How your metabolism could alter your mental health

How your metabolism could alter your mental health

August 26, 2026 · 12 min

About this episode

The episode discusses how metabolic psychiatry and ketogenic therapy may provide new treatment options for mental health conditions.

In 2009, medical student Shebani Sethi watched a patient in a weight loss program make a remarkable recovery. The dietary intervention she underwent alleviated her schizophrenia symptoms, something the woman had tried – and failed – to treat with medication for years. That experience sent Shebani down a medical path that would lead her to treating mental health in a radically different way. Today host Emily Kwong talks to Shebani about the emerging field of metabolic psychiatry and how ketogenic metabolic therapy may treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. Read Shebani’s article on metabolic psychiatry here . Interested in more lifestyle science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org . Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

People in this episode

Host: Emily Kwong

Guest: Shebani Sethi

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: NPR

Books & works: metabolic psychiatry

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