Autophagy and health
What is autophagy?
Autophagy is a type of cellular ‘recycling factory’ that also promotes energy efficiency through energy (ATP) generation, mediates damage control by removing non-functional proteins and organelles and eliminates intracellular pathogens (1). Autophagy is also believed to participate in hormesis - the adaptation of cells to low levels of stress, enabling them to become resistant to more intense stress (2).
How is autophagy related to health?
Autophagy protects against genome instability (the genome is the 23 pairs of chromosomes in the nucleus of our cells) and prevents premature cell death, giving it a key role in preventing diseases such as cancer, neurodegeneration, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, liver disease, autoimmune diseases and infections (1). Muscle dystrophies, and even ageing are characterised by insufficient autophagy as low autophagy contributes to tissue dysfunction and cellular imbalance .
Mitophagy (Autophagy-dependent degradation of mitochondria) is important for maintaining the integrity of the mitochondria in our cells. Mitochondria generate energy (ATP) so the healthier and more viable your mitochondria the more efficiently they generate energy (1).
Autophagy and long covid
Autophagy is believed to help the body clear the spike protein associated with COVID-19 (3). The spike protein can linger after an infection and continue to cause inflammation. For this reason, it is crucial to remove the spike protein to allow the body to heal.
What induces autophagy?
Sauna
How good is a sauna. I imagine myself glowing with health after a sauna but in reality my face is so red from the heat you could use me a traffic light. I do not let this stop me however as the health benefits of a sauna are vast.
The heat from a sauna promotes autophagy by increasing the temperature of muscle cells in a way that mimics the natural temperature rise of these cells when we exercise (4). Heat shock proteins are also stimulated by heat which lead to the production of new proteins that help build new muscle tissue.
Hot and cold therapy
Jumping out of a sauna and into the snow – Russian style also promotes autophagy. If you have access to this type of hot and cold therapy go for it but for everyone else you can replicate this at home in the shower. Alternating hot and cold showers create hormetic stress in the body – helping us adapt to more intense stress. Cold exposure also stimulates brown adipose tissue (BAT) in the body and leads to increased mitochondrial turnover, mitochondrial biogenesis, total mitochondrial protein, and mitochondrial activity. Brown adipose tissue uses mitophagy to replace mitochondria damaged during cold exposure (5).
Coffee
Coffee is one of the world’s most beloved beverages and drinking coffee has numerous health benefits. Caffeine is the most recognised ingredient in coffee however coffee also contains polyphenols (plant based health promoting compounds). Caffeine in normal coffee has been shown to reduce fat content specifically in liver cells via autophagy (6). Whereas the polyphenols found in both normal and decaffeinated coffee are thought to be the compounds responsible for stimulating autophagy and for reduction in diseases such as cancer, stroke, and diabetes (7).
Another win for coffee.
Exercise
When exercising we are engaging the skeletal muscles of the body – the muscles that attach muscle to bone and are moved by us voluntarily. Muscle contraction constitutes a form of energetic stress and leads to changes in molecular messengers. These messengers activate downstream signalling cascades, leading to autophagy (8). Dysregulation of skeletal muscle autophagy is seen in metabolic diseases, including insulin resistance and diabetes (4).
Skeletal muscle is lost both as we age and as a result of dysfunctional mitochondria. Resistance training (weighted exercise) increases the amount of muscle in the body leading to increased healthy mitochondria and more efficient mitophagy - both helping to prevent age-related muscle loss.
Benefits of exercise on autophagy (8)
Autophagy plays a key role in preventing many chronic health conditions. Lifestyle interventions such as enjoying a sauna, drinking coffee and exercising are all ways you can help stimulate autophagy in your body to support long-term health.
The information provided on this website is for information purposes only and is not meant to be nor should be considered medical advice.
