Individuals with impaired mitochondrial function rely almost entirely on glucose for energy during moderate exercise because they cannot sustain effort with fat alone.

“Yeah, we've been knowing for years now that a typical characteristic that we know of people with pre-type 2 or type 2 diabetes is that they have a poor metabolic flexibility that is called also a poor capacity to oxidize fuels. One of them is fat. We know that fat can only be oxidized in the mitochondria. Therefore, by measuring the fat oxidation of these patients, we can indirectly see the mitochondrial function, especially when we put them in context or in comparison with those ones who are hematopoietic. healthy individuals that could be moderately active individuals who don't have diabetes or prediabetes or don't have any medications or elite athletes. So that's where we see that their fat capacity is very, very low.”