

Metabolic Mind
Bret Scher
Metabolic Mind is working to transform the study and treatment of mental disorders by exploring the connection between metabolism and brain health. Metabolic interventions like ketogenic therapy are being used to treat serious mental illnesses like Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Major Depressive Disorder. We explore topics that can help you understand how Metabolic Psychiatry might help you or a loved one treat mental disorders
Watch our videos at https://www.youtube.com/@metabolicmind
Our channel is for information only. Consult your physician before changing your lifestyle or medications.
Watch our videos at https://www.youtube.com/@metabolicmind
Our channel is for information only. Consult your physician before changing your lifestyle or medications.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 26, 2024 • 43min
Improving Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder - with Mayo Clinic's Dr. Mark Frye
DescreiptionIndividuals with bipolar disorder are at an increased risk for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and obesity, often resulting in a decreased lifespan. Clinicians must address this critical issue. There is a complicated, interconnected set of factors driving this correlation, including: medications that increase cardiometabolic burden, symptoms of the illness itself, as well genetic factors that confer risk for both bipolar disorder and metabolic complications. Dr. Mark Frye has more than twenty-five years of experience as a clinician, researcher and advocate. He is the former chair of the psychiatry department at Mayo Clinic, where he is now a professor of psychiatry. He is also the director of the scientific advisory board for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA).
Dr. Frye sees the early signals of the efficacy of ketogenic therapy for some patients with mental health conditions as really impressive and encouraging. He would like to see further research and exploration of the biomarkers, mechanisms, and neurobiology behind this intervention so that it could be targeted to the individual patients most likely to benefit. There is a need for the whole field to shift toward precision psychiatry.
Dr. Mark Frye
https://www.mayo.edu/research/faculty/frye-mark-a-m-d/bio-00077016
Studies discussed:
Treating Insulin Resistance With Metformin as a Strategy to Improve Clinical Outcomes in Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Depression (the TRIO-BD Study): A Randomized, Quadruple-Masked, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35120...
Insulin Resistance and Blood-Brain Barrier Dysfunction Underlie Neuroprogression in Bipolar Disorder https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34113...
Follow our channel for more information and education from Bret Scher, MD, FACC, including interviews with leading experts in Metabolic Psychiatry.
Learn more about metabolic psychiatry and find helpful resources at https://metabolicmind.org/
About us:
Metabolic Mind is a non-profit initiative of Baszucki Group working to transform the study and treatment of mental disorders by exploring the connection between metabolism and brain health. We leverage the science of metabolic psychiatry and personal stories to offer education, community, and hope to people struggling with mental health challenges and those who care for them.
Our channel is for informational purposes only. We are not providing individual or group medical or healthcare advice nor establishing a provider-patient relationship. Many of the interventions we discuss can have dramatic or potentially dangerous effects if done without proper supervision. Consult your healthcare provider before changing your lifestyle or medications.
#MetabolicMind
#KetoForMentalHealth
#MetabolicPsychiatry
#BipolarDisorder
#MetabolicNeuroscience
#KetogenicMetabolicTherapy
#NutritionalKetosis#MentalIllness#AlternativeTreatment#CardioMetabolicRisk#Obesity#Diabetes
#MedicationSideEffects

Feb 19, 2024 • 41min
Could Your Diet Be Causing Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression? - with Dr. Uma Naidoo
Dr. Uma Naidoo founded and directs the first US hospital-based nutritional psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Naidoo’s work focuses on empowering individuals with dietary strategies that improve overall mental health and conditions like ADHD, anxiety, depression and OCD. She is a leading nutritional psychiatrist on the faculty at Harvard Medical School– she also brings unique flair as a professionally trained chef. She feels hopeful about the burgeoning fields of nutritional & metabolic psychiatry that are building a more robust evidence base for dietary and lifestyle strategies to treat mental health conditions.
Dr. Naidoo’s new book, Calm Your Mind With Food, aims to equip people to eat in a way that may help ease symptoms of anxiety. Anxiety increased by 25% following the pandemic. She shares that the Standard American Diet (SAD) is “called SAD for a reason.” While specific nutritional strategies can vary drastically from patient-to-patient, Dr. Naidoo advises avoiding ultra-processed foods, full of hidden sugars often disguised under deceptive names, and seed oils. The blood sugar swings and crashes caused by the SAD diet can cause mental health symptoms. Dr. Naidoo’s previous book, This is Your Brain on Food, has sections on the efficacy of ketogenic therapy for treating severe mental illness. She also explores emerging research on how the microbiome impacts mental health.
Dr. Uma Naidoo:
https://umanaidoomd.com/
X - @DrUmaNaidoo
Instagram - @drumanaidoo
https://www.linkedin.com/in/uma-naidoo-m-d-93813860/
Dr. Naidoo's Books:
Calm Your Mind with Food
https://umanaidoomd.com/pages/calm-your-mind-with-food
This Is Your Brain on Food
https://umanaidoomd.com/pages/this-is-your-brain-on-food
About us:
Metabolic Mind is a non-profit initiative of Baszucki Group working to transform the study and treatment of mental disorders by exploring the connection between metabolism and brain health. We leverage the science of metabolic psychiatry and personal stories to offer education, community, and hope to people struggling with mental health challenges and those who care for them.
Our channel is for informational purposes only. We are not providing individual or group medical or healthcare advice nor establishing a provider-patient relationship. Many of the interventions we discuss can have dramatic or potentially dangerous effects if done without proper supervision. Consult your healthcare provider before changing your lifestyle or medications.
#MetabolicMind
#KetoForMentalHealth
#MetabolicPsychiatry
#NutritionalPsychiatry#LifesytleMedicine#MetabolicNeuroscience
#KetogenicMetabolicTherapy
#NutritionalKetosis#MentalIllness#AlternativeTreatment#FunctionalMedicine#HolisticHealth#IntegrativeMedicine

Feb 12, 2024 • 12min
Could GLP1 medications help patients go keto?
Dr. Matthew Be and Dr. Mariela Glandt discuss the use of GLP1 medications as a bridge treatment for implementing a ketogenic diet, highlighting benefits for metabolic disease and mental symptoms. They warn about potential side effects like lean mass loss and nutrient deficiencies, advocating for transitioning to a sustainable ketogenic diet for long-term benefits.

Feb 5, 2024 • 7min
Stanford Twin Study: Are Vegan Diets Healthier?
The Stanford Twin Study has made headlines suggesting that vegan diets are healthier than omnivore diets, and we would likely all benefit from a more plant-based diet. The problem is that the conclusions are misleading, and the study doesn't actually show that. The true conclusion from this study is that among high carb diets, after eight weeks, those on a vegan diet ate fewer calories, lost more weight and lowered LDL and insulin more than those following a high carb omnivore diet. The Stanford Twin Study highlights how easy it is to misinterpret and misrepresent the findings from nutrition research.
Link to the study:
Cardiometabolic Effects of Omnivorous vs Vegan Diets in Identical Twins
A Randomized Clinical Trial
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2812392
Follow our channel for more information and education from Bret Scher, MD, FACC, including interviews with leading experts in Metabolic Psychiatry.
Learn more about metabolic psychiatry and find helpful resources at https://metabolicmind.org/
About us:
Metabolic Mind™ is a nonprofit initiative incubated by Baszucki Group. Our mission is to provide education and resources in the emerging field of metabolic psychiatry, including ketogenic interventions for mental disorders.
Our channel is for informational purposes only. We are not providing individual or group medical or healthcare advice nor establishing a provider-patient relationship. Many of the interventions we discuss can have dramatic or potentially dangerous effects if done without proper supervision. Consult your healthcare provider before changing your lifestyle or medications.
#MetabolicMind
#KetoForMentalHealth
#MetabolicPsychiatry
#vegan
#omnivore#DepressionTreatment
#MetabolicNeuroscience
#KetogenicMetabolicTherapy
#NutritionalKetosis#MentalIllness#DepressionDiet#AlternativeTreatment

Jan 31, 2024 • 41min
New Study Questions LDL Risk - An interview with Dave Feldman
Do we all have to worry that LDL causes heart disease, or could certain people, like low-carb "lean mass hyper responders" have less concern about LDL and heart risk? A new study from Dave Feldman and Dr. Matt Budoff suggests markedly elevated LDL in the setting of metabolic health and ketosis may not contribute to cardiac plaque and heart disease. While these data are not conclusive, they are highly suggestive and set the stage for future studies in this critically important area. Will this line of research eventually change everything we know about LDL? That's to be determined, but at least we're asking the question.
Featured in this episode
Dave Feldman https://cholesterolcode.com/ and https://citizensciencefoundation.org/
twitter/X @realDaveFeldman
Follow our channel for more information and education from Bret Scher, MD, FACC, including interviews with leading experts in Metabolic Psychiatry.
Learn more about metabolic psychiatry and find helpful resources at https://metabolicmind.org/
About us:
Metabolic Mind™ is a nonprofit initiative incubated by Baszucki Group. Our mission is to provide education and resources in the emerging field of metabolic psychiatry, including ketogenic interventions for mental disorders.
Our channel is for informational purposes only. We are not providing individual or group medical or healthcare advice nor establishing a provider-patient relationship. Many of the interventions we discuss can have dramatic or potentially dangerous effects if done without proper supervision. Consult your healthcare provider before changing your lifestyle or medications.
#MetabolicMind
#KetoForMentalHealth
#MetabolicPsychiatry
#MetabolicNeuroscience
#KetogenicMetabolicTherapy
#NutritionalKetosis#ldl #hearthealth
#CalciumScore#CoronaryCTA#LeanMassHyperResponder#LMHR

Jan 15, 2024 • 17min
What Do Adenosine, Forests & Keto Diets Have to do with Brain Health?
At Metabolic Mind, we often focus on ketogenic therapy as a treatment for severe mental illnesses like bipolar, schizophrenia, and depression. But it’s important to realize that a keto diet can also be a powerful preventative medicine to protect and optimize brain function. Dr. Susan Masino, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at Trinity College and the Charles Bullard Fellow in forest research at Harvard Medical School, discusses the therapeutic properties of ketogenic diets and the interconnection between brain health and ecological lifelines.
Dr. Masino discovered the ketogenic diet while researching ways to increase adenosine, a neuroprotective molecule that cannot be given as a medication due to severe side effects. Both adenosine and a ketone-based metabolism work through multimodal mechanisms to “precondition” the body, promoting health and enhancing resilience, helping to reverse disease and prevent it from occurring in the first place.
Featured in this episode:
Susan Masino, PhD
https://internet3.trincoll.edu/facprofiles/default.aspx?fid=1117011
Twitter/X: @MasinoSusan
Follow our channel for more information and education from Bret Scher, MD, FACC, including interviews with leading experts in Metabolic Psychiatry.
Learn more about metabolic psychiatry and find helpful resources at https://metabolicmind.org/
About us:
Metabolic Mind™ is a nonprofit initiative incubated by Baszucki Group. Our mission is to provide education and resources in the emerging field of metabolic psychiatry, including ketogenic interventions for mental disorders.
Our channel is for informational purposes only. We are not providing individual or group medical or healthcare advice nor establishing a provider-patient relationship. Many of the interventions we discuss can have dramatic or potentially dangerous effects if done without proper supervision. Consult your healthcare provider before changing your lifestyle or medications.
#MetabolicMind
#KetoForMentalHealth
#MetabolicPsychiatry
#MetabolicNeuroscience
#KetogenicMetabolicTherapy
#NutritionalKetosis#MentalIllness#Bipolar#KetoDiet#BrainHealth#PreventativeMedicine

Jan 8, 2024 • 39min
Can Changing Your Diet Change Your Mind?- with Metabolic Psychiatry Pioneer Dr. Georgia Ede
Is the key to optimizing physical and mental health eating so-called superfoods like dark chocolate, red wine and blueberries? Dr. Georgia Ede, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and metabolic psychiatry pioneer, shares counter-evidence to mainstream views on the optimal human diet. In this interview, she discusses nourishing the brain by eating the right foods, protecting it by staying away from the wrong foods, and energizing it by cultivating a healthy metabolism. Ede argues that the key to healing, protecting, and enhancing brain function is keeping blood sugar (glucose) and insulin within a healthy range.

Jan 2, 2024 • 34min
Future of Precision Medicine & Nutritional Therapies for Mental Illness with Dr. Megan Kirk Chang
Dr. Megan Kirk Chang, Senior Researcher of Medical Science at the University of Oxford, discusses her upcoming trials looking at nutritional interventions: one focuses on ketosis for treatment-resistant depression, and the other will investigate whether the keto diet is as effective as the Mediterranean diet for individuals at risk for developing Alzheimer’s. She has a background in cognitive behavioral therapeutics (CBT), including experience coaching patients through interventions like mindfulness-based stress reduction, exercise, and yoga.
Dr. Kirk Chang brings a fresh, unbiased perspective and diverse scope of experience to her new research examining the therapeutic uses of the keto diet. The common thread throughout her career has been helping patients restore their sense of aliveness. She envisions psychiatric interventions of the future that are driven by precision medicine, effectively tailored to the unique biology and life circumstances of each patient.
Featured in this episode:
Dr. Megan Kirk Chang
https://www.phc.ox.ac.uk/team/megan-kirk-chang
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/megankirkchang/
Instagram: @dr.megankirkchang
Twitter/X: @DrKirkChang
Follow our channel for more information and education from Bret Scher, MD, FACC, including interviews with leading experts in Metabolic Psychiatry.
Learn more about metabolic psychiatry and find helpful resources at https://metabolicmind.org/
About us:
Metabolic Mind™ is a nonprofit initiative incubated by Baszucki Group. Our mission is to provide education and resources in the emerging field of metabolic psychiatry, including ketogenic interventions for mental disorders.
Our channel is for informational purposes only. We are not providing individual or group medical or healthcare advice nor establishing a provider-patient relationship. Many of the interventions we discuss can have dramatic or potentially dangerous effects if done without proper supervision. Consult your healthcare provider before changing your lifestyle or medications.
#MetabolicMind
#KetoForMentalHealth
#MetabolicPsychiatry
#DepressionTreatment
#MetabolicNeuroscience
#KetogenicMetabolicTherapy
#NutritionalKetosis#MentalIllness#DepressionDiet#AlternativeTreatment

Dec 26, 2023 • 40min
GLP-1 and Ketosis: Novel Mental Health Treatments
World-renowned psychiatrist Dr. Roger McIntyre joins to discuss the potential of GLP1 medications like Wegovy and Ozempic in treating mental health disorders, comparing them to ketogenic therapy. They explore the intersection of medication effects and ketogenic therapy, the role of brain energy in psychiatric treatments, and the evolution and hope in psychiatric care.

Dec 18, 2023 • 21min
Treating Bipolar with Keto - 100 Self-Reports with Dr. Iain Campbell
Ketogenic diets are emerging as an exciting new alternative treatment for bipolar disorder and other psychiatric conditions. Many people may see remission of their psychiatric symptoms and may be able to reduce or eliminate their intake of psychiatric medications. Dr. Iain Campbell, a researcher who lives with Bipolar II, collected survey data from over 100 individuals treating their bipolar disorder with ketogenic therapy. While the data are not at the same level as randomized controlled trials, the results are amazingly encouraging and indicate a substantial improvement in people's quality of life.
Featured in this episode:
Dr. Iain Campbell
https://www.bipolarketostudy.com/
Twitter/x: @IainCampbellPhD
Dr. Iain Campbell's pilot study pre-print:
Pilot study of a ketogenic diet in bipolar disorder
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-open/article/pilot-study-of-a-ketogenic-diet-in-bipolar-disorder/3C44C39ACE747A042179D2876D1AB143?
Follow our channel for more information and education from Bret Scher, MD, FACC, including interviews with leading experts in Metabolic Psychiatry.
Learn more about metabolic psychiatry and find helpful resources at https://metabolicmind.org/
About us:
Metabolic Mind™ is a nonprofit initiative incubated by Baszucki Group. Our mission is to provide education and resources in the emerging field of metabolic psychiatry, including ketogenic interventions for mental disorders.
Our channel is for informational purposes only. We are not providing individual or group medical or healthcare advice nor establishing a provider-patient relationship. Many of the interventions we discuss can have dramatic or potentially dangerous effects if done without proper supervision. Consult your healthcare provider before changing your lifestyle or medications.
#MetabolicMind
#KetoForMentalHealth
#MetabolicPsychiatry
#BipolarTreatment
#MetabolicNeuroscience
#KetogenicMetabolicTherapy
#NutritionalKetosis#MentalIllness#BipolarDiet
#AlternativeTreatment