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

Jul 4, 2019 • 8min

High-Dose Riboflavin for Migraines | Chris Masterjohn Lite #152

Jul 2, 2019 • 7min

Riboflavin for Iron-Deficiency Anemia | Chris Masterjohn Lite #151

Jun 27, 2019 • 8min

Riboflavin Supplements: Free B2 Is Better Than FMN or Riboflavin 5’-Phosphate | CML #150

Jun 25, 2019 • 6min

The Best Blood Test for Riboflavin | Chris Masterjohn Lite #149

This episode covers the best blood test to use for assessing riboflavin status. This episode is brought to you by Vitamins and Minerals 101. This is my new, free, 30-day course that covers the basics of each nutrient, including why it’s important, how to get it from food, how to know if you need more, when you should think about supplementing, and concerns for special diets or special populations. You can get it delivered by Facebook Messenger or email. The Messenger version is taught by Chris Masterbot, my baby bot, is more interactive, and has more jokes and emojis. This requires no background beyond high school and is made for the beginner, but even many experts find it a great refresher and find little golden nuggets in each lesson. Sign up for free at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/101 This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. I've been through the pain and suffering of embracing a diet because I *thought* it was healthy, only for it to wreck my body and mind. I've been through the path of healing, only to make the mistakes of thinking that what worked best for me would work for everyone, and that what I did to heal would be something I would need to do forever. I've learned the hard way that each of us is unique, and that we all change with time. Your needs are not mine, mine are not what they were ten years ago, and yours won’t be in ten years what they are now. That’s why we need a recipe to know exactly what’s missing, what’s there in excess, and what’s out of balance. It is my mission to empower you to know exactly what your body needs, and to make exactly the right decisions to nourish it. Make the cheat sheet your secret weapon, and use the code LITE20 to get 20% off, at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/cheatsheet To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass. Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Jun 20, 2019 • 11min

How to Get Enough Riboflavin From Food | Chris Masterjohn Lite #148

21 snips

Jun 19, 2019 • 2h 15min

Pantothenic Acid, Part 1 (What It Is and Why We Need It) | Mastering Nutrition #64

Pantothenic acid is vitamin B5. You use it to make coenzyme A, a molecule that is central to energy metabolism, most famous for forming acetyl CoA, which lies at the intersection of all anabolic (building up) and catabolic (breaking down) reactions. Alex Leaf and I team up again, this time to tackle B5. This is what happens when you don’t have enough: You get fatigue apathy, discomfort, uneasiness, or pain. You get numbness and tingling in the hands and feet. You may get depressed, quarrelsome, childish, or want to spend all day in bed. Your pulse gets higher than you’d expect after minor exertion. Your sleep gets trashed. You get muscle cramps and abdominal cramps, you fart more, and when things get real bad you might throw up. Much of this can be explained by pantothenic acid’s role in working all of this magic: We use it break down fat, protein, and carbohydrate for energy. We use it to synthesize fatty acids, ketones, and cholesterol. We use it to synthesize all of the steroid hormones, including the sex hormones, the glucocorticoids that regulate blood sugar, and the mineralcorticoids that regulate electrolyte balance and blood pressure. We use it to regulate our use of iron properly, including preventing its accumulation in the brain, where it can cause neurological damage. We use it to make melatonin, which tells our body it’s time to sleep. We use it to make acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in learning, memory, and cognitive performance during periods of sustained, focused attention. We use it to make mucin, which lubricates the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, vagina, penis, and internal organs. We use it to regulate the fasting/feeding cycle by flipping on the genes for autophagy during fasting and flipping on the genes for repair and antioxidant defense during feeding. We use it for quite a few other things too, like the detoxification of some drugs; the synthesis of hemoglobin to prevent anemia; switching on the urea cycle to help us burn protein for energy cleanly; using folate to synthesize DNA, all the major vitamin-derived carriers in the system of energy metabolism, and glycine, an amino acid that acts as a calming, sleep-promoting neurotransmitter, stabilizes blood sugar, and supports collagen synthesis to make your bones strong and your skin smooth. Burning fat only requires 20% more B5 than burning carbs, which is small compared to how these macros affect riboflavin requirements, However, under conditions of stress you can burn carbohydrate without any B5 at all and you cannot do that with fat. In mice with severe deficiencies of coenzyme A, ketogenic diets dramatically worsen the neurological effects of deficiency. Although pantothenic acid is named for its presence everywhere and in everything using the Greek word “pantos,” and the common dogma is that no one is deficient, Alex and I make the case in this two-part podcast that suboptimal pantothenic acid status might just be the norm. And the crazy thing? Official recommendations suggest we only need about 5 milligrams per day. In the podcast we discuss why some people might need GRAMS per day. Plus, why the FOOD forms might be superior to anything you can get in any supplements on the market. In part 2, to be released on July 5, we’ll cover how to get pantothenic acid in foods, blood tests, and supplements. This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' "Living" Collagen. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, "living" collagen, bone marrow and more... in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/ancestral In this episode you will find all of the following and more: 00:37 Cliff Notes 14:02 Symptoms of experimentally induced pantothenic acid deficiency 15:57 It is thought that pantothenic acid deficiency doesn’t occur naturally. 18:59 Experiments inducing pantothenic acid deficiency 26:06 Signs and symptoms of suboptimal pantothenic acid status 26:54 Is there pantothenic acid toxicity? 30:52 Hypothetical problems of taking high doses of pantothenic acid 31:53 What pantothenic acid is 35:28 Comparisons to niacin and riboflavin 37:14 Roles of coenzyme A 46:02 Roles of 4’-phosphopantetheine 48:12 Burning fat requires 20% more vitamin B5 than burning carbohydrate; and why in the context of severe deficiency of B5 or impairment in the metabolism of B5 a high-fat diet could have devastating consequences. 53:09 The importance of the ratio of acetyl-CoA to free CoA in regulating many metabolic pathways 01:01:02 There are metabolic disorders, such as fatty acid oxidation disorders, that compromise the pool of coenzyme A. 01:03:03 Synthesis of coenzyme A 01:06:47 How coenzyme A synthesis is regulated 01:11:38 Degradation of coenzyme A 01:15:44 The physiology of pantothenic acid absorption 01:25:29 A 2015 paper showed that 4’-phosphopantetheine can cross cell membranes via passive diffusion. 01:29:00 The physiology of pantothenic acid transport in the blood 01:32:11 Cellular uptake of pantothenic acid from the blood 01:33:21 Tissue distribution of pantothenic acid 01:36:00 There may be a particularly high need for pantothenic acid in adolescence. 01:37:01 Mothers actively transfer pantothenic acid to their fetuses and into their milk at their own expense. 01:39:29 Pharmacokinetics of supplementation 01:48:20 A case for why food is superior to supplements for vitamin B5 01:52:41 Inborn errors of coenzyme A metabolism include pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN). Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/064-pantothenic-acid-part-1-what

Jun 18, 2019 • 7min

Sunlight and Tanning Beds Hurt Your Riboflavin Status | Chris Masterjohn Lite #144

Do you sunbathe or use tanning beds? If so, you might need more riboflavin. Tune in for the details. This episode is brought to you by Vitamins and Minerals 101. This is my new, free, 30-day course that covers the basics of each nutrient, including why it’s important, how to get it from food, how to know if you need more, when you should think about supplementing, and concerns for special diets or special populations. You can get it delivered by Facebook Messenger or email. The Messenger version is taught by Chris Masterbot, my baby bot, is more interactive, and has more jokes and emojis. This requires no background beyond high school and is made for the beginner, but even many experts find it a great refresher and find little golden nuggets in each lesson. Sign up for free at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/101 This episode is brought to you by Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. I've been through the pain and suffering of embracing a diet because I *thought* it was healthy, only for it to wreck my body and mind. I've been through the path of healing, only to make the mistakes of thinking that what worked best for me would work for everyone, and that what I did to heal would be something I would need to do forever. I've learned the hard way that each of us is unique, and that we all change with time. Your needs are not mine, mine are not what they were ten years ago, and yours won’t be in ten years what they are now. That’s why we need a recipe to know exactly what’s missing, what’s there in excess, and what’s out of balance. It is my mission to empower you to know exactly what your body needs, and to make exactly the right decisions to nourish it. Make the cheat sheet your secret weapon, and use the code LITE20 to get 20% off, at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/cheatsheet To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass. Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 Here’s a massive podcast I did on riboflavin with Alex Leaf, which has 50 scientific references: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/02/16/manage-riboflavin-status/ Here are some previous posts on riboflavin: Your “MTHFR” is Just a Riboflavin Deficiency (written version) https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/riboflavinmthfr Your “MTHFR” is Just a Riboflavin Deficiency (video version) https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/03/26/mthfr-just-riboflavin-deficiency-2/ How to Know If You Need More Riboflavin https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/lite-videos/2019/06/04/know-need-riboflavin Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts

Save insights instantly, chat with episodes, and build lasting knowledge - all powered by AI.