There are many drugs that can damage mitochondria, but certainly the most pervasive is sodium fluoride. A paper published this year examined the effect of fluoride levels on child intelligence in China and found —
Water/urinary fluoride concentrations were negatively associated with not only IQ scores but mtDNA content...
https://www.scienced...048969721024013
In another Chinese study, obesity in children was linked to fluoride content —
Our results suggest low-to-moderate fluoride exposure is associated with overweight and obesity in children.
https://pubmed.ncbi....h.gov/31509932/
And-
Circulating mtDNA content is negatively related to low-to-moderate fluoride exposure.
https://www.scienced...160412018326291
It isn’t surprising that lower mtDNA content would impact both intelligence and obesity, as lower mtDNA content will directly correlate with lower ATP output. Methylation of mtDNA should have similar effects. The effect on mtDNA methylation hasn’t yet been studied, but there are studies showing that sodium fluoride screws up methylation of nuclear DNA, so likely its effect is even more profound on mtDNA, which replicates far more rapidly.
Edited by Turnbuckle, 18 July 2021 - 10:24 AM.