Mitochondrial Disease

What is Mitochondrial Disease?

Mitochondrial diseases result from failures of the mitochondria, specialized compartments present in every cell of the body except red blood cells. Mitochondria are responsible for creating more than 90% of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support growth. When they fail, less and less energy is generated within the cell. Cell injury and even cell death follow. If this process is repeated throughout the body, whole systems begin to fail, and the life of the person in whom this is happening is severely compromised. 

Diseases of the mitochondria appear to cause the most damage to cells of the brain, heart, liver, skeletal muscles, kidney and the endocrine and respiratory systems.

Depending on which cells are affected, symptoms may include loss of motor control, muscle weakness and pain, gastro-intestinal disorders and swallowing difficulties, poor growth, cardiac disease, liver disease, diabetes, respiratory complications, seizures, visual/hearing problems, lactic acidosis, developmental delays and susceptibility to infection, insulin insensitivity, kidney disorders and life threatening electrolyte imbalance. 

If your mitochondria of the cell is not processing correctly, you simply do not have enough usable energy to sustain the body. 

Mitochondrial Disorders are one of many diseases of the metabolism.  

Two Sites That May Help:

https://www.fodsupport.org

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/conditionCategory/food-nutrition-and-metabolism