I just listened to my monthly subscription for Functional Medicine Update. My good friend, Dr. Jeffrey Bland interviewed Dr. Antonio Gasbarrini a gastroenterologist from University of Rome. The conversations are all very informative and Dr. Bland has been performing this great service for the past 32 years. Hard to believe, but true and I have learned a great deal from these audio presentations over my last 20 years of implementing Functional Medicine. This month's conversation was ‘pace setting’ and ‘paradigm shifting.’ The topic was "leaky gut" also known as "metabolic endotoxemia.” We focused on the mucosal barrier function as it relates to irritable bowel disease, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s Disease, Celiac Disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity and liver disease.