In a 12-week clinical trial at Ohio State, every woman with PCOS who completed the intervention experienced a change in her menstrual status. One participant, who had never had a period in her life, began menstruating within a week. Another saw spotting after five years of amenorrhea while taking only a ketone supplement without adopting a ketogenic diet. These are among the earliest controlled findings linking ketogenic interventions directly to reproductive hormone restoration.

Dr. Madison Kackley is an Assistant Professor of Kinesiology at Ohio State University and Director of the SHE Is Laboratory. Her work focuses on how hormonal fluctuations shape metabolic flexibility and resilience in women across the lifespan.

In this episode, she explains why a single fasting glucose or insulin measurement is misleading without knowing where a woman is in her cycle, how the luteal phase creates a state of increased energy expenditure and insulin resistance that conventional carb-loading advice may worsen, and why perimenopausal women who jump into intermittent fasting and high-intensity exercise without prior fat adaptation can end up in a high-cortisol catabolic spiral. She also introduces the Renew study, which examines ketone supplementation alongside group exercise for postpartum depression, a condition she frames as an energy-availability problem rather than a purely psychological one.

Questions Answered in This Episode:

• What will we look back on in ten years and realize we got fundamentally wrong about women's health?
• Why are women more susceptible to dementia than men, and what does it have to do with reproductive energy?
• Why might long-term hormonal birth control contribute to infertility, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes?
• Why can women in perimenopause feel exhausted and still not be able to sleep?
• Should weaning be understood as its own distinct hormonal event, separate from postpartum?

For clinicians, researchers, and women navigating these transitions, this conversation previews the evidence-based framework that female metabolic health has been waiting for.

Special thanks to the sponsors of this episode:

✅ Toups and Co – Get 15% off your first order with code METABOLIC here.
✅ iRestore – Get a huge discount on the Elite and the Illumina bundle with the code LINK here.
✅ MudWtr – Get up to 43% off + free shipping and a free rechargeable frother with code METABOLICLINK here.

In every episode of The Metabolic Link, we'll uncover the very latest research on metabolic health and therapy. If you like this episode, please share it, subscribe, follow, and leave us a comment or review on whichever platform you use to tune in!

You can find us on all your major podcast players here and full episodes are also up on our Metabolic Health Summit YouTube channel!

Find us on social:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• YouTube
• LinkedIn

Please keep in mind: The Metabolic Link does not provide medical or health advice, but rather general information that does not serve as a substitute for a licensed healthcare professional. Never delay in seeking medical advice from an appropriately licensed medical provider for any health condition that you may have.