The Metabolic Link

Attend a Live Q&A with Dr. Glandt. Reigster here. What if the way we treat type 2 diabetes is fundamentally backwards? Dr. Mariela Glandt is an endocrinologist and obesity medicine specialist who spent 15 years practicing conventional medicine before concluding, in her words, that how we treat diabetes “is actually upside down.” As co-founder of OwnaHealth, she focuses on addressing the insuli...

Fewer than 40% of people with PTSD respond to standard care. For the intrusive symptoms at the core of the disorder, response rates may be lower than 15%. So what options remain for patients who have not responded to existing treatments? Dr. Keren Doenyas-Barak, director of the PTSD program at the Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research and a faculty member at Tel Aviv University, has tr...

Dr. Paul Reynolds has spent his career studying what he calls “two heads of the same beast”: inflammation and glycation — two interlocking processes that may help explain why so many chronic diseases are connected, even when they are treated as separate conditions. Dr. Reynolds is a professor and research scientist at Brigham Young University whose NIH-funded research program studies inflammation,...

In people with severe depression and cognitive decline, brain glucose metabolism has been shown in some studies to decline measurably. Ketone metabolism, by contrast, appears relatively preserved. That single observation is reshaping how researchers think about psychiatric illness. In this episode, Dominic D'Agostino sits down with Bret Scher, a cardiologist who pivoted to metabolic psychiatr...

A gene mutation that reduces ketone production in the fasted state is associated with sudden infant death in modern populations. But in the ancestral context where it evolved alongside an omega-3-rich diet, it may have been part of what kept infants alive. Dr. Gideon Mailer and Nicola Hale join The Metabolic Link to present their hypothesis that the CPT1A L479 Arctic variant is not anti-ketogenic...

In a 12-week clinical trial at The Ohio State University, every woman with PCOS who completed the intervention experienced a change in her menstrual status. One participant, who had never had a period in her life, began menstruating within a week. Another saw spotting after five years of amenorrhea while taking only a ketone supplement without adopting a ketogenic diet. These are among the earlies...

A veteran walks into the clinic with a persistent migraine. Four minutes of vagal nerve stimulation later, the migraine is gone. This is not a one-off result. It is what Dr. Michael Hoffman has been observing for over seven years in the VA hospital system, using non-invasive devices he considers severely underutilized. Dr. Hoffman is a stroke and cognitive-behavioral neurologist who trained at Col...

You could have elevated levels of contaminants like uranium or arsenic in your drinking water—and not know it. Many of these compounds are colorless, odorless, and undetectable without testing. Johnny Pujol is a water chemist and the founder of Tap Score, a drinking water testing platform supported by a network of roughly 270 specialized laboratories. His path from electrochemistry research to con...

Register for a live Q&A with Dr. Tommy Wood on Wednesday, March 25th. Decreased glucose uptake in the brain is often considered a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. But Dr. Tommy Wood asks whether part of that metabolic signature may reflect how little cognitive demand we place on the brain. He sits down with Dr. Dominic D'Agostino for a nuanced conversation on metabolic health and cog...

Get free access to our new Ketogenic Metabolic Therapy ebook here. Could changing your metabolism reduce alcohol cravings, ease psychiatric symptoms, and even make cancer immunotherapy more effective? The science is pointing to yes, and the mechanisms are fascinating. In this Journal Club episode, co-hosts Victoria Field, Dr. Dominic D'Agostino, and Dr. Angela Poff break down five peer-review...

Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky's VO2 max was once 87.6 ml/kg/min — an elite-level mark few humans have reached. He's competed at three world championships in three different sports. He's also had three cardiac ablation surgeries, bled from his bowels after races, and watched his vision tunnel to a speck crossing a finish line. His story is a master class in where the line falls between peak p...

Roughly 90% of Alzheimer's patients develop neuropsychiatric symptoms including anxiety, persistent fear, and an inability to recognize safety — but little research is being done to investigate why. New data connecting PTSD, trauma, and accelerated brain aging may hold the answer. Dr. Caesar Hernandez is a behavioral, molecular, and circuit neuroscientist and assistant professor in the Divisi...

What if the sequence we've always assumed—plaque causes arterial stiffness—is actually backwards? Dr. Lily Johnston proposes that impaired nitric oxide signaling may stiffen arteries first, creating the endothelial injury that then promotes plaque formation. Dr. Lily Johnston is a board-certified vascular surgeon and newly certified obesity medicine physician who bridges the operating room an...

The term “ultra-processed food” appeared nearly 100 times in the White House’s Make America Healthy Again report. But questions remain about whether the concept is precise enough to guide effective policy. Dr. David Ludwig—Harvard endocrinologist, obesity researcher, and author of Always Hungry —joins Dr. Dominic D'Agostino to dismantle the ultra-processed food framework from the inside out....

Glioblastoma has a long-term survival rate under 1% at ten years. After decades of research focusing primarily on mutation-targeted therapies, median survival has improved by only a few months. Dr. Tomás Duraj believes there's a better path forward. Dr. Duraj is a physician-scientist at Boston College working on the metabolic vulnerabilities of cancer. In this Metabolic Health Summit presenta...

After 20+ years treating cancer patients, Dr. Christy Kesslering started asking a question her colleagues weren't asking: why are so many of my breast cancer patients metabolically sick — even when they're not obese? That question changed everything. Dr. Kesslering is a classically-trained radiation oncologist, metabolic health practitioner, and terrain theorist. She spent two decades pr...

A patient arrives at shock trauma with flesh-eating bacteria, limbs appearing unsalvageable. Hours later, after treatment in a massive submarine-like chamber, those same limbs show signs of recovery. This pivotal moment launched Dr. Scott Sherr's journey into the world of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and its untapped potential for metabolic healing. Victoria Field welcomes Dr. Scott Sherr, a boa...

What if the key to treating neurodegenerative diseases lies not in attacking symptoms, but in healing mitochondria? Dr. Matthew Phillips, a neurologist who coined the term "metabolic neurologist," shares groundbreaking insights from his decade-long journey implementing ketogenic diets and fasting protocols for Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and glioblastoma patients. In this episode...

For over fifty years, Americans have been told that cutting fat was the key to better health. Yet after decades of low-fat guidelines, rates of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic dysfunction have skyrocketed - now affecting more than 88% of the population. In this episode of The Metabolic Link, Victoria Field sits down with Dr. Nina Teicholz, science journalist and author of The Big Fat Surprise, wh...

When veterinarian Dr. Loren Nations lost his wife to aggressive cancer despite the best conventional treatments, he didn't just grieve—he revolutionized his entire approach to medicine. In this deeply personal conversation, Dr. Nations reveals how tragedy led him to discover that our pets are experiencing metabolic disease at rates even higher than humans, with 61% of cats and 59% of dogs now...

What if the food you eat could change the way you breathe at night? In this episode, recorded live at The Metabolic Health Summit, Dr. Jonathan Jun reveals how metabolism and sleep-disordered breathing are deeply connected, and why shifting from carbs to fat might improve more than just your waistline. Dr. Jonathan Jun, a leading researcher on obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) and obstructive...

Could treating food like a drug be the breakthrough we've needed in food addiction treatment? In this episode of The Metabolic Link , Dr. Dominic D’Agostino sits down with Dr. Tro Kalayjian - physician, researcher, and former obesity patient - to explore whether food addiction should be classified as a true addiction, and how his TOWARD model is helping patients overcome binge eating and food...

Muscle isn’t just about strength or performance — it’s metabolic armor. In this episode of The Metabolic Link, Dr. Andy Galpin sits down with hosts Victoria Field and Dr. Dominic D’Agostino to show how muscle, cardio fitness, and bone density work together to protect against decline and extend healthspan. From women’s training and recovery practices to kids in the weight room, Dr. Galpin translate...

Plastic surgery meets metabolic medicine. Dr. Cameron Chesnut isn't just changing faces - he's changing the entire surgical process. In this episode, Dr. Dominic D'Agostino talks with the facial plastic surgeon who’s using ketones, hyperbaric oxygen, red light, and regenerative protocols to optimize brain health, accelerate recovery, and eliminate opioids entirely. Trusted by high p...

Did you know that over 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s—and that number is expected to nearly double by 2050? Despite decades of research and billions spent, most treatments only offer minimal slowing of symptoms. But what if we’ve been approaching this disease all wrong? In this powerful episode of The Metabolic Link, host Victoria Field sits down with renowned neurologist, researcher, a...