Rhonda Patrick, Ph.D.

And so I think that's another really just powerful thing.

effect of the intensity of exercise on top of the fact that we also know that when you engage in more vigorous intensity exercise, the lactate also signals to another protein called PGC1 alpha, which is responsible for the growth of new mitochondria.

This is mitochondrial biogenesis.

So this is happening in your muscle cells as well.

And this is improving metabolism of not just glucose, but, you know, other substrates like fatty acids as well.

And so I think there's this long-term effect.

And if we're looking at, you know, type 2 diabetes, we're not just looking at biomarkers.

Like, I don't know you necessarily would pick that up on biomarker data if you're just looking at blood glucose regulation or insulin sensitivity.

But if you're looking over the course of, like, you know, several years and you have better mitochondria, more healthy mitochondria on top of, like,

you know, improved glucose regulation to the glute transporters and all that, you're probably also going to just see a healthier metabolic profile, right?

I mean, that's

For sure.

Right.

And we don't really have any good biomarkers for mitochondrial health.

It hasn't been translated to the clinic yet.

It's something that researchers can do.

In fact, I'm talking about some of the studies that Marty Gabala cited on the podcast previously.

For volume-matched exercise, high-intensity interval training is better at increasing mitochondrial biogenesis than moderate-intensity exercise.

Again, it has to do with that

stronger stimulus causing the adaptation when you're forcing your muscles to work so hard that they can't produce all the energy they need from just using their mitochondria alone.