Hypochlorhydria

Last Updated on 14th February 2020 by Caroline Haye

The acid test for vitiligo?

Like many people with vitiligo, I read a lot about the condition on the internet. In fact, I read so much that I sometimes find myself going round in ever decreasing circles… And occasionally meeting myself coming back! I’m always particularly interested in finding out about possible links between poor digestion and the autoimmune process… Mainly because this proved to be an important factor in my vitiligo success. Testing positive for hypochlorhydria recently indicated that I have too little stomach acid. And I believe that this may have been one of the triggers for my vitiligo. Maybe the same is true for you. It’s worth finding out.

Poor absorption of nutrients

Low stomach acid is a problem that can result in incomplete digestion of food. And this results in poor absorption of nutrients, which can lead to numerous chronic illnesses… Including autoimmune diseases, arthritis, allergies and skin disorders.

This fact might explain why adding nutritional supplements to my diet had such a dramatic impact on my vitiligo. It has resulted in my almost complete re-pigmentation over recent years, when nothing else had ever helped before. (Interestingly, supplementation also seems to have all but eliminated my chronic digestive problems and arthritis. Are all these conditions linked to poor nutritional absorption I wonder? And how many other vitiligo sufferers have similar health issues? Please drop a comment onto this page and let me know if you do…)

Hypochlorhydria versus hyperchlorhydria

It seems that low gastric acid is not the only pH problem that can cause skin disorders and other chronic conditions.  Too much stomach acid can produce similar symptoms. And too much acid in the body generally can lead to serious or even life threatening illnesses. Most medical experts in the field recommend a diet consisting of 70 – 80% alkalising foods versus 20 – 30% acid-producing foods. But, unfortunately, it’s not always obvious which foods are which. For example, who would guess that lemons and limes are actually alkaline-producing in the body? Luckily there are plenty of charts available on line which show the relative pH levels of foods – like this one.

The problem is that most western diets are based on meat, processed and refined sugars… As well as copious amounts of tea and coffee (not to mention alcohol) – all of which are highly acid producing. And the majority of potently alkaline producing foods (like wheat grass, alfalfa grass, kamut and kale) are simply not very popular with most people. Which is another good reason for taking supplements containing these foods! Swallowing a few capsules of these “superfoods” is certainly a more convenient way of consuming them. Alternatively, adding a powder to a tasty shake turns the whole thing into a healthy treat. Without options like these I would struggle to include enough healthy nutrients into my daily diet.

How to eat a genuinely healthy diet in our modern, western culture? … that’s the acid test.