In this episode of The Dr. Hedberg Show, I interviewed Dr. David Brady about the new GI-Map test by Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory.  We discussed many topics including autoimmune disease, stool testing, stealth infections, gut infections, the gut microbiome and much more.

I've posted a transcript of the show below for those who prefer to read rather than listen.

Nikolas: Well, welcome everyone. This is Dr. Hedberg. And welcome to The Dr. Hedberg Show. I'm excited today to have a long-time friend and colleague on the show, Dr. David Brady. We're gonna be talking about the GI-MAP stool test and autoimmunity. And for those of you who don't know Dr. Brady, he has 26 years of experience as an Integrative Medicine Practitioner and over 22 years in Health Sciences academia. He's a Licensed Naturopath in the State of Connecticut and also Vermont. He's board-certified in Functional Medicine and Clinical Nutrition. And he completed his initial clinical training as a Doctor of Chiropractic in 1991. He's currently the Vice President for Health Sciences, Director of the Human Nutrition Institute, and Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.

He has a private practice called Whole Body Medicine in Fairfield, Connecticut. Dr. Brady is also an expert consultant to the professional nutraceutical and nutritional supplement and clinical medical laboratory industries. He serves as the Chief Medical Officer for Designs for Health and Diagnostic Solutions Labs. He's also an internationally sought-after presenter on nutritional, functional, and integrative medicine. He's appeared on the speaking panel of some of the largest and most prestigious conferences, this includes IFM, ACAM, A4M, IHS, AANP, and many more. And we're gonna talk about some of his papers today. So welcome to the show, Dr. Brady.

David Brady: Hey, thanks, Dr. Hedberg, great to be on your show. We go back a long way in this journey together in functional medicine and we have amazingly similar paths, although you're fortunate enough to have gone through it a little later than me which means, you're younger.

Nikolas: Right, right. Younger but...

David: Younger but we're pretty similar, so.

Nikolas: Younger but not smarter. So that's why I have you on the show.

David: Oh, I don't know about that.

Nikolas: So let's jump into autoimmunity and you've emphasized this topic a lot in some of your papers, and in a lot of your lectures, and you also work with a lot of autoimmune patients in your practice. So what do you think it was that developed your interest in autoimmunity?

David: Oh, I don't know sheer desperation, probably like yourself, you know? Just seeing so much of this stuff come in on practices over the years, and it's just grown, and grown. And, you know, even in my couple of decades in practice, I certainly see it as being so much more prevalent as a presenting concern with patients than I did back in the beginning. And what we've seen emerging in the literature in parallel to that has really made autoimmunity one of these...well not a disorder but sort of a constellation of disorders that have a similar underlying etiology.

It's really a group of disorders that is really just innately attached to the functional medicine approach, right? Because of the emphasis in functional medicine on the importance of the health of the gastrointestinal system, gut ecology. And now, we would talk about it in more detail is the microbiota and the microbiome, and certainly an appreciation of the role of toxins and things like that, just make it a natural that patients would turn to providers like us if they had an option.

And they become aware of other types of approaches and certainly with the internet coming, you know,