
Mastering Nutrition
Welcome to the Mastering Nutrition podcast.
Mastering Nutrition is hosted by Chris Masterjohn, a nutrition scientist focused on optimizing mitochondrial health, and founder of BioOptHealth, a program that uses whole genome sequencing, a comprehensive suite of biochemical data, cutting-edge research and deep scientific insights to optimize each person's metabolism by finding their own unique unlocks.
He received his PhD in Nutritional Sciences from University of Connecticut at Storrs in 2012, served as a postdoctoral research associate in the Comparative Biosciences department of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's College of Veterinary Medicine from 2012-2014, served as Assistant Professor of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Brooklyn College from 2014-2017, and now works independently in science research and education.
Latest episodes

Apr 20, 2020 • 8min
Why do I wake up early every morning when I’m depressed? | Masterjohn Q&A Files #109
Question: Why do I wake up early every morning when I’m depressed? Carrie: Now, with depression, it's heavily studied if you have an elevated or excessive cortisol awakening response, meaning you go higher, your spike is higher and more dramatic than the average bear, then your risk for morning depression is much higher. The reason for that as we've already touched upon with estrogen and the serotonin versus kynurenine pathway because high excessive glucocorticoids or cortisol can also upregulate the pathway away from serotonin and down towards kynurenine. If you wake up with excessive amounts of cortisol, for whatever reason, you're stressed out, you're anticipating your day, you wake up in pain, you wake up with inflammation, something startled you awake, your kid is throwing up, it can increase your risk for morning depression because it pushes all that excessive cortisol, pushes your tryptophan away from serotonin and down towards kynurenine. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Apr 19, 2020 • 10min
COVID-19: Are Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine Zinc Ionophores?
Sign up for the free newsletter: chrismasterjohnphd.com/covid19-updates Support the service by purchasing a copy of The Food and Supplement Guide for the Coronavirus: chrismasterjohnphd.com/coronavirus DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical doctor and this is not medical advice. I am also not an infectious disease epidemiologist and I am not speaking on behalf of infectious disease epidemiologists. I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in conducting and interpreting research related to my field. Please consult your physician before doing anything for prevention or treatment of COVID-19, and please seek the help of a physician immediately if you believe you may have COVID-19. SUBSCRIBE This series is based on my free daily newsletter, COVID-19 Research Updates. As a result of the time it takes to produce an video or podcast from a newsletter I wrote up, there's a slight delay between when I publish the newsletter and when you watch or listen to this. When you subscribe to the newsletter, you get the latest of my research every single day as soon as it's ready to come out. You get references and links to the sources for all the information, and you immediately get an archive of all the past issues. You can sign up at chrismasterjohnphd.com/covid19-updates SUPPORT It would mean the world to me if you support this service by purchasing a copy of my ebook, The Food and Supplement Guide to the Coronavirus. The guide contains my most up-to-date conclusions about what we should be doing for nutritional and herbal support on top of hygiene and social distancing for added protection. Due to the absence of randomized controlled trials testing nutritional or herbal prevention, these are my best guesses for what is likely to work without significant risk of harm, based on the existing science. Many people have asked why I am charging for this instead of giving it away for free, given that this is a time of crisis and people are in need. Unfortunately, I have not been immune to the effects this virus has had on the economy. My revenue from my other offerings started falling in February, and by mid-March I had days where my revenue was zero. I have three people who work for me full-time, and I am doing everything I can to avoid laying any of them off. By mid-March I had depleted 75% of my emergency fund in order to avoid any layoffs, and without charging for the guide I would not have been able to hold out much longer. Charging for the guide has allowed me to keep everyone working, replete some of my savings, and devote myself to researching COVID-19 full-time. As a result I now publish this daily COVID-19 series and the free newsletter, am involved in the design of several clinical trials that are in the process of being submitted for registration now, and am able to continually update the guide for free whenever my research warrants it. By purchasing the guide, you are enabling me to continue devoting my skills to the most important issue we now face. I am genuinely grateful for your contribution. You can purchase a copy at chrismasterjohnphd.com/coronavirus PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com.

Apr 19, 2020 • 8min
COVID-19: New Data Suggesting the Open Air Is Safe
Sign up for the free newsletter: chrismasterjohnphd.com/covid19-updates Support the service by purchasing a copy of The Food and Supplement Guide for the Coronavirus: chrismasterjohnphd.com/coronavirus DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical doctor and this is not medical advice. I am also not an infectious disease epidemiologist and I am not speaking on behalf of infectious disease epidemiologists. I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in conducting and interpreting research related to my field. Please consult your physician before doing anything for prevention or treatment of COVID-19, and please seek the help of a physician immediately if you believe you may have COVID-19. SUBSCRIBE This series is based on my free daily newsletter, COVID-19 Research Updates. As a result of the time it takes to produce an video or podcast from a newsletter I wrote up, there's a slight delay between when I publish the newsletter and when you watch or listen to this. When you subscribe to the newsletter, you get the latest of my research every single day as soon as it's ready to come out. You get references and links to the sources for all the information, and you immediately get an archive of all the past issues. You can sign up at chrismasterjohnphd.com/covid19-updates SUPPORT It would mean the world to me if you support this service by purchasing a copy of my ebook, The Food and Supplement Guide to the Coronavirus. The guide contains my most up-to-date conclusions about what we should be doing for nutritional and herbal support on top of hygiene and social distancing for added protection. Due to the absence of randomized controlled trials testing nutritional or herbal prevention, these are my best guesses for what is likely to work without significant risk of harm, based on the existing science. Many people have asked why I am charging for this instead of giving it away for free, given that this is a time of crisis and people are in need. Unfortunately, I have not been immune to the effects this virus has had on the economy. My revenue from my other offerings started falling in February, and by mid-March I had days where my revenue was zero. I have three people who work for me full-time, and I am doing everything I can to avoid laying any of them off. By mid-March I had depleted 75% of my emergency fund in order to avoid any layoffs, and without charging for the guide I would not have been able to hold out much longer. Charging for the guide has allowed me to keep everyone working, replete some of my savings, and devote myself to researching COVID-19 full-time. As a result I now publish this daily COVID-19 series and the free newsletter, am involved in the design of several clinical trials that are in the process of being submitted for registration now, and am able to continually update the guide for free whenever my research warrants it. By purchasing the guide, you are enabling me to continue devoting my skills to the most important issue we now face. I am genuinely grateful for your contribution. You can purchase a copy at chrismasterjohnphd.com/coronavirus PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com.

Apr 19, 2020 • 8min
COVID-19: Why New York City Is a Leading Indicator, Not an Outlier
Sign up for the free newsletter: chrismasterjohnphd.com/covid19-updates Support the service by purchasing a copy of The Food and Supplement Guide for the Coronavirus: chrismasterjohnphd.com/coronavirus DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical doctor and this is not medical advice. I am also not an infectious disease epidemiologist and I am not speaking on behalf of infectious disease epidemiologists. I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in conducting and interpreting research related to my field. Please consult your physician before doing anything for prevention or treatment of COVID-19, and please seek the help of a physician immediately if you believe you may have COVID-19. SUBSCRIBE This series is based on my free daily newsletter, COVID-19 Research Updates. As a result of the time it takes to produce an video or podcast from a newsletter I wrote up, there's a slight delay between when I publish the newsletter and when you watch or listen to this. When you subscribe to the newsletter, you get the latest of my research every single day as soon as it's ready to come out. You get references and links to the sources for all the information, and you immediately get an archive of all the past issues. You can sign up at chrismasterjohnphd.com/covid19-updates SUPPORT It would mean the world to me if you support this service by purchasing a copy of my ebook, The Food and Supplement Guide to the Coronavirus. The guide contains my most up-to-date conclusions about what we should be doing for nutritional and herbal support on top of hygiene and social distancing for added protection. Due to the absence of randomized controlled trials testing nutritional or herbal prevention, these are my best guesses for what is likely to work without significant risk of harm, based on the existing science. Many people have asked why I am charging for this instead of giving it away for free, given that this is a time of crisis and people are in need. Unfortunately, I have not been immune to the effects this virus has had on the economy. My revenue from my other offerings started falling in February, and by mid-March I had days where my revenue was zero. I have three people who work for me full-time, and I am doing everything I can to avoid laying any of them off. By mid-March I had depleted 75% of my emergency fund in order to avoid any layoffs, and without charging for the guide I would not have been able to hold out much longer. Charging for the guide has allowed me to keep everyone working, replete some of my savings, and devote myself to researching COVID-19 full-time. As a result I now publish this daily COVID-19 series and the free newsletter, am involved in the design of several clinical trials that are in the process of being submitted for registration now, and am able to continually update the guide for free whenever my research warrants it. By purchasing the guide, you are enabling me to continue devoting my skills to the most important issue we now face. I am genuinely grateful for your contribution. You can purchase a copy at chrismasterjohnphd.com/coronavirus PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com.

Apr 19, 2020 • 6min
COVID-19: How Much Worse Will This Get Before It Gets Better?
Sign up for the free newsletter: chrismasterjohnphd.com/covid19-updates Support the service by purchasing a copy of The Food and Supplement Guide for the Coronavirus: chrismasterjohnphd.com/coronavirus DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical doctor and this is not medical advice. I am also not an infectious disease epidemiologist and I am not speaking on behalf of infectious disease epidemiologists. I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in conducting and interpreting research related to my field. Please consult your physician before doing anything for prevention or treatment of COVID-19, and please seek the help of a physician immediately if you believe you may have COVID-19. SUBSCRIBE This series is based on my free daily newsletter, COVID-19 Research Updates. As a result of the time it takes to produce an video or podcast from a newsletter I wrote up, there's a slight delay between when I publish the newsletter and when you watch or listen to this. When you subscribe to the newsletter, you get the latest of my research every single day as soon as it's ready to come out. You get references and links to the sources for all the information, and you immediately get an archive of all the past issues. You can sign up at chrismasterjohnphd.com/covid19-updates SUPPORT It would mean the world to me if you support this service by purchasing a copy of my ebook, The Food and Supplement Guide to the Coronavirus. The guide contains my most up-to-date conclusions about what we should be doing for nutritional and herbal support on top of hygiene and social distancing for added protection. Due to the absence of randomized controlled trials testing nutritional or herbal prevention, these are my best guesses for what is likely to work without significant risk of harm, based on the existing science. Many people have asked why I am charging for this instead of giving it away for free, given that this is a time of crisis and people are in need. Unfortunately, I have not been immune to the effects this virus has had on the economy. My revenue from my other offerings started falling in February, and by mid-March I had days where my revenue was zero. I have three people who work for me full-time, and I am doing everything I can to avoid laying any of them off. By mid-March I had depleted 75% of my emergency fund in order to avoid any layoffs, and without charging for the guide I would not have been able to hold out much longer. Charging for the guide has allowed me to keep everyone working, replete some of my savings, and devote myself to researching COVID-19 full-time. As a result I now publish this daily COVID-19 series and the free newsletter, am involved in the design of several clinical trials that are in the process of being submitted for registration now, and am able to continually update the guide for free whenever my research warrants it. By purchasing the guide, you are enabling me to continue devoting my skills to the most important issue we now face. I am genuinely grateful for your contribution. You can purchase a copy at chrismasterjohnphd.com/coronavirus PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com.

Apr 17, 2020 • 13min
How does the body make hormones and what nutrients and foods do they need to do this? | Masterjohn Q&A Files #108
Question: How does the body make hormones and what nutrients and foods do they need to do this? Carrie: Now, as far as nutrients go, like I said, cholesterol is the backbone to all of your hormones. Much like the gentleman who said earlier his cholesterol was quite low, it can impact the way and the amount of hormones that you make. The lower your cholesterol is, the tougher time you can have to make hormones. But the more cholesterol you make doesn't necessarily mean you're going to have mass amounts of hormones. It's a very tightly controlled system. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Apr 16, 2020 • 9min
Should someone with low testosterone go back on testosterone replacement therapy or wait it out? | Masterjohn Q&A Files #107
Question: Should someone with low testosterone go back on testosterone replacement therapy or wait it out? Carrie: Men have luteinizing hormone just like women do. It comes from the brain. It's what stimulates the testes to make testosterone. If you have low LH, then I know it's a brain problem, not necessarily a testicular problem. If your LH is normal, it's not in the brain. Chris: If the question is how long should he wait, waiting is probably not going to give you any more answers than it was giving you for the last five years. Waiting probably isn't going to raise your testosterone. If you have one measurement that it's 100 in the morning and 45 in the night, you don't really know if it's increasing, like maybe six months ago it was 50. If you wanted to wait, what I would do is do some follow-up testing to see if it's actually changing over time. But if it's been flattened out for five years, I don't think it's going anywhere. But if it's been going up ten nanograms per deciliter every three months for the last five years, then you probably could wait it out. But without knowing that, there's no data indicating that waiting is a good strategy here, it sounds like. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Apr 15, 2020 • 5min
What to do about low libido after a LEEP procedure? | Masterjohn Q&A Files #106
Question: What to do about low libido after a LEEP procedure? Carrie: With the LEEP procedure, so like I was saying, basically it's kind of like a hot knife through butter. They cut away a portion of the cervix. And it depends. Sometimes it's a little portion and sometimes they do what they call like a full big slider right across the face of the cervix. If you remember, for those of you who maybe never seen a cervix, it's shaped like a doughnut. Literally, your cervix is this tiny little pink doughnut and has a hole in the middle and the hole leads up into your uterus. For a lot of women, there's a lot of nerve sensation there so it does greatly affect orgasms. Other women don't have it. There's probably women listening who were like, "Mine is not sensitive at all. Is that normal?" Yup, totally normal. Every woman is different. For her though in particular, she did have a lot of nerve sensation there on the cervix. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Apr 14, 2020 • 5min
Would a seasonally low vitamin D intake and high calcium intake cause soft tissue calcification? | Masterjohn Q&A Files #105
Question: Would a seasonally low vitamin D intake and high calcium intake cause soft tissue calcification? Chris: Yeah, okay. The end of this question is would the calcium simply be excreted due to the low vitamin D levels. Your vitamin D level being low, the first thing that's going to do and the major thing that's going to do is it's going to lower your calcium absorption. You would have more calcium excreted in the feces as a result of not absorbing it if your vitamin D level is low. However, a high enough calcium intake is going to more than compensate for that. It depends how low it is. If you live in northern Michigan and you're not supplementing with vitamin D in the winter, but you're outdoors a lot, your vitamin D is probably not going like rickets level low. It's probably dipping a bit. A calcium intake of 2,000 milligrams is so high that you're probably absorbing at least enough calcium. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Apr 13, 2020 • 6min
Question on Iodine, Fatigue, and Detox Reaction. | Masterjohn Q&A Files #104
Question: Question on Iodine, Fatigue, and Detox Reaction. Carrie: Remember, iodine belongs to the halogen family and other halogens can bind onto your PT or tyrosine. I have had this before where patients would take iodine and the iodine will push off the fluoride and the chloride and the bromide off of the tyrosine, and so it binds on and now you have essentially a detox reaction. People will say, "I get headaches. I've broken out in rashes. I'm really tired." Because the other halogens have come off the tyrosine and are now floating around your system. I believe in iodine. I'm not sold yet on iodine testing. I feel like there are so many rules of thoughts. But if I use iodine, I warn people of that, of the detox reaction. Chris: What are all the normal things you do for a Herxheimer reaction? Carrie: Wait a minute. Obviously lots of water, exercise, binders, so like fiber and charcoal or zeolite or whatever you're doing to bind this stuff up, clay, those supplements with that sort of stuff in it. Saunas are really good, sweating, dry skin brushing to try to help move it through your body while staying on the iodine. You want the iodine to bind to the tyrosine and not the halogen to rebind because you stopped taking it, which is going to rebind to your tyrosine. I've seen it take up to a couple weeks, depending how halogen toxic that you are. This Q&A can also be found as part of a much longer episode, here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/podcast/2019/10/19/ask-us-anything-hormones-dr-carrie-jones-may-10-2019 If you would like to be part of the next live Ask Me Anything About Nutrition, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass, which includes access to these live Zoom sessions, premium features on all my content, and hundreds of dollars of exclusive discounts. You can sign up with a 10% lifetime discount here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/q&a ====== DISCLAIMER: I have a PhD in Nutritional Sciences and my expertise is in performing and evaluating nutritional research. I am not a medical doctor and nothing herein is medical advice. PLEASE NOTE: As a result of the COVID-19 crisis and the time I am committing to staying on top of relevant research, as well as the high volume of questions I receive, it may take me extra time to respond to questions here. For an up-to-date list of where I respond to questions most quickly, please see the contact page on chrismasterjohnphd.com. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.
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