Peter Gibson, MD: Nutrition, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Gut Talk

In this episode, Peter Gibson, MD, discusses the advent of FODMAPs, the importance of integrated care and preventive medicine, and how his research led to the development of a widely popular medical app.

• Intro :23
• About Peter Gibson, MD :24
• The interview 1:36
• What part of Australia are you originally from? 1:42
• How did you get interested in medicine and, in particular, GI? 2:12
• At first you were mostly in IBD, is that right? 2:45
• How did you end up being one of the foremost experts in functional bowel disease? 3:50
• Was including dieticians accepted by the GI community at large? 6:57
• How did the concept of FODMAPs come to be? 8:16
• Are there cultural differences regarding medical education and the importance of dietary interventions in nutrition? 11:50
• Is collaboration key? 15:52
• Why do you think having a behavioral psychologist and nutritionist on the team still hasn’t taken off? 18:25
• We just completed a review on integrated care for Gastroenterology that should be published this year 21:37
• The approach to Western medicine is reactive; thinking preventively is still a long way’s off 24:12
• Are these services covered for patients with functional GI disorders in the U.S.? 25:53
• Why did you choose “FODMAP”? 27:56
• What are the FODMAPs that most commonly cause problems? 31:49
• Do you see a way to use precision avoidance with FODMAPs in the near future? 35:50
• How did you get into designing a mobile app? 39:12
• Do you think the app is something that could replace the need for a dietician? 44:41
• Did you ever deal with people who dissuaded you from trying to commercial some of your research? 47:42
• How do you feel about other companies capitalizing on the FODMAP research? 50:06
• What are some of the best practices/things you’ve learned on studying the way diet impacts disease? 52:11
• What is the biggest misconception of FODMAPs among GI doctors? 56:50
• If you had a magic wand that could change one thing about the way we care for patients with functional GI disease, or GI disease in general, what would you do? 59:24
• Thank you so much for spending time with us, Dr. Gibson 1:01:58

Peter Gibson, MD, is director of gastroenterology at Monash University, he discovered the low-FODMAP diet and past president of the Gastroenterological Society of Australia.

We’d love to hear from you! Send your comments/questions to [e-mail]. Follow us on Twitter @HealioGastro @sameerkberry @umfoodoc

Disclosures: Berry and Chey report no relevant financial disclosures. Gibson works for Monash University, creator of the Monash University FODMAP diet app.