A metabolic shift from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis (i.e. the Warburg effect) occurs in Alzheimer's disease accompanied by an increase of both activity and level of HK‐I. The findings reported here demonstrate that in the early phase of apoptosis VDAC1 activity, but not its protein level, progressively decreases, in concomitance with the physical interaction of HK‐I with VDAC1. In the late phase of apoptosis, glucose‐6‐phosphate accumulation in the cell causes the dissociation of the two proteins, the re‐opening of the channel and the recovery of VDAC1 function, resulting in a reawakening of the mitochondrial function, thus inevitably leading to cell death.