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Have you ever had your blood test come back normal? You're sleeping seven or eight hours a night, you're easing well, you're exercising, and yet your energy just isn't what it used to be. You wake up tired, you rely on caffeine to get through the afternoon, your workouts can feel harder than they used to, and your brain feels foggy. And you start wondering whether this is just what getting older feels like.

For many women, it isn't. It's a mitochondrial issue. One of the biggest changes that happens during perimenopause and the first few years after menopause is that declining oestrogen doesn't just affect your reproductive system, it directly affects your mitochondria.

Oestrogen helps regulate mitochondrial biogenesis, which is your body's ability to build new mitochondria, the tiny energy factories inside every one of your cells. As oestrogen begins to fluctuate and decline, your cells become less efficient at producing new mitochondria, while the older ones become more damaged and less efficient at making energy. So it's not just simply that you're getting older, your body is literally producing fewer healthy energy factories at the very time when you need them the most.

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The result is exactly what so many women experience, lower energy, poorer recovery, brain fog, reduced resilience, and feeling like your battery just doesn't hold its charge anymore. The mistake most people think is trying to create more energy without first supporting the batteries that actually produce it. Today I'm going to explain exactly how mitochondria work, why this happens in midlife, and the three advanced supplements I personally use to support mitochondrial health and cellular energy once these foundations are in place.

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Make sure you stay until the end because I'll also explain the biggest mistakes I see people make when they invest in mitochondrial supplements and why so many people never get the results they're hoping for. So if the problem is that your mitochondria are producing less energy, becoming damaged over time, and your body is making fewer healthy new ones, how do you actually support them? The good news is, alongside exercise, nutrition, sleep, and where appropriate, optimising hormones, there are three advanced supplements with some really exciting science behind them. The important thing to understand is they don't all do the same thing.

Each one targets a different part of mitochondrial health. The first helps your cells produce more energy, the second helps your body recycle old damaged mitochondria and replace them with healthier ones, and the third helps protect your mitochondria from the oxidative stress that gradually damages them over time. Think of it like looking after the battery in your phone.

One supplement helps charge the battery, another helps replace worn out components, and the third replaces the battery so that it lasts longer. Together they support different aspects of mitochondrial function, which is why I use them as part of an advanced longevity strategy rather than relying on just one. Before we dive in, I just want to say that this video is for educational purposes only and isn't intended to replace personalised medical advice.

Always consult with your medical practitioner before taking any supplements. Okay, let's start with the first one, because without it, your mitochondria simply can't produce energy efficiently, and that's NAD. NAD is one of the most important molecules in your body.

It's involved in more than 500 enzymatic reactions, but one of its most important jobs is helping your mitochondria convert the food you eat and the oxygen you breathe into ATP, the energy currency that powers virtually every cell in your body. You can think of NAD as one of the essential ingredients your cellular batteries need to generate energy. The challenge is this recycling system appears to become less efficient as we age, partly because the activity of key enzymes involved in the pathway declines over time.

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At the same time, chronic inflammation and oxidative stress increase the rate at which NAD is consumed, creating a vicious cycle where your body is using more NAD while becoming less efficient at replacing it. So when people ask me whether they should take an NAD precursor, I think it's probably the wrong question. The better question is how do I support my body's entire NAD system? That means providing the building blocks your body needs, supporting the healthy function of the salvage pathway, and reducing the inflammation and oxidative stress that are driving NAD depletion in the first place.

When you support all three together, you're giving your mitochondria the best possible opportunity to produce energy efficiently. So taking NAD precursors can be helpful alongside all of these things. But making energy is only part of the story.

As we age, there's another problem. Your body also becomes less efficient at clearing away old damaged mitochondria. And that's where the second supplement, urolithin A, becomes so fascinating, because it works in a completely different way.

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Remember I said earlier that as we age, our mitochondria become damaged? Well, your body actually has its own built-in recycling programme for dealing with that, and it's called mitophagy, which literally means mitochondrial recycling. Think of it as quality control. Your body identifies old, worn-out and damaged mitochondria, breaks them down, and clears them away so it can make room for healthier, more efficient ones.

The problem is that just like many other repair systems in the body, mitophagy becomes less efficient as we age. Instead of clearing away damaged mitochondria, they begin to accumulate. It's a bit like having lots of old, worn-out batteries sitting inside your cells that no longer hold a proper charge.

The result is, your cells become less efficient at producing energy, even if you're eating well and exercising. This is where urolithin A becomes so interesting. Urolithin A isn't actually found in food.

It's what's known as a postbiotic, meaning it's produced by your gut bacteria when they break down compounds like elegatanins, which are found in foods like pomegranates, walnuts, and some berries. The challenge is that only around 30-40% of people have the right gut bacteria to produce meaningful amounts of urolithin A from food alone. And that ability appears to decline as we age.

Supplementing with urolithin A helps activate mitophagy, supporting your body's natural ability to recycle old, damaged mitochondria and replace them with healthier, more efficient ones. Clinical studies have shown improvements in mitochondrial function, muscle health, and grip strength. And because healthy muscles are packed full of mitochondria, that's exactly what we'd expect to see.

One thing that's important to understand is that this isn't an overnight supplement. You're not going to take it for a week and suddenly feel completely different. You're supporting a biological renewal process and that takes a bit of time.

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In the clinical studies, the most meaningful improvements were seen after around four months of consistent supplementation. That's why I think of urolithin A as an investment in long-term cellular health rather than a quick energy boost. So if NAD helps your mitochondria produce energy and urolithin A helps your body recycle old mitochondria and replace them with healthier ones, there's one final piece of the puzzle.

How do we protect those mitochondria from being damaged in the first place? That's where mitoQ powered by mitoQ mitoquinol comes in. Every time your mitochondria produce energy, they also produce free radicals. Now that's completely normal.

Free radicals are a natural byproduct of energy production. The problem becomes when they build up over time. These free radicals begin to damage the very mitochondria that created them, creating another vicious cycle where damaged mitochondria become less efficient at producing energy and generate even more oxidative stress.

More antioxidants can help mop up free radicals elsewhere in the body, but very few actually reach the mitochondria themselves. That's what makes mitoQ mitoquinol different. It was specifically designed to pass through the mitochondrial membrane and accumulate inside the mitochondria, allowing it to neutralise free radicals at the source where they're actually being produced.

Instead of simply dealing with the consequences of oxidative stress, it's helping protect the very place where your cellular energy is made. Clinical studies have shown that mitoQ can reduce oxidative stress by up to 48% and increase your body's own natural antioxidant defences by 36%. In preclinical studies, it's also been shown to increase ATP production by up to 69%, suggesting healthier, more efficient energy production at the cellular level.

It's supported by more than 900 independent studies spanning healthy ageing, cardiovascular health, and cellular science, making it one of the best-researched mitochondrial-targeted antioxidants available. So I like to think of these three supplements as working together rather than competing with one another. NAD precursors help fuel your mitochondria, urolithin A helps renew them, and mitoQ helps protect them.

You're supporting energy production, mitochondrial renewal, and defence against oxidative damage, all three of the key processes that become less efficient as we age. That's why I think this trio makes so much sense as an advanced mitochondrial strategy once you've already built the foundations of good sleep, nutrition, and exercise alongside the foundational supplements like vitamin D, omega-3, and magnesium. Before you go, if you'd like my complete longevity supplement protocol, including the brands I personally use, how I decide what to take, dosing, timing, cycling strategies, and the supplement stack I use myself, I've put everything together in a free longevity supplement masterclass and supplement guide.

You'll also find the link to my favourite brands that I personally use and trust, along with any discount codes that are available. You can download it completely free using the link in the description below. Remember, supplements don't replace the fundamentals, they amplify them.

The greatest longevity intervention we have is still a healthy lifestyle, great nutrition, strength training, cardiovascular fitness, restorative sleep, stress management, and for many women, optimising hormones. Once those foundations are in place, the right supplements can help you take your health and performance to the next level. If you enjoyed this video, I'd love to know which of these mitochondrial strategies surprised you the most.

Leave me a comment below and if you'd like more evidence-based content on female performance, longevity, and healthy ageing, don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you in the next video.

Get my free Longevity Stack Masterclass and Supplement Guide for women to learn how to build a personalised supplement stack: https://academy.angelafosterperformance.com/free-longevity-stack-masterclass

In this episode, Angela explains how mitochondria produce energy, why mitochondrial function can become less efficient with age and hormonal change, and the three advanced supplements she personally uses as part of her longevity strategy: NAD precursors, urolithin A and MitoQ.

You’ll discover how each targets a different aspect of mitochondrial health — energy production, mitochondrial renewal and protection against oxidative stress — and why supplements work best when layered on top of the fundamentals of sleep, nutrition, exercise, cardiovascular fitness, stress management and, where appropriate, optimising hormones.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Why Energy Can Change in Menopause — Declining oestrogen can influence mitochondrial biogenesis and the efficiency of cellular energy production.
NAD for Cellular Energy — NAD plays a critical role in helping mitochondria convert food and oxygen into ATP, the energy currency of your cells.
Urolithin A for Mitochondrial Renewal — Urolithin A supports mitophagy, the body’s natural process for clearing damaged mitochondria and making room for healthier ones.
MitoQ for Mitochondrial Protection — MitoQ is designed to reach the mitochondria directly and help protect them against oxidative stress generated during energy production.