Mitochondrial-health evidence reference
MitoiX
Mitophagy, NAD⁺, mtROS, cardiolipin and the interventions that target them — mapped to what the evidence actually shows, species by species, endpoint by endpoint.
Human data exists, but no mitochondrial intervention has a healthy-aging lifespan RCT. The human evidence here is functional (muscle/vascular), biomarker (NAD⁺, immune), or disease-outcome (CoQ10 mortality in heart failure; elamipretide approved for the rare disease Barth syndrome) — never a healthy-aging lifespan trial. "Improves a biomarker in a trial" ≠ "extends healthy human lifespan," and "reduces mortality in heart failure" ≠ "anti-aging." Every page shows this plainly.
Interventions
Intervention
Urolithin A (Mitopure)
Intervention
MitoQ (mitoquinone)
Intervention
Nicotinamide riboside (NR)
Intervention
Nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN)
Intervention
Coenzyme Q10 / ubiquinol
Intervention
Elamipretide (SS-31)
Intervention
PQQ (pyrroloquinoline quinone)
Study records
Study
Urolithin A first-in-human: safety and a mitochondrial gene signature (Andreux et al., 2019)
Study
Urolithin A improves muscle strength and exercise performance in middle-aged adults (Singh et al., 2022)
Study
Urolithin A and muscle endurance in older adults, 65-90 (Liu et al., 2022)
Study
Urolithin A and age-related immune decline (2025)
Study
MitoQ improves vascular function in healthy older adults (Rossman et al., 2018)
Study
Chronic nicotinamide riboside elevates NAD⁺ in healthy adults (Martens et al., 2018)
Study
NMN, NAD⁺ metabolism, and arterial stiffness (2023)
Study
Q-SYMBIO: CoQ10 reduces mortality in chronic heart failure (Mortensen et al., 2014)
Study
MMPOWER-3: elamipretide Phase 3 in primary mitochondrial myopathy — failed primary (Karaa et al., 2023)
Study
Urolithin A induces mitophagy and prolongs lifespan in C. elegans and improves rodent muscle (Ryu et al., 2016)
Study
NMN and glucose/lipid metabolism: meta-analysis finds no benefit (2024/2025)
Mechanisms
Mechanism
Mitochondrial dysfunction as a hallmark of aging
Mechanism
Cellular respiration / OXPHOS
Mechanism
Mitophagy (PINK1 / Parkin)
Mechanism
Mitochondrial biogenesis (PGC-1α)
Mechanism
Mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS)
Mechanism
NAD⁺ metabolism
Mechanism
Cardiolipin
Mechanism
Mitochondrial dynamics (fission / fusion)
Mechanism
Mitochondrial unfolded-protein response (UPRmt)
Evidence tiers
| Tier | Label | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Healthy-aging human lifespan RCT | Randomized, hard lifespan/healthy-aging endpoint in a healthy-aging population. NONE exist for any mitochondrial intervention as of the search date — tier empty by design. |
| 2 | Human clinical-outcome RCT — disease population | Randomized, hard clinical outcome (e.g. mortality) but in a disease population, not healthy aging. Example: Q-SYMBIO CoQ10 mortality in chronic heart failure. |
| 3 | Human RCT — functional endpoint | Randomized, endpoint is a physical-function measure (muscle strength/endurance, VO2, vascular/endothelial function), not lifespan. |
| 4 | Human RCT — biomarker endpoint | Randomized, endpoint is a biomarker (NAD+, blood pressure, arterial stiffness, immune or gene-expression markers, lipids/glucose). |
| 5 | Human observational / mechanistic | Cohort, cross-sectional, or ex-vivo human tissue; no randomized intervention. |
| 6 | Animal healthspan / lifespan study | Lifespan or healthspan/function change in an animal or invertebrate model (e.g. urolithin A in C. elegans and rodents). |
| 7 | In vitro / mechanism | Cell-culture or biochemical mechanism; no whole-organism outcome. |