Diet Doctor Podcast
Hosted by Dr. Bret Scher
Board-certified cardiologist Dr. Bret Scher explores metabolic health, low-carb nutrition, fasting, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular risk through conversations with researchers and clinicians. The podcast arm of Diet Doctor, the world's largest low-carb site.
27 episodes processed
Host Profile
Moderate-length interviews (30-60 minutes). Dr. Scher brings clinical cardiology perspective. Emphasis on metabolic health markers over weight alone. Conversational but evidence-aware.
Episodes
Health advocate Jay Campbell discusses cutting-edge performance-enhancing compounds — peptides, Retatrutide (next-generation GLP-1), and why the supplement industry is both overhyped and underselling genuine breakthroughs.
Dr. Jason Fung discusses the latest evidence on therapeutic fasting for type 2 diabetes, cancer prevention, and metabolic syndrome. Covers practical protocols and addresses common concerns about safety.
Dr. Ben Bikman returns to discuss the metabolic drivers of fat storage and fat loss — insulin's role as the master metabolic switch, why some people plateau on keto, and practical strategies for breaking through fat loss stalls.
Dr. Scher examines GLP-1 receptor agonists (Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro) — who truly benefits, the muscle loss problem, cost and sustainability concerns, and why lifestyle interventions should come first for most patients.
Gary Taubes revisits his case for ketogenic diets with new evidence on insulin resistance, metabolic flexibility, and why the calorie model of obesity continues to dominate despite weak evidence.
Dr. Ted Naiman explains the protein leverage hypothesis — that humans overeat to satisfy protein needs — and how a high-protein, low-energy-density diet naturally reduces caloric intake without hunger or calorie counting.
Citizen scientist Dave Feldman presents preliminary data from the Lean Mass Hyper-Responder study — investigating why some lean, athletic people on low-carb diets develop very high LDL cholesterol, and whether this represents genuine cardiovascular risk.
Dr. Scher examines the environmental impact of beef production — separating data from ideology. Factory farming vs. regenerative grazing, methane vs. CO2, and why the climate debate about beef is more nuanced than either side admits.
Dr. Scher addresses the elephant in the low-carb room: some people on keto develop very high LDL cholesterol. When to worry, when not to, and what additional testing (ApoB, Lp(a), CAC score) can clarify individual risk.
Dr. Scher explores the connection between soil health and human nutrition — how depleted soils produce nutrient-poor crops, regenerative agriculture, and whether soil microbiome health connects to human gut microbiome health.
Data analyst Marty Kendall presents his nutrient density scoring system — ranking foods by micronutrient content per calorie. Why organ meats, shellfish, and cruciferous vegetables top the charts, and how to optimize dietary quality using data.
Dr. Scher explores what continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) reveal about metabolic health in non-diabetic people — why glucose variability matters, how individual foods produce wildly different glucose responses, and the limitations of CGM data.
Investigative journalist Nina Teicholz examines what needs to change in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans — the influence of food industry on the committee, the weak evidence behind low-fat recommendations, and how policy perpetuates bad science.
Dr. Scher examines the three pillars of veganism — health, ethics, and environment — through an evidence-based lens. Where the science supports vegan claims, where it doesn't, and why dogma on both sides obscures the truth.
Dr. Scher explores the neuroscience of obesity — how the brain's reward and satiety systems evolved for food scarcity but now operate in food abundance, creating an evolutionary mismatch that drives overeating.
Neuroscientist Dr. Tommy Wood provides science-based strategies for brain health — why exercise is the most potent neuroprotective intervention, how sleep clears brain waste, and why cognitive decline is not an inevitable part of aging.
Dr. Scher explores protein quality beyond total grams — DIAAS scoring, leucine thresholds, amino acid profiles, and why animal protein sources have higher bioavailability than most plant sources.
Addiction medicine specialist Dr. Vera Tarman explains food addiction — how ultra-processed foods hijack the same dopamine reward pathways as drugs, why moderation doesn't work for food addicts, and how abstinence from trigger foods enables recovery.
Dr. Bhakti Paul shares clinical experience reversing type 2 diabetes through ketogenic and low-carb dietary interventions — reducing or eliminating medications in patients who were told diabetes is progressive and irreversible.
Dr. Scher explains why nutrition science is uniquely difficult — confounding variables, healthy user bias, food frequency questionnaire limitations, and why randomized controlled trials of diet are nearly impossible to run at scale.
Dr. Arthur Agatston — inventor of the coronary calcium scoring method — explains how a simple, inexpensive CT scan can detect heart disease decades before a heart attack, why every adult over 40 should consider one, and how to interpret the results.
NIH researcher Dr. Kevin Hall discusses why obesity has tripled since 1980, the limitations of the carbohydrate-insulin model, and what his metabolic ward studies reveal about the actual drivers of overeating.
Dr. Scher revisits the biggest themes of 2021 — metabolic health as the foundation of immunity, the protein-centered plate, time-restricted eating evidence, and why personalized nutrition is replacing one-size-fits-all dietary advice.
Circadian biology researcher Dr. Satchin Panda explains how the body's internal clocks regulate metabolism on a 24-hour cycle, why eating outside your biological window impairs health, and the optimal time-restricted eating protocol.
Investigative journalist Gary Taubes makes the case that obesity is driven by insulin and carbohydrate consumption, not caloric excess. His carbohydrate-insulin model challenges the energy balance paradigm that dominates nutrition science.
BYU metabolic scientist Dr. Ben Bikman explains how insulin resistance is the common root of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, and PCOS. Why fasting insulin — not fasting glucose — is the early warning marker.
Nephrologist Dr. Jason Fung explains the insulin-driven model of obesity and why therapeutic fasting — not just calorie restriction — is necessary to lower persistently elevated insulin levels and reverse type 2 diabetes.