The Dr. Hyman Show
The Gut-Brain Connection: Why Your Mental Health Starts in the Microbiome
24 Mar 2025
The connection between mental health and metabolic health is far deeper than once believed, with growing evidence showing a powerful, bidirectional relationship. Inflammation, poor diet, and gut dysfunction are now recognized as key drivers of both physical and psychological illness—often hiding in plain sight. By addressing root causes such as blood sugar imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, and microbiome disruption, many chronic mental health conditions can improve or even resolve. This emerging science challenges the traditional separation of mind and body, pointing instead to an integrated approach where healing the body becomes essential for healing the brain. Recognizing this link is crucial in shifting the future of mental health care. In this episode, I discuss, along with Dr. Chris Palmer and Dr. Shebani Sethi, why our diet is so closely related to the state of our mental health. Dr. Chris Palmer is a psychiatrist and researcher working at the interface of metabolism and mental health. He is the Director of the Department of Postgraduate and Continuing Education at McLean Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. For over 25 years, he has held leadership roles in psychiatric education, conducted research, and worked with people who have treatment-resistant mental illnesses. He has been pioneering the use of the medical ketogenic diet in the treatment of psychiatric disorders - conducting research in this area, treating patients, writing, and speaking around the world on this topic. More broadly, he is interested in the roles of metabolism and metabolic interventions on brain health. Dr. Shebani Sethi is a double board-certified physician in Obesity Medicine and Psychiatry. She is the Founding Director of Stanford University’s Metabolic Psychiatry program and Silicon Valley Metabolic Psychiatry, a new center in the San Francisco Bay Area focused on optimizing brain health by integrating low carb nutrition, comprehensive psychiatric care, and treatment of obesity with associated metabolic disease. This episode is brought to you by BIOptimizers. Head to bioptimizers.com/hyman and use code HYMAN10 to save 10%. Full-length episodes can be found here: The Hidden Connection Between Gut Health & Mental Health That Therapy and Drugs Cannot Fix A Harvard Psychiatrist Rethinks Mental Health As A Metabolic Disease How Does Ultra-Processed Food Affect Our Mental Health?
Full Episode
Coming up on this episode of The Dr. Hyman Show.
The relationship between mental health and metabolic disease is bi-directional, which means if you have a mental illness, you're more likely to have metabolic disease and vice versa. And if you have a metabolic disease, you're more likely to develop a mental illness.
You're more likely to have a heart attack, for example, if you have depression, and you're more likely to develop depression after you have a heart attack.
Did you know that over 75% of people are deficient in magnesium? That's a problem because magnesium is essential for over 600 functions in your body, including energy production, stress regulation, and deep sleep. But here's the catch. Not all magnesium is created equal.
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Right now, Bioptimizers is offering my listeners a special discount. Just go to bioptimizers.com slash hymen and use code HYMEN10 at checkout. Don't wait. Your body will thank you. Before we jump into today's episode, I'd like to note that while I wish I could help everyone via my personal practice, there is simply not enough time for me to do this at scale.
That's why I've been busy building several passion projects to help you. If you're looking for data about your biology, check out Function Health for real-time lab insights. And if you're in need of deepening your knowledge around your health journey, check out my membership community, the Hyman Hive.
And if you're looking for curated and trusted supplements and health products for your health journey, visit my website at drhyman.com for a summary of my favorite and thoroughly tested products. We have a mental health crisis. Globally, 300 million people are suffering from anxiety. 280 million people are suffering from depression.
Now, from treating thousands of patients over the last 30 years, I've learned that depression is mostly not in your head. It's in your body. When I treat patients' gut issues, and this is something I just discovered almost by accident, their mental health would magically get better. But it wasn't magic. It was science. I just didn't understand at the time. It's not magic.
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