Vitiligo, serotonin and the gut

Last Updated on 1st February 2024 by Caroline Haye

How a neurotransmitter in your intestinal tract helps induce pigmentation

Most people who have heard of serotonin probably know of it as the brain chemical that regulates mood. And many are aware that a lack of serotonin is linked to depression. What you may not know is that the vast majority of the body’s serotonin (around 90%) is not found in the brain at all but in the intestinal tract… And that it is responsible for a lot more than just mood regulation. This fact fascinated me when I read it. And so I decided to find out more… In particular, I found some interesting connections between vitiligo, serotonin and the gut.

Because it is a neurotransmitter (i.e. it regulates signals between nerve cells) it is tempting to think that serotonin is primarily concerned with brain activity. But, in fact, it has a much wider range of functions within the blood, central nervous system and the body as a whole.

These functions include bowel motility (the muscular contractions that propel food through the gastro-intestinal tract, a.k.a peristalsis) and the regulation of all of the following… Hunger, sleep, libido, blood-clotting, concentration, metabolism, energy, pain response and even bone density.

So, if you suffer from chronic depression and / or any of the above AND you have vitiligo, you may be interested in the next bit of information. Namely, that serotonin also induces melanogenesis. (That’s the process that creates skin pigment) And that its levels are evidently low in people with vitiligo.

What are the symptoms of serotonin deficiency?

I’m aware of the dangers of reading about illnesses and imagining you have the symptoms. But, if I look at my own medical history, I can’t avoid recognising several possible symptoms of serotonin deficiency. Specifically, IBS, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue and insomnia, as well as vitiligo. And I have certainly had my struggles with depression in the past. (Although, whether this was actually part of the condition resulting in my vitiligo or just a result of coping with it, I don’t know).

Of all my health issues, IBS symptoms go back the furthest. I remember suffering terrible stomach cramps from a very early age. And I firmly believe that digestive abnormalities have had a hand in the development of my vitiligo and other symptoms.

The brain in your gut

Whether or not serotonin deficiency is a factor in this process remains to be seen. But an article published in The Telegraph entitled What your gut’s telling you: why your digestion holds the key to your health may be relevant. It is ​about a groundbreaking book… The Second Brain by Michael Gershon, a professor of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia University in New York.

The author describes the gastrointestinal tract as being like a “second brain” because it is an autonomous nervous system. Astonishingly, he points out that it is the only part of the body that can function in isolation from the rest. Not even the actual brain can do this.

The complexities and wide-reaching implications of how the digestive system functions are clearly far greater than anyone realised. And Gershon is not exaggerating when he refers to functional bowel disease using the same term Winston Churchill once used for the Soviet Union… “A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma ”.

Low Serotonin and Gastrointestinal Disorders

An article on Robb Wolfe’s website called Low Serotonin and Gastrointestinal Disorders also caught my eye. The author, Kevin Cann, says of IBS that it is probably not just caused by one factor alone. But he points to the evidence that poor gut health can lead to poor mood and vice versa. And he suggests our serotonin pathways may play a big part. 

So he recommends maintaining adequate serotonin levels. Which means getting enough sleep, having healthy levels of vitamin D and getting enough sunlight. As well as avoiding excess alcohol and coffee, and eating high quality protein. He insists that “without proper digestion, the tryptophan and the nutrients required to convert it into serotonin may not be present.”

Implications of the serotonin / gut connection for vitiligo sufferers

Reading this article, it struck me that it should come as no surprise that vitiligo sufferers have lower levels of serotonin because they typically have low levels of vitamin D too. (And vitamin D controls serotonin synthesis).

All of this brings me to the reason for researching this particular topic in the first place…

I recently started testing a new product (a therapeutic jewellery range, no less) for Vitiligo Store. The Enerjii range evidently helps to balance serotonin levels (as well as reducing oxidative stress and improving general wellbeing, concentration and energy levels).

The jewellery works along similar lines to the more familiar magnetic bracelets that you can buy to help relieve pain. But it takes the concept a couple of steps further… Because it contains a total of three natural energies which, the manufacturers claim, work together to improve well-being. These energies are: 1) rare earth neodymium magnets, 2) far infrared and 3) negative ions.

A decorative experiment

​​I have no particular reason at this stage to believe that these technologies can improve skin pigmentation directly. However, from everything I have read, the science behind them is pretty credible. And, if I am going to wear jewellery, (which I do like to do) I am thinking I might as well wear something that might do me good. 

​While I have had dramatic success in self-treating my vitiligo using just nutritional supplementation and sunshine, I have also become a firm believer, over the intervening years, that any natural and holistic therapies that can nudge the body towards better over-all health cannot help but have a positive knock-on effect. Not just on vitiligo, but also on other chronic conditions like IBS, chronic fatigue, etc. And since the technologies in Enerjii jewellery help reduce oxidative stress at the same time as increasing serotonin levels, it seems reasonable to expect that they could be beneficial as part of an ongoing anti-vitiligo protocol.
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A good start

​So, I have been wearing one of the bracelets and matching necklace for a week at the time of writing this. (Very stylish they are too.) And I actually do feel some benefits already. Mainly, at this stage, these consist of a slight reduction of aches and pains in my joints and a perceptible improvement in energy and alertness. Of course, whenever you try out a new therapy it’s always hard to know how much to attribute to real results and how much to the famous “placebo effect” but I would have to say I have become generally more upbeat and chirpier since wearing the jewellery too. Given the interplay described above between vitiligo, serotonin and the gut, could this be partly due to an improvement in serotonin levels and a further reduction in oxidative stress, I ask myself? Maybe so. 🙂