Nutrition & Vitiligo

The word vitiligo comes from the Latin "vitelius," meaning calf, referring to the calf's spots. Vitiligo is a skin disorder that occurs when a person loses cells that produce pigment. The result is white patches on the skin. Vitiligo can occur in people of any skin color, and often appears most on the face, arms and legs. Some claim that certain diets and nutritional therapies can stop or reverse vitiligo.

Food and Drink

• Two schools of thought exist regarding the "vitiligo diet." Some maintain that because the skin is a living part of the body, the diseases that affect it can and will respond to eating certain foods and avoiding others. Another theory is that while sticking to a healthy diet may do nothing to rectify the damage caused by vitiligo, it is still advised. The reason being that eating a diet high in nutrition will make the body healthier overall, helping it to more quickly respond to any topical or medicinal vitiligo treatments. In either case, foods that vitiligo sufferers should eat include healthy basics like vegetables, fruits, vegetable proteins and oils, whole grains, nuts and plenty of water.

Things To Avoid

• While doctors understand the process within the body that causes the spots of vitiligo - the loss of pigment-producing cells, the cause of that cell loss in some people and not others is a mystery still. This alone is enough motivation for some vitiligo sufferers to take a "better safe than sorry" approach to nutrition. Foods to avoid, include all meat, especially red meat, and all dairy. The theory for avoiding these is that they cause changes to the blood, and the flow of blood through the body affects circulation, which affects skin color and pigmentation.

Vitamins

• According to the Nutrition Research Center, vitiligo appears in about 2 percent of people, with half of those cases developing the disease before age 20. Some nutritionists believe that a regimen of vitamins, accompanied by a healthy diet, can help in the treatment of vitiligo, and should be started as quickly as possible, following the appearance of symptoms. Doctors who treat vitiligo sufferers have seen a lack of vitamins C, B12 and Folic Acid in their patients, according to the study entitled Vitiligo: Nutritional Therapy by Dr. Leopoldo Montes. Studies like this have led nutritionists to recommend these vitamin supplements to people with vitiligo.

Herbs

• People who suffer from vitiligo have sought herbal treatments for many years. As with eating a healthy diet, the herbs may not directly affect the patches or their cause, but they can help to boost one's immune system. This can be useful in fighting any chronic illness. Herbal medications such as Ginkgo biloba have been used to varying levels of success. It is widely believed, though, that Ginkgo biloba aids the body's circulatory system. This may be the reason behind it helping to stem vitiligo progression.