You’re Not Low on Energy… Your Mitochondria Need Support

You've tried the caffeine. The B12 gummies. The "energy blend" that tastes like chalk and promises and doesn't do much of either.

And still… by 2 p.m., you're dragging.

Here's the thing most wellness brands won't tell you: energy isn't just about fuel. It's about the machinery your body uses to make that fuel. And if that machinery isn't working well, or if your body has stopped building enough of it, no amount of coffee is going to fix the root cause.

Let's talk about what's actually going on.

Two Layers of Energy Supply

Deep inside nearly every cell in your body, tiny structures called mitochondria are doing something remarkable: converting the food you eat into the energy your cells run on. Think of them as microscopic power plants.

Your body manages energy at two distinct levels, and most people have never heard of the second one.

Layer 1: Energy Production Pathways

It includes glycolysis, lipolysis, TCA cycle, and electron transport chain (ETC). Together they show how efficiently your mitochondria convert glucose into usable energy in the form of ATP. It involves enzymes, cofactors, and a chain of biochemical reactions that either run smoothly or don't. When these pathways are sluggish, you feel it: afternoon crashes, brain fog, that heavy feeling where everything takes more effort than it should.

Layer 2: Mitochondrial Biogenesis Pathways

This is the one nobody talks about. Your body doesn't just run its existing power plants, it builds new ones. Mitochondrial biogenesis is the process of creating fresh mitochondria to meet your body's energy demands. It's how your cells stay resilient, recover after exertion, and adapt to stress. When this process slows down, your body's total energy capacity shrinks, not because you're doing anything wrong, but because the infrastructure is quietly declining.

In other words: Layer 1 is how well your power plants run today. Layer 2 is whether your body is building enough new healthy ones for tomorrow.

Both matter. And they require different biological inputs to function well.

What Viome Actually Measures

This is where it gets interesting, and where Viome's approach is fundamentally different from guesswork.

Viome's RNA technology doesn't just look at what genes you have. It looks at how active those genes are right now: which ones are turned up, which are turned down, and what that means for your biology today.

For mitochondrial energy, Viome monitors gene activity across both layers:

For Energy Production, Viome tracks 20 key genes, including ones involved in:

• the electron transport chain (the final stage where energy is actually produced),

• the Krebs cycle (where nutrients are broken down), and

• glucose metabolism.

These genes tell Viome whether your energy production pathways are humming along or hitting bottlenecks.

For Mitochondrial Biogenesis, Viome tracks a much larger set, 38 genes, because building new mitochondria is a more complex operation. This includes genes responsible for:

• assembling new mitochondrial structures,

• quality control (yes, your cells have quality control), and

• the transcription factors that signal your body to start the building process in the first place.

Why This Changes What You Should Eat

Here's where personalization actually means something. The foods and nutrients shared here represent the full range of what Viome’s mitochondrial energy scores can recommend, but no one person will see all of them. Your actual recommendations depend on your specific gene activity, alongside your other “Attention” scores and health conditions. Biology is a network, and Viome’s recommendations reflect that complexity. What you see here are examples of what’s possible. What you receive is tailored to you.

When Viome identifies that your energy production pathways need support, the food recommendations tend toward compounds like CoQ10 (found in pistachios, mackerel, lean beef, peanuts, and soybeans), alpha-lipoic acid (broccoli, spinach, tomatoes), and yes, caffeine sources like coffee and matcha, which support metabolic activation.

When the issue is mitochondrial biogenesis (your body needs help building more power plants), the recommendations shift. Now you're looking at quercetin-rich foods (onions, capers, cilantro, dill), nitrate-rich foods that support nitric oxide production (beets, arugula, beet sprouts), plus resveratrol from grapes, fisetin from strawberries, and selenium from brazil nuts.

Some foods show up in both categories. Pistachios, mackerel, lean beef, peanuts, and soybeans, all rich in CoQ10, support both energy production and the building of new mitochondria. That's not a coincidence. CoQ10 is the single most represented compound across Viome's entire mitochondrial energy scoring system.

The point is: “eat for energy” means something completely different depending on which layer of energy supply your body actually needs help with, and which other factors in your biology are also asking for attention. That’s why a generic energy diet doesn’t work. And you can’t know what your body specifically needs without looking at your actively expressed genes.

The Supplement Side

The same personalization principle applies here: the ingredients listed below span the full range of what Viome can recommend across its mitochondrial energy scores. What you personally receive will reflect your specific biology, only the ingredients your gene activity actually calls for, not the entire list.

Food comes first. But when your pathways need more targeted support, Viome's Precision Supplements™ are formulated based on the same gene activity data.*

For energy production support, key ingredients include B vitamins (B1, B3, B5, B6, B12), cofactors like Coenzyme Q-10 (CoQ10) and Pyrroloquinoline Quinone (PQQ), acetyl L-carnitine, and minerals like magnesium and chromium.*

For mitochondrial biogenesis boost, the ingredient profile shifts toward polyphenols and adaptogens: resveratrol, quercetin, fisetin, N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC), rhodiola, bacopa, turmeric, plus beet root juice for nitric oxide support.*

Six ingredients bridge both processes: CoQ10, PQQ, nicotinamide riboside (NR), ashwagandha, amla fruit extract, and copper. These are the heavy hitters that support energy at every level.*

The difference between Viome and a generic energy supplement? A generic formula gives everyone the same ingredients and hopes for the best. Viome looks at your specific gene activity and recommends only what your biology actually calls for.

Why This Matters for You

If you're someone who's been chasing energy with quick fixes, and still not feeling the difference, it might not be a willpower problem or a sleep problem or even a diet problem.

It might be that your body's energy infrastructure needs attention at a level you've never been able to see before.

That's what Viome's scores reveal: not just how your body is producing energy right now, but whether it's equipped to keep producing it going forward. And then, based on what your biology shows, exactly which foods, nutrients, and supplements can help.*

Energy isn’t something you just consume. It’s something your body builds. And now, for the first time, you can see exactly how it’s working.

Why Testing is Important

The only way to know what’s actually happening inside your cells is to look. Most health tests stop at DNA, which tells you what you might be predisposed to, not what’s actually happening right now. Blood panels catch important markers but rarely explain why they’re off.

Viome goes further by measuring RNA, the molecule that shows which genes are actively turned on or off in response to your current diet, stress, and environment. It’s the difference between reading a blueprint and watching the building go up in real time.

When Viome analyzes your RNA, it can detect whether your mitochondria are efficiently producing energy, whether your body is generating new mitochondria to meet future demands, and which specific foods, nutrients, and supplements your biology is actually calling for. Guessing is why so many people stay stuck. Viome’s Full Body Intelligence™ Test gives you the answers. Your biology has a voice. Testing is how you start listening.