Diet & Nutrition for Mental Health | Dr. Chris Palmer

About this video

Dr. Chris Palmer, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, joins Huberman to discuss diet and nutrition for mental health. Dr. Palmer presents his hypothesis that mitochondrial function and dysfunction are central to psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, ADHD, OCD, anxiety and depression, and he describes clinical and research experience using ketogenic and modified ketogenic diets and adjustments in carbohydrate intake to change mitochondrial function and relieve symptoms. Huberman notes Dr. Palmer raises the possibility that obesity, in many cases, may follow brain dysfunction rather than the reverse. Dr. Palmer also emphasises that ketogenic diets were first developed for neurological conditions such as epilepsy, not for weight loss, and he discusses fasting, mitophagy and the long history of mitochondrial theories of aging and reactive oxygen species in his book Brain Energy.

Key takeaways

• Dr. Palmer argues mitochondrial dysfunction is a unifying link in mental illness.
• Dr. Palmer describes ketogenic diets as first developed for epilepsy, not weight loss.
• Dr. Palmer discusses fasting and mitophagy as ways the body clears defective cellular parts.
• Dr. Palmer presents case experience using diet to treat serious psychiatric disorders.
• Huberman notes Dr. Palmer’s hypothesis that obesity can be a consequence of brain dysfunction.

Episode details: published November 21, 2022 · 5.3M views · 3:03:42 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The science and protocols described are Andrew Huberman’s, presented for education — not medical advice. Consult a qualified professional before changing your own health practices.

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