Last Updated on 2nd April 2024 by Caroline Haye
For as long as I can remember I have had problems with my digestion. I routinely suffered from tummy aches and cramps as a child. I even had a totally healthy appendix removed for no good reason. (Eventually getting a diagnosis of Irritable Bowel Syndrome.) Even though both my gut and skin issues started in early childhood, it was a long time – decades – before I consciously connected the dots. (No pun intended.) And, once I made the connection it seemed as blindingly obvious. My white patches and my achy gut were linked. As my tummy troubles continued, areas of startlingly white skin spread relentlessly across my face and body, leaving my self-esteem as fragmented as my complexion.
I now realise that I am not alone in suffering from both IBS symptoms and vitiligo. In fact, the link between so-called Leaky Gut Syndrome / Low Stomach Acid / Malabsorption and pigment loss is well documented. And it seems that most vitiligo sufferers I speak to report some sort of digestive problem. However, not everyone with vitiligo has gastric symptoms. This could mean that they are not suffering from any digestive abnormalities. Or it could simply mean that they are unaware of such abnormalities.
I came across an example of this earlier this week when I received an interesting email from Jonathan C. who has followed my blog. He sent me the following information and kindly gave me permission to share it.
“A few months back, I was introduced to a new biomedical start-up in California that specializes in sequencing the human microbiome. I found this to be of particular interest since the few success stories I have read with regard to treating vitiligo centered around changes in diet; I too have benefited from the addition of a b-vitamin and folic acid supplement. With this in mind, I was curious to learn more about my gut flora and potential factors that may be playing a role with respect to malabsorption and vitamin intake. I received the results yesterday and it was interesting to note the discrepancies compared with normative levels. I have attached a snapshot of the results below.
Since providing the gut sample (3 months ago), I have started a new prebiotic + probiotic routine. I am also taking steps to ensure a more balanced diet. Moving forward, it will be interesting to see whether these changes positively influence my microbiota as it relates to vitiligo. The microbiome data is still in its infancy, but could prove useful moving forward. Thanks for your help and feel free to share the results. It would be interesting to see if fellow vitiligo patients share a gut profile similar to my own.”
Thanks for sharing this, Jonathan. It is fascinating. I hope you will let me know what effect the pre- and probiotics have 🙂
[More research into the human microbiome in vitiligo has gone on since this post was first published. The following links below are just two examples… The Microbiome in Vitiligo and Metagenomic sequencing reveals altered gut microbial compositions and gene functions in patients with non-segmental vitiligo.]
14 thoughts on “Vitiligo and gut-microbiota”
I have fructose malabsorption and vitiligo. I’ve tried pre- and probiotics, and they do not make me feel well. I’ve had to discontinue use of both. The strange thing is, I re-tested for fructose malabsorption and the test says I’m cured! But I’m not – I still can’t eat fructose or sucrose without feeling sick.
Have you tried several different pre- and probiotics ? They do vary considerably in strain and strength so it might be worth experimenting. As to the test for fructose malabsorption, I gather this is not always totally reliable so repeating it might return a different result. This website has some useful information on the subject: https://www.healthline.com/health/fructose-malabsorption
Oh yes, I’ve tried many different types/strains of pre- and pro-biotics. They’re definitely not good for my gut. The website you linked to recommends many foods which are to be avoided in fructose malabsorption (everything listed under #3). For me, following a strict fructose and sucrose free diet works best. It could be that I have HFI and not just fructose malabsorption, which would explain why pre- and probiotics do not help.
That’s interesting. I had to google HFI (Hypoparathyroidism Familial Isolated) as I hadn’t heard of it before. It sounds as if this is quite a rare condition. Have you been tested for it?
Sorry, by HFI I meant Hereditary Fructose Intolerance!
Ah – OK, thanks – that makes more sense 🙂
Recommendations on the best diet for vitiligo vary quite a lot. But I believe that following a “Paleo” style of eating (i.e. cutting out processed foods and sugars, instead eating low carb foods with an emphasis on fresh green vegetables and good quality, organic meats and fish) would help most people with vitiligo – or any other chronic condition – enormously. Here are a couple of relevant links from my blog:
http://www.thevitpro.com/vitiligo-blog/to-eat-or-not-to-eat-that-is-the-question
http://www.thevitpro.com/vitiligo-blog/eating-for-vitiligo-recovery
http://www.thevitpro.com/vitiligo-blog/why-vitiligo-sufferers-need-more-veg-than-the-average-person
Dear Caroline: thank you a lot, I will read everything in detail but what I already read is in the “road” that I´m searching and makes me so happy and hopefull. Dermatologists can´t work without a diet but they refuse to, as far as I’ve asked. Huggs!!
Thanks, Trinidad. I’m always happy to help if I possibly can. Good luck on your journey 🙂
I have sorbitol malabsortion and vitiligo. A lot of fruits and vegetables makes excess of histamine.
Hello, I’m from Chile and I´m just begining to read about microbiota, and it makes sense. I also suffer of vitiligo. It could be great if you guys share a specific diet to start trying. Thanks.
That’s an interesting observation, Jose. A quick google search tells me that an intolerance to sorbitol causes IBS symptoms, which are pretty common among vitiligo sufferers. Evidently sorbitol is the sweetner of choice in a lot of processed foods (yet another reason to eat as our ancient ancestors would have done – natural and organic) and is also found in the following fruits: apples, pears, peaches, apricots, nectarines and dried fruits, such as prunes, dates and raisins.
Great idea for the microbiome testing but looks like the company you linked to are in a bit of trouble ….. you may want to remove your links to their site. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/04/ubiome-files-for-bankruptcy-five-months-after-fbi-raid.html?fbclid=IwAR2U5K1fkfa4YOQ9KvvPFJMRfVzDfQc4nulWYFlcDujzw2Mv3GxQy8T5CHA
Thanks for taking the time to let me know about this. What a pity that work in such an exciting and fast-growing field of interest should have been tainted by financial malpractice. You are right – not a company that I should be linking to any more. I will remove the link. Thanks again 🙂