#125: Derrick MacFabe, MD- Carbohydrates, Ketones, Gut Microbes and Brain Function

Dr. MacFabe has extensively studied how gut bacterial-deprived short chain fatty acids (SCFA) affect behavior and neurology. In brief, when we eat, we don’t just feed ourselves, we feed these little guys in our gut, largely anaerobic. They ferment.  They eat and depends what they eat. They eat these certain foods. We were interested in mostly these refined high sugar carbohydrates, some wheat-based carbs. You feed these bacteria. They ferment, kind of like giving carbs to yeast to make beer and alcohol, they make compounds very similar to alcohol called short chain fatty acids. Some of us know from personal experience, what small molecules like alcohol can do very complex things with your brain and your behavior, again, not all good and not all bad, but also very sensitive early in development. We had this idea, could these bacteria, which we did know these bacteria produced compounds called short chain fatty acids, kind of like alcohol, and could these compounds, have an effect on us similar to the intoxication of alcohol.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into how SCFA affect behavior, immune function and metabolism.