Mitochondria & Energy: Why the Body Breaks Down

VP of Execution, CellCore Biosciences; Chiropractic Physician

Dr. Darren Schmidt, DC
- Discover why organs and systems don’t fail on their own — they fail first because cells lack the energy that mitochondria produce, and why toxins, heavy metals, and pathogens are the biggest threats to that energy.
- Understand why open drainage pathways (colon, liver, kidneys, lymphatics, lungs, skin, sinuses) must be working before deeper detox protocols can be effective.
- Learn about the MRX+ test, a simple, affordable blood panel that measures infection, inflammation, toxicity, malnutrition, and mitochondrial function — and is correlated with longevity.
Full Transcript
Introduction to Toxic Burden and Mitochondria 0:00
Well, let's keep it really simple. So you got the chemicals, metals and radioactive elements and they sit and just destroy. And you can look at all kinds of biochemical reactions that are hindered, enzymes that aren't produced or blocked, right? Or the stagnation of circulation, the flow of interstitial fluids and lymphatic flow. Right? So the cells then end up with these toxins. and they can't dump them. They can get cleaned. So then they just, and the mitochondria, they don't work well. That's my answer.
The just don' work in the presence of toxicity. Symptoms are only part of the story. I'm Dr. Drew Kidder. And I am Dr Emily Hernandez. On the healing terrain, we explore deeper systems influencing clinical outcomes from toxic burden and microbial imbalance to the foundational factors that drive resilience and long-term health. Hey everyone, Dr. Drew Kidder, and I am super excited for this episode of the Healing Terrain podcast with a familiar face to the cell core world, the muscle testing world.
You've been on numerous stages for our company over the years and have been such a huge, huge advocate and proponent of what we do. And that is the amazing Dr, Darren Schmidt. So Darren, thank you so much for joining us. You're welcome. Thanks for having me. Absolutely. So you've been, you know, for so long, such a vocal, vocal voice around the impact of mitochondria, right?
Why Mitochondria Matter for Whole-Body Health 1:35
And how important mitochondrial are in our health. And oftentimes we like to say that, our body doesn't just fail, organ systems don't fail. They fail first. because they lack energy, right? And that energy comes from mitochondria. So can you, you know, can, do you share your thoughts behind that? Sure. The bottom line is toxins and organisms, and there's a few other things to talk about there, but they inhibit mitochondrial function. And when you look at a human body, every, from head to toe, there are cells and inside the cells there is mitochondrion and you can't just say somebody has mercury in their thyroid.
Or you can't just say that there's an organism in their finger, right? If they have mercury in the thyroid, why not everywhere? So it's a good place to start looking at improving health is to clean the body out. And that's true for anything, if you're going to make your house better, step one is clean it. If you have a ton with no fish, clean. And then put the fish in there, right? So you do clean the bad stuff out, put good stuff in later. And you can't put stuff good in now, but the effects aren't as great if your body's battling these toxins and inhibited from normal function.
So a lot of people, you know, I think we've all heard of mitochondria, right? Regardless of level of education, but to some, some of the viewers, they may just be thinking of Mitochondria from what we all learned that, that they're the powerhouse of this cell, Right? They create energy and that's super important. But how much more are Mitech Chondrea to our overall health? Well, it's I got to go back in history to answer that question. So in the 1930s, they figured out what's called lactic acidosis.
And this is a process that happens in cell, but not in a mitochondria. So it's when lactic acidosis happens, it is when somebody is not doing very well. They are sick, tired, have all these symptoms. Back in 30s every doctor of medicine and every student of medical will learn about latic acidoes and they are trying to fix it with minerals and all of these things. and they weren't very successful. Later, the understanding of mitochondrial function occurred because of research, right? And now we know that they both, both lactic acidosis and mitochondria dysfunction happened at the same time.
So it's the mechanism of cellular health. It's a mechanism a respiration and metabolism of the cell, whether it is in the mitochondrion or not, or, you know, not in mitochondry. Right? So this is, You know, we're going back to 1929, right? That's almost a hundred years. So to fully understand that, the importance of mitochondria go back a century and like Nobel prizes everywhere, you know what I mean?
Historical Roots of Mitochondrial Medicine 4:46
Like these guys, Dr. Corey, husband and wife team, Otto Warburg, of course, Doctor Krebs, this is the Kreb cycle. Right, tons of Nobel prize. This is a foundation of healthcare, and a lot of that was actually lost after 1961. And because of World War II and the power of the pharmaceutical companies after that, we went so drug-based in the 60s, 70s and 80s. In the 90s the nutrition started to come back a little bit and then the keto diet. So you're saying we really have had a resurgence in almost 100 years, because now everyone's talking about mitochondria, right?
Yeah. In the anti-aging, the longevity, and the biohacking world, all of the modalities, if you will, like the red light therapy, you know, we're supporting mitochondrion, but this has been around for a hundred years. And in my mind, I talked a lot about lactic acidosis on my YouTube channel, And then I got hooked up with Jay and Todd at Socor. We're talking 2016. I started teaching with them in 2020 or 2021. And that's when they're talking about mitochondria and it's just looking at the biochemistry.
It's like, oh my gosh, we're taking about the same thing. And in my mind, nobody else was really talking. I'm going to say, and I might be wrong, I want to see that it is Jay and Todd that really like push through this idea of the core of this cell is mitochondrion. Work on that cell gets better. The tissues get better, glands, the organs, and the body get better. Start with the mitochondria. Well, you talked about the allopathic world, right? And how they don't look at just minor mitochondrial dysfunction.
It has to be major mitochondrional dysfunction to really be addressed. But we know that if you don t have in those 35 to 40 trillion cells in the body and the hundreds to thousands of mitochondria in every cell, any organ gland cell in a body is not going to function properly. Bottom line, period. I have kiddingly and not so kidding said that the doctor of the future is going be an MD, the Doctor of today is an M.D., but not a medical doctor, a mitochondrial doctor. looking at the importance of addressing mitochondria first.
So you talked earlier about stressors, right? The stressor that we're all bombarded by. I mean, here we are with bright lights and all of the things that are impacting our health, but talk a little bit about those stressers and how do they actually impact our mitochondrion? How are they impacting the production of slowing down energy production?
Toxins, Organisms, and Cellular Damage 7:34
Well, let's keep it really simple. You got the chemicals, metals, and radioactive elements and they sit and just destroy. You can look at all kinds of biochemical reactions that are hindered, enzymes that aren't produced or blocked, or the stagnation of circulation, the flow of interstitial fluids and lymphatic flow. The cells then end up with these toxins. And they can't dump them. They can get cleaned. So then they just, and the mitochondria and they don't work well. Right. That's my answer. There just don' work.
Well, in the presence of toxicity, same thing with organisms, bacteria, virus, they do their own harm. And then make biofilm, which slows down circulation. they also make other chemicals. Mhm. Eating your food and are pooping in you, right? So it's just a mess. It's a toxic too. clean it all out, that's the solution. And you can identify individual stressors and you could also group them into categories like here's all your heavy metals according to the lab work, here are all of your chemicals, and allopathically, earlier in my career I was thinking, well, this metal needs this one cleaner, right?
Or this middle needs these minerals to get it out. No, you just like do an overall you know, series of binders, right? And keep it really simple, but you got to stick with it. Get through it, track it sort of progress. Yeah. So for those who may be viewing and don't know you just mentioned bindors, what are bindars and then how do you use and why would you have to use a binder? Well, a Binder grabs on the toxins and holds onto them. And then your body gets that out of the body. So a binder like the word chelation means claw, you know, so the claw grabs onto the binder and pulls out and ideally it's going through the liver, gallbladder and intestines.
Some will go out the kidneys. But the liver is stronger. The kidneys are a little bit fragile. So that's the idea of a binder. Yeah. Simple. Really simple. They are basically clawing on to that toxin. Again, from what you said, heavy metals and chemicals and pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, all the chemicals, mold and mycotoxins, grabbing onto those and getting them out of the body. we have to have the mitochondria in the liver in, the kidneys functioning properly to get rid of it, right? Yeah.
Yeah, and you want to, uh, binders that go through the cellular and mitochondrial membranes to clean out the garbage there. And so having what you just said, you can have a pure nutritional deficiency in a mitochondrion, preventing that from working well. So like, Um, four nutrients would be great. Mitoactive, you know, with the CoQ10. So there's specific nutrients. See, can still have like a dirty mitochondrion. You add in the good nutrients and it'll start working better. And then the ATP production, energy production goes up.
That alone will start the mitochondria working and detoxing.
Binders, Detox, and Nutrient Support 10:50
Yeah. Then it makes enough ATP that ATP leaves the Matochondria. leaves the cell, goes into the bloodstream, fuels the white blood cells. Now your immune system is stronger. So especially with the Cellcore products, the binder is clean and they nourish. There's a lot of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and electrons. And that's one thing that is cool about the binders from Cellcores is that they're manipulated to be more effective. and there's other bindings you can get at a health food store, like diatomaceous earth, bentonite clay, but no.
Yeah, do the more intelligent, you know, quantum mechanically manipulated for the benefit of our do the cell core product. Those binders exchanging an electron and a proton being able to bind on. We've talked before about them being really an ultimate adaptogen. And, you know, for people that don't know the binders and the foundation of cell core, it's extracts of humic and fulvic acids, right? These amazing decomposition of plant material into the soil that leave those rich, as you've said, the carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, they're very building blocks of the human body, but they are able to Get you know into the cell grab on to that claw grab onto the toxin get it out, but also heal You know in that process with the building blocks.
Yeah What mistakes do you think sometimes patients or practitioners make when they're looking at you? know, how do I how to I most simply support my mitochondria in my body relying on ineffective therapies if right now and there's a lot of I hate the word misinformation. It's a terrible word. That's been abused. But the truth is there's therapies that just simply don't work. Now, having said that, there are also therapies do work, but they're junior to other therapies, that are excellent and superior, right?
So, practitioners just need to keep up with the latest and greatest information and be able to change their mind and drop some supplements and add on new supplements for the patients. So I'm hearing that it's important when we're looking at mitochondria to provide the food, right? The nutrients, as you said, the minerals, you know, that the electrons for the energy, but then also, mitochondrial biogenesis is so important as well, producing new mitochondrion, I know you're a super active fit guy, we used to think that only ways to get the body to produce new Mitochondria were either fasting, because when you are fasting your body is trying to create energy so it's going to bring on new mitochondria so well fast and you'll stimulate mitochondrial biogenesis or exercise because exercise is depleting it but then all of a sudden we realize oh wait there are great compounds like in, you mentioned, Mitoactive with PQQ, right?
P Q Q helps with that mitochondrial biogenesis. So give the tools to feed the nutrients, produce mitochondria and also prevent the damage.
Drainage Pathways and Detox Sequencing 14:05
Because you're a big detox guy in preventing the exposure to toxic environments that we live in. You can't live a bubble. What do we do to mitigate what we are exposed to? What are some other thoughts as far as you mentioned the pond, right? It's so important because mitochondria is a stepping stone to detoxification and drainage. Talk a little bit about drainage and how important that is in overall detoxication after mitochondrial. Right, so drainage is the process that the body naturally goes through to de-toxify itself.
And the main organs would be colon, liver, kidneys, and of course the lymphatic system. I'm addressing that all the time. And then the secondary organs of excretion would the lungs, skin, sinuses. So if you have congestion of any of these organs, there's herbs for that. There's supplements for. Eco seminars, I talked about the follow up local infections causing systemic disease. So you can have mucus and organisms in your ears, sinuses, mouth, signuses up here. And, um, You can, you know, he got to clean that stuff out.
You got it. Make sure those sinusses are happy and empty. Yeah. Okay. They're working well, clean the ears out, apply topical treatments to that and take pills that work really well. so the bottom line is when the drainage organs are working, well Then you can take the next step. Then, you could start some of the parasite cleansing and heavy amount of detox, et cetera. But if you don't have good drainage, then you're going to get stuck. You're gonna be miserable. Following the body's natural healing processes, right?
Right. Stimulate the mitochondria. Drainage only can be work and be effective when those drainage pathways, you know, can't detoxify. You're going to keep on flushing that plugged toilet and cause overflow. So opening up those drain pathways are so important. I want to make sure we touch on something I know you're incredibly passionate about. And that's a really, really cool and super simple test that you are running. Correct me if I'm wrong, on all of your patients now. Yeah, basically. Tell me what that test is and why you feel it's so critically important in the work that you do.
Okay, so it is called MVX+, which stands for Metabolic Vulnerability Index. And it was owned by LabCorp. It's available nationwide. The wholesale cost is $20. And then there's a blood draw fee, et cetera. And I charge $49 to the patient. I have people run it every two months. Wow. What's different about this, it does not measure symptoms, pathology, risk factors, or diseases.
MVX+ Testing and the Health Roadmap 16:58
It measures cellular health and it scores six factors. All six of these factors can be improved with diet and supplements. That also gives you an overall score. There that's the MVX. and that's correlated with longevity. And this has been tested on 300,000 people by the NIH and the UK Biobank. Here's the factors. Well, here's five subjects that the factor is measured. Infection, inflammation, toxicity, malnutrition, and mitochondrial function, which is what we've been talking about for 10 years.
Exactly. These are the finite subjects and causes of chronic illness. And so that right there is revolutionary. The solution is the five step roadmap to health that Dr. Todd came up with. I expanded it and I call it my seven step blueprint. So it's a series of steps you take and they address the 5 things that are measured in MBX+. That's what makes it so brilliant and exciting. It's so inexpensive. Yeah, and you can, it takes you down the right path. So there's some people with good scores, but yet their toxicity level is off.
You just, you know, have to address that. Other people, their toxic level's okay. but they have inflammation or nutrient deficiency. Right. Exactly. So, and then it tracks your progress and your scores get better and you prove that you're going to live longer. Sure. It's amazing. Yeah. Well, we could talk a lot more about that. We could unpack a lots more with mitochondria, but we always love how much you are willing to educate and communicate. Pour into the audience with cell core practitioners their patients it's always invaluable so i appreciate you taking the time to join us with this episode of the healing train podcast and.
Happy to have you here, Dr. Schmidt. Yeah, thank you. And you're welcome. Thanks for having me.
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