MitoQ Anti Aging Revolution - CEO Greg Macpherson Talks on the Antioxidant of the Future

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Category: Health, Wellness

Published on Friday, 29 April 2016 13:02

Written by Cara Vincent

Miracle drugs, the fountain of youth, and eternal life don’t exist. But all it takes is a quick glance at the New Zealand based MitoQ website to recognize that one of these  is close to being realized.

MitoQ is new to the anti-aging market. Widely popular in the United Kingdom, MitoQ is now gathering brand buzz in major american cities, Miami, Manhattan, Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.

I recently had the pleasure of talking to New Zealand based MitoQ CEO, Greg Macpherson, who helped this non-scientist understand the complexity of the science behind this revolutionary new drug.

Take a minute to think back to high school, and you might remember the popular refrain, bequeathed unto you by what was likely a beleaguered, old science teacher, “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.” To remember this is to grasp the most basic foundation of how MitoQ functions.

“Essentially, the mitochondria takes the food we eat and the air we breathe and converts it into energy for our cells to use. Mother nature is pretty amazing, she puts loads of antioxidants exactly where they need to be—in the mitochondria—but as we get older these antioxidants decline. Free radicals begin to take over and leak out into the cell, damaging your DNA and other cellular machinery.”

Macpherson goes on to analogize our aging mitochondria to the likes of an “engine that doesn’t get tuned and slowly declines in function. The cell gets to a state where it becomes energy starved, if you will. Mitochondria declines around ten percent a decade. We don’t really feel this decline necessarily in our 40’s, but one notices a general lack of energy, and it starts to manifest in how we feel, how our skin looks, how tired we are. The cells need maintenance, and when it doesn’t get the appropriate amount, it stops working well.”

Enter MitoQ. MitoQ’s specifically targets the mitochondria, making it unique and revolutionary. It takes the regular (and widely known) antioxidant called CoQ10 and puts it directly back into the mitochondria, helping it run. A CoQ10 supplement will get into the cell but cannot get across the complex membrane of the mitochondria. MitoQ allows the antioxidant to complete its course and tune it up so that it starts to create energy like it used to.

The origin of MitoQ’s story reads like the start to a stale joke; “A molecular biologist and a biochemist walk into a bar for a pint.” The joke ends there, however, and the reality is that these two scientists, fifteen years ago in the very early years of research, posed the question as to what effect mitochondrial dysfunction had in certain diseases and whether or not it was possible to get an antioxidant into the mitochondria to effectively test this theory.

As Macpherson tells it, “Well, the chemist said, ‘You know, I think I can actually do that. Mitochondria are negatively charged on the inside and we can put a positive charge on an antioxidant. It might just go into the mitochondria and fix things,’ and that is precisely what took place.”

But what effects does MitoQ actually have on the body? What are its claims to fame? Well, for one, it is a supplement that comes in pill form and also as a face serum. The former is intended to help your organs and cells perform better, boost your energy levels, combat the effects of aging on your body and give you the general feeling of overall wellness. It might make you run faster, or wake up less hungover.

The latter is designed to combat fine line wrinkles around your eyes or mouth, let’s say. Macpherson makes it clear that MitoQ is not curative, that it is essential to understand that MitoQ is not medicine, and is simply meant to give cells “their best possible chance and maximum power.” And yet, MitoQ is widely lauded in the scientific community, is prescribed by doctors world-wide and taken by individuals across the globe. In nearly every study shown on the website PubMed, MitoQ “hits it out of the ballpark” in terms of helping to slow the disease or assist in reducing symptoms.

The consumer testimonials on the MitoQ website and reviews on Amazon tend to concur, ranging from individuals with various diseases such as MS, diabetes, Parkinson’s and other health issues to those just wishing to enhance their skin quality or energy levels, experiencing what they account for as life-changing nearly miraculous results.                                                                                           

MitoQ is still fairly new to the market, and was recently accepted into a very prestigious research program that is run by the National Institute of Aging.            

“We had to jump through hoops and over a lot of hurdles to be accepted into this program,” Macpherson elaborates. “They really only accept around 3-5 compounds a year and what they do is actually pretty special. They give mice MitoQ beginning at the ages of 7 months to 9 months, which is the equivalent to a human age of roughly 30, and for the rest of their lives. Mice are just like us. They get brain and heart and kidney disease, and so over the next three years we will be learning the results of the effects of MitoQ on the life span and overall health of the animal. We got into this program because the science anticipates a 10-15 percent improvement in life expectancy for the mice, which is about 9-12 human years, and that is pretty wild.”

Although it almost sounds too good to be true, MitoQ has been given the green light to be manufactured here in the states, making it soon-to-be more accessible to the American public.

For more information: http://www.mitoq.com