Dr. Stephen Wangen, Founder of the IBS Treatment Center and the Center for Food Allergies discusses the connection between Vitiligo and Food Allergies.
I want to share with you a case that I saw not too long ago at my clinic (the IBS Treatment Center). A gentleman came to see me about a year ago for digestive issues. It turned out that he was allergic to dairy and to cane sugar. Avoiding these foods resolved his digestive problems, and he has been doing fine.
Interestingly, this individual had very noticeable vitiligo. Vitiligo is the name of a skin condition where one looses the pigmentation of the skin. That area then looses color in contrast with the skin around it. The cells that create the pigmentation of the skin are destroyed by what is assumed to be an autoimmune reaction. (Autoimmune reactions are when our immune system attacks our own body.)
Seeing him again, less than a year later, he noted that his vitiligo had greatly improved, which was apparent upon seeing him. He also noted that his brother, who had the same condition, had also improved when he too had changed his diet and avoided dairy and sugar cane. (As a note, food allergies are usually genetic issues.)
I thought that this was a very interesting case because I had often wondered if there was a relationship between vitiligo and food allergies. There is very little record of this in the medical literature and I do not believe that it has ever been well studied. Hopefully someday it will be. It is certainly worth pursuing!
Article Courtesy: Dr. Stephen Wangen
Founder of the Center for Food Allergies and the IBS Treatment Center
Nancy says
What a wonderful article! Thank you for sharing this information it can help someone who encountered Food Allergies. I love reading your awesome site.
Jelena says
Thanks you for sharing this notice with us that are soffering FROM vitiligo and other autoimmune dissises. I also have vitigo, it was diagosed in 2002, and in 2019 I was soffering FROM allergies and it was diagosed as histamine intolerance. I had to change my diet. I feel much better now, but still my vitiligo is in progress.
Robert_Thom says
Yes, I had vitiligo in 1995 and met with a Nutritionist who put me on an anti-inflammation diet. After a year of no sugar, no wheat, no tomatoes, no alcohol and no yeast, my vitiligo disappeared completely. Soon, I was back eating reasonable amounts of sugar, wheat, tomatoes, alcohol and yeast products. In the past 27 years, the one food item I still avoided was beans because they just weren't in my diet. Thinking everything was ok, I was given a delicious thirteen bean soup and my vitiligo returned with a vengeance. It is now worse than before. I am hopeful another
anti-inflammation diet will solve it but I am older am not sure.
Robert_Thom says
I just want to add that my vitiligo was diagnosed as "inflamed vitiligo".
Jennifer says
I started getting vitiligo in 2012. It was made worse during the time I took levothyroxine starting in 2014, when I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's from the Mirena IUD. Throw in the Levo mixed with the IUD, I had cystic acne from Nov 2014 to Jan 2017 when I got the IUD removed. Cystic acne went away, but I was still suffering from acne. Fast forward to 2019, I started taking iodine supplementation, and the vitiligo got even worse, and I started have weird symptoms like excess daytime sweating, night sweats every night, etc.. March 2021, I decided to stop the Levo without my doctor knowing to see if it was the cause. Soon as I stopped it, all these symptoms went away. April 2021, I noticed little tiny brown spots forming on my arm, where the vitiligo was. As each month went by, more and more pigmentation was coming back. Jan 2022, I started taking Jackson's mineral salts. March 2022, I switched to another brand, Hyland's, due to shipping time and running low on the Jackson's brand. April 2022, as I started laying back out in the sun, I noticed the vitiligo regressing and getting worse. I thought it may have been the celery juice, I was making every morning, so I stopped making it. Yesterday, I decided to research the ingredients of Levothyroxine and found lactose and acacia gum in it. I couldn't believe, so I looked at one of the bottles of Hylands, and they use lactose and acacia gum to help bind the pellets. I, also, decided to research one of the birth control pills I used to take, Loestrin, and there is acacia gum in it, as well. I don't really think I'm allergic to lactose, since I was healing the whole time I drank milk, so I think I'm allergic to acacia gum and it's causing the vitiligo. I will be switching back to the Jackson's brand, as it is vegan. I'm wondering if I should get allergy testing. Acacia is part of the tree mix allergy, which my daughter is allergic to 10 tree mix, plus a couple of more tree pollens.