Yoon Hang (John) Kim, MD, MPH | Board-Certified in Preventive Medicine | Integrative & Functional Medicine Physician | www.directintegrativecare.com Clinical Overview Elevated blood sugar — whether characterized as insulin resistance, prediabetes, or type 2 diabetes — is one of the most common metabolic problems seen in integrative primary care. Patients frequently inquire about
MCAS
Yoon Hang “John” Kim, MD, MPH Board-certified in Preventive Medicine and Integrative & Holistic Medicine • Direct Integrative Care Ketotifen is a dual-action second-generation H1 antihistamine and partial mast cell stabilizer that has been used for decades in allergology and is increasingly positioned in functional medicine as bridge therapy for mast
peptide
Yoon Hang “John” Kim, MD, MPH, FAAMA • Direct Integrative Care • April 2026 Every so often a topic drifts into my inbox from three directions at once. Right now, peptide bioregulators are that topic. Longevity podcasts talk about them. Patients ask about them by brand name. Colleagues in functional medicine swap
Functional Medicine
FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE PERSPECTIVE By Yoon Hang “John” Kim, MD, MPH Board-Certified in Preventive Medicine and Integrative/Holistic Medicine Yoon Hang Kim MD| directintegrativecare.com KEY CLINICAL POINTS • Obesity is reframed as a hormonal disorder driven by chronic hyperinsulinemia, not simply an energy-balance problem. • Three complementary clinical frameworks — Westman (therapeutic carbohydrate
ketone
CLINICIAN-AUTHORED REVIEW Yoon Hang Kim, MD, MPH Board-Certified in Preventive Medicine | Integrative & Functional Medicine MD • Exogenous ketones — supplements that raise circulating β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) without requiring strict carbohydrate restriction — have moved from a niche athletic supplement to a metabolic therapy being tested in Alzheimer's disease, heart failure, type
Yoon Hang Kim MD | www.directintegrativecare.com Why Blood Sugar May Be High in the Morning Understanding the dawn phenomenon, overnight lows, and what to do about morning glucose spikes. Waking up to a high blood sugar reading can be frustrating and confusing. For many people, morning highs happen for
Glutathione
Glutathione and Cancer: An Honest Look at a Double-Edged Antioxidant Yoon Hang “John” Kim, MD, MPH, FAAMA • www.directintegrativecare.com Every month in my integrative oncology practice, a patient asks me some version of the same question: “Should I be taking glutathione?” The question usually comes after they’ve seen
by Yoon Hang “John” Kim, MD, MPH Board-Certified in Preventive Medicine | Integrative & Functional Medicine Physician Yoon Hang Kim MD • directintegrativecare.com If you’ve spent any time in integrative oncology circles—or even just scrolling health-related social media—you’ve almost certainly encountered claims about ivermectin and mebendazole as
LDN_Sweet_Spot_CMELDN_Sweet_Spot_CME.pptx192 KBdownload-circleLDN_Sweet_Spot_CMELDN_Sweet_Spot_CME.pdf384 KBdownload-circle Disclosure Disclosure Statement Yoon Hang Kim, MD owns Yoon Hang Kim MD, an integrative and functional medicine practice focused on LDN therapy. He has published an article and several books on LDN available
ldn
1. LDN is a Tool — Not a Cure-All LDN can be highly beneficial, especially for immune modulation, but it is not sufficient as a standalone therapy in most complex chronic illnesses. It should be viewed as a cornerstone, not the entire structure. 2. Individual Variability is the Rule Patient responses
By Yoon Hang (John) Kim, MD, MPH · Board-Certified in Preventive Medicine | Integrative & Functional Medicine After more than two decades of caring for patients with complex, multi-system chronic illness, I have come to believe that the most important clinical skill in this work is not diagnostic pattern recognition or pharmacologic
Vitamin D
Yoon Hang Kim, MD, MPH • www.directintegrativecare.com Vitamin D is one of the most studied, most prescribed, and most self-administered nutrients of the last two decades, and for good reason. Adequate vitamin D status supports bone integrity, immune regulation, cardiovascular function, insulin sensitivity, and numerous processes that touch nearly