The Real Health Podcast

Imagine helping your body recycle its own damaged mitochondria. Dr. Barrett breaks down urolithin A - a molecule produced when your gut microbiome interacts with foods like raspberries, strawberries, and pomegranates (though only about 40% of people naturally produce it). He walks through the research: improved muscle endurance and leg strength in older adults, VO2 max gains in competitive runners, reduced inflammation, stronger immune cell function, and even memory improvements from a brand-new October 2026 study. He closes with dosing guidance, where to source it, and why gut health is still the real foundation underneath it all.
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Watch the episode on YouTube here!
  • (00:00) - Intro
  • (00:33) - What Is Urolithin A?
  • (02:35) - Mitochondria 101
  • (03:55) - Muscle Endurance Research
  • (07:46) - Leg Strength
  • (09:52) - VO2 Max & Athletic Performance
  • (10:49) - Immune System & Inflammation Benefits
  • (14:18) - Brain Health & Memory Research
  • (16:14) - Dosing, Sourcing & Mitopure
  • (18:24) - Closing Thoughts

DISCLAIMER
This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Barrett Deubert and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to replace medical advice or treatment from a physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding health questions and concerns. Neither Dr. Deubert nor the Real Health Co. takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All audience members, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement, or lifestyle program.

Creators and Guests

Host
Dr. Barrett Deubert
The founder of The Real Health Co. and the host of The Real Health Podcast, Dr. Barrett is passionate about helping people find true and complete health in any stage of life!
Editor
Grant Crenshaw
Content Producer at the Real Health Co.

What is The Real Health Podcast?

You've tried everything: extreme diets, expensive specialists, and medicine with side effects. Yet you're still stuck. This show is for you. The Real Health Podcast is hosted by Dr. Barrett Deubert, a practicing chiropractor and functional medicine provider who treats patients dealing with exactly what you're dealing with: weight that won't move, energy that never comes back, chronic symptoms doctors can't explain. Each week, he digs into the actual root cause behind things like weight loss resistance, hormone imbalance, autoimmune flare-ups, and metabolic dysfunction. No fad diets, no miracle supplements, no blaming you for not trying hard enough. Just real, evidence-based answers for why your body hasn't been working the way it should, and what actually helps.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

Imagine being able to help your body recycle damaged mitochondria. On today's episode of The Real Health Podcast, we talk about a longevity supplement that some may or may not have ever heard of before. And it could be a game changer for you. Well, welcome back to another episode of The Real Health Podcast. And today we're talking about longevity and specifically a longevity supplement.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

And a lot of people have heard of this supplement before if you're on the research train of what supplements are making meaningful changes in our body. But a lot of us haven't. And today I want to give some specific research on a supplement that could be massive for longevity outcomes, the way from brain health to immune health to even muscle gains, how this one supplement can make such a meaningful change for you. And what are we talking about? Well, we're talking about something called urolithin A.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

UroLithin A is a byproduct of your gut microbiome. So, it's a molecule that's produced when your gut microbiome interact with certain plants, specifically, like raspberries and strawberries and even pomegranate juice. The key differentiation here is what we realized when there was a study done on pomegranate juice for instance. When it was being consumed, only about forty percent of people actually produced this incredible molecule. And so what does it tell us?

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

Well, one, it tells us that if everyone were to supplement with strawberries, raspberries, and pomegranates, it doesn't necessarily mean that you will produce this molecule. But it is established that if you were to take the supplement directly, obviously then it can get directly into the cells and be utilized properly. So this is kind of a side note. Last episode, we talked about your gut microbiome and your gut to brain axis. And when we when we look at, how some phytonutrients can be impactful for for for for some and and not impactful for others, it really does come down to your gut health.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

There are certain bacterial species that it... That that when in the gut, take plants and turn them into phytonutrients. Like an example, if patient A takes turmeric and patient B takes turmeric, they will have varying results of how effective that turmeric is in becoming an active form that then those curcuminoids have an impact on inflammation levels. Why does it impact some in a really positive way and others very meaningless results? Well, it comes down to that gut.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

Your gut health and the amount of diversity and quantity of beneficial bacteria really dictates how well your body metabolizes plants and turns them into proper molecules that can be used for healing. And one of my favorite healing molecules that I've been looking at over the last couple years is urolithin A and it's getting a ton of research. We're seeing this molecule impact mitochondrial health at a really powerful cellular level. Mitochondria the power... It's the power plant of the body.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

So your cells, in order for them to function well, they need to produce efficiently a molecule called ATP, adenosine triphosphate. And that ATP production allows that cell to thrive If your mitochondria are unhealthy, damaged, worn out, well, your body should go through this process called mitophagy, which is where you're in essence cleaning out damaged mitochondria and rebuilding healthy new ones. But as we age, we don't do that as effectively or as efficiently. And so we have these molecules that come in from our diet that allow that mitochondria to be repaired and healed. That process is responsible for how well you age.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

If you're looking at longevity research or aging well, it comes down to your mitochondrial health. Fundamentally, the healthier and stronger your mitochondria are, the longer and healthier you will live. So we should be looking at building and supporting our mitochondria first and foremost above everything else. And where does most mitochondria reside, right? It's most of the mitochondria or the highest density of mitochondria are in the brain, the heart, and the muscle.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

And so when you train your mitochondria, when you build healthy mitochondria, when you support proper ATP production, you're getting a healthier brain, a healthier heart, and healthier muscle. And as we've talked about many times in this episode, muscle mass has a direct correlation between longevity. It's a longevity organ. And when you look at, Alzheimer's dementia, neurodegenerative conditions, It fundamentally is a mitochondrial issue in a lot of patients. What's happening is the mitochondria are inefficient utilizing glucose properly.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

And in essence, we're seeing Alzheimer's dementia as being classified as type three diabetes, resistant brain or insulin resistant mitochondria deficient, effective mitochondria. So this matters so much. This mitochondrial support matters so much in how well you will live and also how long. So I think that's why we're getting a lot of attention around it because it has such a direct impact on mitochondrial health. So let's get into it.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

Let's talk about what we see as being researched right now with this mitochondria. And the first thing is we're seeing it with muscle endurance. So there's a study done in 2022 in the Journal of American Medical Association. It It looked at 66 adults between the ages of 65 and 90, so aging adults. And they took one thousand milligrams daily versus the placebo group.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

And after four months of supplementation, researchers measured walking distance, muscle energy production and the ability of hand and lower leg muscles to keep contracting before fatigue. And it was pretty impressive. We saw direct improvements in muscle endurance particularly about two months in. So a thousand milligrams at sixty days in had a direct improvement in muscle endurance to fatigue compared to the placebo group. So if you are looking to enhance muscle production, is where a lot of the mitochondria are, UroLithin A was making a direct impact there.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

There was another study in 2022 with called the ATLAS, ATLAS trial and it was eighty eight overweight untrained middle aged adults and they did five hundred milligram dose, a thousand milligram dose, or a placebo and measured over the course of four months. And the researchers found twelve percent improvements in leg strength outcomes or leg strength measurements. Twelve percent improvement in those that supplemented with a thousand milligrams of Urolithin A over the course of four months. We had significant hamstring strength benefits compared with placebo, even at both doses. A thousand milligrams seems to be the tipping point, but even five hundred milligrams had an effective change in hamstring strength.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

So as we age, one percent over the age of 40, we get 1% muscle loss every year unless we do something about it. Muscle endurance, muscle strength can be directly related to mitochondrial health. Urolithin A has the ability to clean up the mitochondria to induce what we call mitophagy and enhance that ATP production. And this will lead to a more enduring muscle that allows you to do more volume. So let's even take the bodybuilder, the strength athlete in the gym, and you're looking for an enhancement in your working sets.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

You know, we could plausibly say that if you were to do three by 10 at a certain weight, you you could with urolithin a within a few weeks start to see the ability for you to go one, two, maybe even three reps longer in that set. And as we know, the more load you're able to endure and put on the body, the more physiological change and adaptations will take place and the more muscle strength gains that we can get. So it's not just for the, you know, 65 to 90 year old group. It could be for the 25 year old athlete who's looking to enhance muscle endurance capacity and strength. There was a study done in 2025 for 42 competitive male distance runners and supplementing again at about one thousand milligrams daily versus placebo during four weeks of altitude training.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

And they demonstrated an improvement in VO2 max. And when we look at endurance athletes, even in younger competitive athletes, we're seeing the ability to hold a certain threshold longer. This is super exciting, right? Maybe it's for enhancement, maybe it's for optimization, but regardless, it's showing us that the more efficient your mitochondria are and the healthier they are, the longer and harder you can go. A separate 2024 resistance training trial in male athletes reported a reduction in CRP levels compared to a placebo.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

And this marker CRP is called C reactive proteins inflammatory marker. And obviously when you train, you're breaking down muscle tissue and it's going through this inflammatory process, right, of repair. And if we can reduce the over production of inflammation, interleukin six specifically, if we can reduce that overreactivity of post training muscle soreness and muscle inflammatory changes and allow that to heal a little bit faster, then we can obviously take on more load. There was a study done in aging science, specifically to the immune system with urolithin A because your immune cells also depend on mitochondrial function. And we saw that during, the COVID era where people who were most affected by COVID typically had comorbidities.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

They had multiple illnesses and in reality they had diseased mitochondria. So the immune system needs healthy mitochondria to support recovery from a particular viral infection or bacterial infection. And so the more unhealthy your mitochondria are, the longer that illness or sickness will linger in your body in the delayed recovery response. And so your immune cells directly depend on mitochondrial function. And this has researchers asking, hey, does urolithin A make an impact on immune health?

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

So 50 healthy middle aged adults, one thousand milligrams daily versus placebo over the course of four weeks, researchers found changes in immune cell composition of metabolism. And what they noticed was there was less terminal exhaustion of a specific T cell called your CD8 T cells. And so what this really means is that your immune cells were stronger, by taking Urolithin A, and they were able to do their job longer. So again, endurance capacity, whether it's for muscle or whether it's for an immune cell. If we can create a healthier cell through mitochondrial support, then it doesn't matter if it's a brain cell, an immune cell, a heart cell or a muscle cell, it has the ability to be more enduring in the race, okay?

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

And that race is specifically to a viral infection. So some immune cells showed characteristics researchers associate with a more favorable functional state and that's a win. That's a win for a lot of people because it's exciting when you look at, hey, how do we optimize the immune system in maybe unhealthy older adults? And I think Urolithin A can absolutely be a proper supplement to take for anyone between, you know, maybe it's a 20 year old, maybe it's an 80 year old and have different effects. The cool thing is it's nonspecific.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

So when taking Urolithin A, it doesn't just support immune cells. It doesn't just support the brain. It doesn't just support muscle. It supports all mitochondria, and you're getting a benefit through all, organ systems. We looked at some, there was some research done for brain health specifically with urolithin A and this was in October 2026.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

This is very recent research from JAMA and it enrolled fifty middle aged adults with obesity using one thousand milligrams daily for four weeks. And we saw that we had some, task improvements and memory enhancements. And when it comes to longevity, we know that the brain is essential at long term health. Long term brain health is essential at healthy aging, healthy neurological function can be essential, be absolutely essential in how your quality of... Not just quantity, but how your quality of life is.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

A healthier brain usually dictate or, correlates into longer, living. Improve lifespan. Think about your brain, especially when you're in your fifties, forties and fifties. And what you do to your brain in your 40s and 50s will really dictate how your brain is functioning in your 60s and 70s. So you don't have to wait till 60 or 70 to start considering optimizing the brain and enhancing mitochondrial function.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

And this is why I fast often is because I'm trying to create insulin sensitivity and increase ketone production for a healthy mitochondrial output. When you drive insulin sensitivity and increased enhanced mitochondrial function, it will help your brain and your body live longer. When we look at research for like dose and expectations, it just seems like anywhere between that five hundred and one thousand milligrams is the proper dosing. One thousand milligrams seems to be what most people are using in research, but there's, studies that show five hundred milligrams can make an impact. So where would you get this, right?

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

Where do you get urolithin A? Well, first you can potentially get it from your nutrition. Raspberries, strawberries, pomegranates, pomegranate juice is a viable option. Just remember your gut microbiome dictates how well you efficiently take those plants and convert it into this incredible, amazing molecule. So you aren't healthy in your gut, you may not be making urolithin A the way you need to.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

So that's where supplementation matters. And I would say the only company I've really ever seen make urolithin A at a high level is a company called Mitopure. M I T O P U R E, Mitopure has a specific Urolithin A ingredient. And this is a direct urolithin A supplementation at the proper dose to enhance longevity and mitochondrial function. So if you're looking on the market on what supplements to consider, MitoPure is probably the only brand that I would recommend.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

And so when looking at longevity, yes, nutrition matters, and sleep matters, and stress support matters, and getting adjusted, and working out, and training. But if you were to enhance all of those functions and do that through one supplement, this could be an absolute game changer for you, especially as you age. When should you consider it? Probably in your later 30s to 40s. This would be a great time to start looking at doing a specific mitochondrial supplement.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

You know, a lot of people have looked at things like methylene blue, which has an impact on mitochondrial health. There are other mitochondrial supplements, but it looks like urolithin A is taking the lead and then the charge on enhancing mitochondrial function. Sunlight, red light, healthy nutrition, all matters. But right now, if you don't want to supplement, I'll tell you this. Optimize your gut.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

If you were to improve your gut microbiome, the beneficial bacteria and the quantity, so diversity in quantity, then you have a better chance at making these incredible molecules, and even other molecules like short chain fatty acids we talked about last week, butyric acid or butyrate can have a very similar impact to your mitochondria health and your brain. So maybe it's not a supplement today. Maybe you don't jump on the Mitopure train. It's okay. Hey, focus on gut health because your gut health directly impacts how well you extract these phytonutrients from your diet to make these amazing molecules to help you live longer.

Dr. Barrett Deubert:

Thanks for listening as always to another episode of the Real Health Podcast.