Meet mLOC: The Hidden Bridge Powering Lactate Metabolism
Let me tell you about the mLOC Everybody talks about mitochondria nowadays…Lactate is becoming mainstream as well… However, almost nobody has heard of the molecular machinery that connects the two. It is called the mLOC, the mitochondrial lactate oxidation complex. This network of proteins helps cells take up lactate, convert it into usable fuel, and power mitochondrial energy production. In many ways, it may be one of the most important, yet least appreciated, systems in physiology and metabolism. In my latest article, I explain what the mLOC is, why it matters, and how it influences performance, metabolic health and our ability to utilize one of the body’s most important fuels. Link below 👇 https://t.co/ri2KUfpzlc
Longevity Clinics Sell Hype, Not Proven Life Extension
Every few months, a new therapy arrives with the same promise: activate this pathway, inhibit that enzyme, filter your blood, flood your cells with light, and the clock of aging will slow. NAD+ precursors, senolytics, mTOR inhibitors, plasmapheresis, ozone infusions,...
Zone 2 Pushes Mitochondria to Peak Capacity for Adaptation
At Zone 2, mitochondria are at metabolic equilibrium and at the highest operating capacity. This is why it is a challenging intensity for well-trained athletes (it must be). Lactate is being produced at a meaningful rate as glycolytic rate is...
Lactate Reveals Distinct Metabolic States and Balance
30 years ago I was working with elite athletes and drawing training zones on paper based on blood lactate curves. No substrate data. No indirect calorimetry. Just the conviction that something metabolically distinct was happening at each intensity — and that...
Lactate Delivery Vehicles Transform Exercise and Medical Therapies
Really excited to share this paper from my dear colleague and mentor George Brooks on the vehicles to deliver lactate therapeutically in exercise and medicine. https://t.co/YapDzog1WH
Metabolic Balance, Not Switch, Drives Performance
The aerobic vs anaerobic model is not wrong because it’s simple. It’s wrong because it implies a switch where there is only a continuum. Glycolysis is always active. Lactate is always produced and cleared. Mitochondria are always involved. There is no...
Lactate Regeneration of NAD⁺ Keeps Glycolysis Running
As exercise intensity increases, ATP demand rises sharply and glycolytic flux accelerates. At some point, mitochondria cannot oxidize pyruvate fast enough to match the rate at which it is being produced. At the same time, glycolysis itself depends on the...
Lactate Bridges Genetics and Metabolism in Cancer Evolution
Cancer should not be viewed as a genetic disease or a metabolic one. It is both and Lactate is the metabolic language to explain cancer evolution. Lactate is an integrative oncometabolic signal linking metabolism, gene regulation, intercellular communication and selective...
Lactate Tests Reveal True Mitochondrial Gains Beyond VO₂max
VO₂max can improve with exercise training in metabolically unhealthy individuals. But VO₂max can improve through mechanisms that have limited relationship to the core cellular dysfunction driving disease. For example, cardiac output can increase while mitochondrial function and cellular bioenergetics remain...
Lactate: The Body’s Solution to Redox Limits
“As exercise intensity increases, ATP demand rises sharply and glycolytic flux accelerates. At some point, mitochondria cannot oxidize pyruvate fast enough to match the rate at which it is being produced. The system requires a solution. That solution is the...
Stable L:P Ratio in Zone 2 Signals Metabolic Health
Lactate accumulation is not a sign of failed aerobic metabolism. It is a sign of a mismatch between glycolytic flux and mitochondrial substrate entry and oxidation. During Zone 2 exercise, lactate production increases, but because mitochondrial oxidation keeps pace, pyruvate...
Lactate: The Missing Link Between Genes and Cancer Metabolism
For over 100 years, cancer research has been split between genes and metabolism. But what if we’ve been missing the loop that connects them? My latest Substack explores this debate further and suggests how lactate may be the missing link organizing the...
Longevity Obsession Ignoring Youth Health Crisis
Yesterday I published my latest Substack article and went to bed feeling something was missing. This morning I realized what it was. I had left out two key sections: • One for the hundreds of millions of people with real metabolic dysfunction...
Discover Your Metabolic State with Updated Training Model
Are you overloaded, at equilibrium or are you a drifter? Not asking about your mental health but about your metabolic training. I like to be at metabolic equilibrium but here and there, I like to be a drifter and I...
Lactate Signals Metabolic Balance, Not Just Fuel Shift
The original "Metabolic Map" I created in 2013 organized exercise metabolism around substrate utilization and muscle fiber recruitment, illustrating how the body transitions from fat to carbohydrate use as intensity increases. This model helped me and many others translate complex laboratory...