Deep Dives › Cellular Health and Mitochondria
Assessing mitochondrial function without a biopsy
What each available measure of mitochondrial function actually reads, from exercise tolerance and cardiopulmonary testing to lactate, organic acids and copy number, and which question each one answers.
Reviewed by Team SOMA
Last updated August 2026 · English
What you'll be able to do
- âś“What exercise tolerance and cardiopulmonary testing measure, and the ceiling they describe
- âś“Lactate: what a rise means, and the several things it does not
- âś“Organic acids, and how far a urinary pattern can reasonably be pushed
- âś“Mitochondrial copy number, and why more is not the same as better
- âś“Which question each measure answers — and which questions none of them answer
What's inside
Is this for you?
Who it's for
- Anyone with a result in hand who wants the reasoning, not only the conclusion
- People with no medical training - every technical term is explained the moment it appears
- Practitioners who want the thinking behind a number rather than a protocol
What you need
- No prior training. Every technical term is explained in plain words the first time it appears.
- A willingness to read something twice.
About this Deep Dive
Nobody is going to take a muscle biopsy to settle a question about tiredness. So the honest question is what the measures that are available actually read, and which of them answers the question being asked.
What this covers
- What exercise tolerance and cardiopulmonary testing measure, and the ceiling they describe
- Lactate: what a rise means, and the several things it does not
- Organic acids, and how far a urinary pattern can reasonably be pushed
- Mitochondrial copy number, and why more is not the same as better
- Which question each measure answers — and which questions none of them answer
How it is built
Five parts, taken in order: a short orientation, the reading itself, one worked case, a check to see whether it landed, and a page on what changes once you have it. About forty minutes, and it is written to be read twice. There is no certificate here — that is what the Certified Programmes are for.
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