Eugene Ahn, MD

Hi, check out my free vitamin D chapter, now updated with full references and a reformat to make it more clinically useful with a focus on vitamin D deficiency definition, prevalence, associated symptoms such as fatigue, and scientifically backed weight-based formula that will improve your efficiency at addressing vitamin D deficiency to 90%. #integrativeoncology #integrativemedicine #vitaminD #fatigue integrativeonc.blog/2026/03/16/vit…

Unbelievable commitment and relentless passion to publish the first comprehensive textbook on Integrative Oncology! Well done, my fellow luminaries with @integrativeonc! The evidence base for the field now justifies 66 chapters though I wish we had one more to have made the debut edition magic number 67! Discount code: BIOMED30 for 30% off

Awesome progress but do not forget that TP53 mutations are likely a biomarker for patients who stand the most to gain from vitamin D replacement therapy and it is far less toxic and expensive. See subset analysis of the AMATERASU study. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37606927/ and check out my free vitamin D chapter at integrativeonc.blog #healthequity #vitaminD #integrativeoncology

A psychedelic quickly reduced depression (in patients with major depression disorder) in a small, double-blind placebo randomized trial @NatureMedicine nature.com/articles/s4159…

Integrativeonc.blog if you want to learn why this NEJM post is totally missing the point. 70% of Americans are low and IOM and Endocrine Society guidelines ignore the fact that vitamin D is a weight based drug and fixed low dose supplementation is expected to be ineffective in addressing this epidemic.

Vitamin D testing is frequently overused across U.S. health systems, with much of it occurring outside the bounds of evidence-based clinical indications. Despite clear guidance from the Endocrine Society and the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, routine screening in low-risk populations remains common and costly. Within Oregon, vitamin D testing has been identified as one of the top 15 low-value services, representing a substantial opportunity for cost savings and practice alignment. In an effort to reduce the volume of low-value vitamin D testing across a three-hospital academic health system, a multidisciplinary working group designed and implemented an electronic health record best practice advisory to fire at the point of order entry when a vitamin D test was attempted without an approved indication. The initiative involved implementing a targeted clinical decision support intervention, aligned with evidence-based diagnostic coding curated using the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services coverage criteria and reinforced by coordinated communication and measurement infrastructure. The proportion of indicated vitamin D tests increased from 45% in the final month pre intervention to more than 88% at 90 days post intervention, and remained above 90% at 1 year post go-live. Improvements were consistent across payer types, age groups, and locations of care, with the largest gains seen in outpatient and Medicaid populations. In absolute terms, the number of vitamin D tests decreased by 25.3% when comparing the 12 months pre intervention with the 12 months post intervention. Along with this decrease was an estimated cost savings of nearly US$112,000. Read the Case Study “Curbing Unnecessary Vitamin D Testing” by R. Hasan et al. in the February 2026 issue of @nejmcatalyst Innovations in Care Delivery: nej.md/4pHZ0iY Explore the full issue: nej.md/4sJixCf

Please find the full PDF on our website and from the publisher here: meditation.mgh.harvard.edu meditation.mgh.harvard.edu/files/Lieberma… sciencedirect.com/science/articl… May this work benefit many 🙏

@DrSamuelBHume Meta analysis of crap yields crap. None of these studies offered weight based dosing which is just basic pharmacokinetics. These studies show low dose indiscriminate supplementation sucks for this endpoint

Does taking vitamin D make you less likely to get sick? This is the largest and most up-to-date dataset: 46 randomised trials with 65,000 people total, looking to see whether vitamin D supplementation (vs. placebo) prevents respiratory infections The answer? No effect:

Save the Date | SIO 23rd International Conference 📍 Detroit, Michigan (MGM Grand) Sept 29 – Oct 1, 2026 Cultivating Community & Belonging in Integrative Oncology Hosted with Henry Ford Health. Hybrid event: in-person & virtual options.

Your gut isn’t just digesting food… It’s running a biochemical factory that keeps you alive. Most people think the colon is just “where waste goes.” But this illustration shows something more: Your colon is one of the most underrated metabolic organs in the entire body. Inside this 5-foot stretch of tubing, billions of bacteria are: 🔥 Creating vitamins 🔥 Producing short-chain fatty acids (the fuel your colon cells run on) 🔥 Detoxifying harmful compounds 🔥 Breaking down proteins into neurotransmitter precursors 🔥 Regulating your immune system 🔥 Deciding whether you feel inflamed, bloated, focused, or foggy And all of it is happening silently, every hour of every day. Looking closer at what this one diagram reveals: 🔸 Fiber → SCFAs (butyrate, acetate, propionate) These molecules lower inflammation, feed colon cells, improve insulin sensitivity, and even influence mood. 🔸 Protein → amino acids → neurotransmitter precursors Yes, your gut bacteria help shape serotonin, dopamine, and even histamine levels. 🔸 Your colon detoxifies more than your liver gets credit for. Phenols, ammonia, indoles, cresol, skatole. Your microbes help neutralize them before they ever hit your bloodstream. 🔸 Gas, pH changes, mucus secretion, metal excretion, nutrient salvage; it all happens here. Your colon saves water, electrolytes, energy, and even rescues calories you would otherwise lose. 🔸 The final 135 grams of stool are only a fraction of the metabolic work happening behind the scenes. This is why gut health affects EVERYTHING: digestion, immunity, mental clarity, inflammation, skin, sleep, metabolism; all of it. Your gut isn’t a waste pipe. It’s an ecosystem, a chemical lab, and a second brain whispering instructions to the rest of your body. Source: Thieme’s Color Atlas of Physiology

When facing a cancer diagnosis, patients often find themselves navigating a mix of emotions, medical decisions and physical challenges. However, exercise can be a powerful tool during cancer treatment. Learn more from oncologist Eugene Ahn, MD: bit.ly/48b42yP

SIO® has launched interactive CME training modules to help you put the SIO practice guidelines into action! 2022 SIO Pain Management Guidelines 2023 SIO Anxiety and Depression Guidelines Find the link to the modules + survey here zurl.co/MuLAW

First snowfall of winter in Chicago, so no better time to post a public service announcement/reminder: Do you know your vitamin D25 level? Did you know over the counter D3 leads to production of LL37 which lyses/destroys RSV, influenza, and yes all coronaviruses including COVID19. Let's bring scientific knowledge into action and make America Healthy Again #MAHA. Vitamin D Deficiency in Cancer Care: An Urgent Call to Action integrativeonc.blog/2025/07/20/thi…

For the love of God, never sign up for Meridian insurance. They just denied neulasta for high risk chemotherapy saying to use 7 day neupogen instead, then denied that 7 day neupogen as well, and then required a patient to sign an 'authorization form' to let me (her oncologist) to appeal the denial and only allows this patient form via fax, as if we all have fax machines still. It's two weeks after her chemotherapy and Meridian is doing their absolute best to not get it covered/delivered. Doctors and patients alike just want less obtuse insurance approval protocols designed to frustrate care and worsen quality of life for Americans #MAHA @RobertKennedyJr

Not to say doctors are immune to conflict of interest, but come on man...politicians and athletes take COI to a level of professional pride these days.

“Environment” = not enough sunshine or outdoor activity creating a unique imbalance of vitamin D particularly in African Americans. >90% of African Americans are Vitamin D deficient in the US! And most doctors do not know how to replace a severe deficiency - Which is why i published a vitamin D chapter for free online at integrativeonc.blog

📝 New data from @NatureGenet show African American women with triple-negative #breastcancer have similar tumor biology as white and Asian women. These data point to genetics and environment as likely reasons for incidence disparities 🤔 bit.ly/48Oq23i

@ErikaHamilton9 Maintenance therapy suddenly becomes more toxic. Definitely subset analysis will be eagerly followed

Happy to share press release from this morning that #HER2CLIMB05 is positive - tucatinib in 1L HER-2+ maintenance improves PFS. Options expanding in this space! #bcsm pfizer.com/news/press-rel…

Final version is out: @SantoshManicka cell.com/cell-reports-p… "Field-mediated bioelectric basis of morphogenetic prepatterning" #morphogenesis #bioelectricity #fields "Intercellular bioelectric communication plays an important role in morphogenesis, often modeled using localized non-neural networks generating spatial patterns of membrane potential (Vmem). Here, we find that the electrostatic field contributes to this process, via a synergetics (à la Haken)-based mechanism, by enhancing the complexity of Vmem patterns through a coarse-grained projection. We leverage this property of the field to automatically optimize transient signals from a symmetry-breaking organizer region in the boundary of the tissue to mold Vmem patterns in the bulk. Two models optimized in this way exhibit contrasting “mosaic” and “stigmergic” pattern-coding strategies, depending on their field sensitivity strengths. Interestingly, the stigmergic model recapitulates the qualitative developmental sequence of the bioelectric craniofacial prepattern observed in frog embryos. These results highlight the potential of the electric field both as a facilitator of collective patterning and as a macroscale interventional target for applications in regenerative medicine and bioengineering."

How exercise promotes the immune system vs cancer, working through a gut bacteria metabolite cell.com/cell/abstract/…