Metabolic Mind

Can stevia fit into a ketogenic diet? What does the evidence say about oxalates? And how might a ketogenic diet affect bone health? In this episode of Metabolic Mailbag, Dr. Bret Scher and psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ede answer listener questions about sweeteners, exercise, ketone levels, continuous ketone monitoring, and more. They discuss: Why stevia can still be considered a keto-friendly sweetene...

Metabolic psychiatry is growing quickly, and clinicians and researchers around the world have been asking for a better way to connect and learn from one another to help move the field forward. Dr. Bret Scher speaks with Dr. Kirk Nylen, Managing Director of Neuroscience at Baszucki Group, and psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ede about MetPsy, a new global community for clinicians and researchers working in...

Meal timing, morning light, sleep, and exercise can all influence circadian rhythm, with potentially important effects on metabolic health. In this episode, Dr. Bret Scher speaks with circadian biology expert Dr. Satchin Panda about how our internal clocks work, what disrupts them, and how everyday timing choices can affect metabolism, brain function, and long-term health. Dr. Panda describes how...

Can ketogenic therapy help offset some of the metabolic side effects of clozapine while preserving its psychiatric benefits? Dr. Deanna Kelly, a leading clozapine researcher, joins Dr. Bret Scher to discuss what she has seen clinically when ketogenic therapy is used alongside clozapine and other antipsychotic medications. Dr. Kelly shares the case of a patient taking clozapine who also had diabete...

A recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that adults with ADHD had more than a fourfold higher association with cognitive impairment and dementia later in life. The finding doesn't mean ADHD causes dementia, but it raises important questions about what these conditions may share biologically. In this video, Dr. Bret Scher breaks down the study and explores one possible connection: brain e...

ADHD is often described as a problem with attention or hyperactivity, but psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ede argues that the condition is much more complex, involving executive function, dopamine regulation, and potentially brain energy metabolism. In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher and Dr. Georgia Ede take a deeper look at ADHD, from how it is diagnosed and treated to emerging research o...

Does perimenopause make ketosis harder? Can a carnivore diet provide too much protein? And which nutrient deficiencies matter most for mental health? In this episode of Metabolic Mailbag, Dr. Bret Scher and psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ede answer listener questions about ketogenic therapy, menopause, carnivore diets, protein intake, and nutrition for mental health. They discuss how hormonal changes du...

Some “healthy” foods may be working against your metabolic health. In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher examines how products such as agave nectar, commercial green juices, low-fat fruit yogurt, and açaí bowls can create a health halo while delivering large amounts of rapidly digestible sugar. Dr. Scher explains how liquid carbohydrates, added sugars, and concentrated fructose may aff...

How did humans go from being deeply connected to our food to barely knowing where it comes from or how it was made? In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher speaks with experimental archaeologist and chef Dr. Bill Schindler about what human evolution can teach us about food, nutrition, and the way we eat today. Drawing on archaeology and his time with hunter-gatherer communities around th...

A new study claims ketogenic diets cause liver damage and early death. Here’s what you need to know. A 2025 mouse study recently made headlines, warning that ketogenic diets may lead to fatty liver, high triglycerides, and a shortened lifespan. But here’s the catch: These findings were in genetically altered mice fed a 90% fat diet, filled with highly synthetic components, and they contradict what...

Can ketosis change symptoms of bulimia? Is low-carb eating safe in your 80s? And what really happens to digestion on a carnivore diet? In this episode of Metabolic Mailbag, Dr. Bret Scher answers questions about ketogenic therapy for eating disorders, low-carb diets in older adults, carnivore diets and gut health, constipation on a ketogenic diet, and even a few easy keto movie-night snacks. He al...

Alzheimer’s disease is usually discussed in terms of plaques, tangles, and genetics. Dr. Stephen Cunnane has spent years studying another piece of the puzzle: what happens when the aging brain can no longer use glucose efficiently, and whether ketones can help fill that energy gap. In this interview, Dr. Bret Scher and Dr. Cunnane discuss the metabolic side of cognitive decline, including insulin...

College can be one of the most exciting times of your life, but it can also put enormous pressure on a brain that's still developing. Psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Ede spent 12 years working as an on-campus psychiatrist at Harvard University and Smith College. In this video, she explains why college can be such a vulnerable time for mental health and how sleep, nutrition, alcohol, smoking, vaping, and...

Does reducing carbohydrates improve metabolic health beyond what can be explained by weight loss alone? Dr. Bret Scher breaks down a new randomized controlled trial published in Cell Metabolism that compared three diets in people with prediabetes and fatty liver disease: a ketogenic diet, a higher-carbohydrate Mediterranean diet, and a very low-fat, plant-forward diet. One challenge with ketogenic...

For many women, the wellness strategies that carried them through their 20s and 30s can start to backfire in perimenopause. Changes in hormones, muscle mass, insulin sensitivity, sleep, and stress can make midlife feel like a completely different metabolic landscape. In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher speaks with nurse practitioner Cynthia Thurlow about why perimenopause can act lik...

Hannah Warren spent years living with severe bipolar I disorder before discovering metabolic therapies in 2021. Today, Hannah has been in remission for more than five years, is no longer taking psychiatric medication, and works as Metabolic Mind’s Community Engagement & Advocacy Manager, helping others understand the emerging field of metabolic psychiatry. In this course module, created as par...

How can clinicians become more comfortable using ketogenic therapy in mental health care? In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher speaks with Dr. Deanna Kelly about Live It, Launch It!, a training program designed to help clinicians learn ketogenic therapy by experiencing it themselves. Dr. Kelly explains why evidence-based treatments can still take years to reach everyday clinical pract...

How should we think about LDL and ApoB, and how much metabolic health changes the cardiovascular risk picture? In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher speaks with vascular surgeon Dr. Lily Johnston about cholesterol and plaque formation, along with the need to personalize cardiovascular prevention. 👉 Download our Make Sense of Your Cholesterol guide: https://metmind.co/cholesterol-liste...

Is saturated fat really the villain it’s been made out to be? Or has decades of poor research and dietary policy misled us? In this video, Dr. Bret Scher dives into the controversy surrounding RFK Jr.'s call to remove the cap on saturated fat, and the Wall Street Journal’s misleading take on it. We explore: ✅ Why saturated fat doesn’t just mean pizza and ice cream ✅ The science behind whole food...

Should LDL be treated? In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher explains why the better question is who may benefit from LDL lowering, how aggressively it should be treated, and what outcomes matter most to the individual patient. 👉 Get our free 11-page Cholesterol Guide to better understand your lipid panel and prepare for a conversation with your clinician: https://metmind.co/cholester...

Is it possible to follow a diet that’s both vegan and keto? And can a diet like that be used as part of a care plan for bipolar disorder? In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher speaks with author and advocate Dyane Harwood about how she uses a vegan ketogenic diet as part of her treatment for postpartum bipolar disorder. Dyane shares how she first discovered vegan keto, why she started...

Can therapeutic ketosis be considered for type 1 diabetes and bipolar disorder? In this Metabolic Mailbag episode, Dr. Bret Scher and producer Erica Gerard answer viewer questions about ketogenic therapy, type 1 diabetes, Parkinson’s medications, omega-3s, fasting, protein intake, metabolic rate, and why some protein foods are more filling than others. They cover: The association between type 1 di...

A red flag next to your LDL number can feel alarming, but LDL is only one part of a much larger cardiovascular risk picture. In this episode of Metabolic Mind, cardiologist and lipidologist Dr. Bret Scher explains how to read a cholesterol panel with more context and less fear. Dr. Scher walks through LDL, triglycerides, HDL, non-HDL cholesterol, ApoB, Lp(a), and the triglyceride-to-HDL ratio. He...

Can carnivore and vegan diets both be used as ketogenic therapies? In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher speaks with registered dietitian Denise Potter about two widely debated approaches to nutrition. They explore how each can be evaluated when someone is considering a ketogenic diet to support psychiatric, neurological, or metabolic health. Denise brings more than 30 years of clinica...

Animal-sourced foods are often framed as a problem for human health and environmental sustainability. In this episode of Metabolic Mind, Dr. Bret Scher speaks with forage agronomist and ruminant nutritionist Peter Ballerstedt, PhD (@GrassBased) about livestock, malnutrition, chronic disease, and why restoring metabolic health may require a broader conversation about nutrition and sustainability. P...