What are the dietary taboos for vitiligo?

At present, there are no absolute clinical dietary taboos for vitiligo. The most widely spread "cannot eat foods rich in vitamin C" is actually an old belief that has been overturned. Vitamin C intake under a normal diet will not aggravate the condition, but is beneficial to immune maintenance and skin barrier repair.

In the early years, there were indeed small-scale experiments suggesting that large doses of vitamin C may interfere with melanin synthesis, which led to the suggestion that patients should completely avoid foods such as oranges, kiwis, and tomatoes. However, later clinical follow-up has long verified that only extreme cases of taking a few, or even more than a dozen medicinal vitamin C tablets a day can have an impact on melanin production. The amount of vitamin C ingested by normal fruit consumption is not enough for the body's daily metabolism, and it cannot reach the amount that can affect the condition. Two years ago, I met a male patient who had just entered college. After he was diagnosed, he searched the list of taboos on the Internet. Not only did he avoid all foods containing vitamin C, but he also refused to eat soy sauce for fear of "affecting his skin color." He ate white rice and boiled chicken breasts every day, and his immunity was reduced in less than two months. He suffered from repeated colds, and the white spots on his neck even expanded. Later, we helped him adjust his diet back to normal, eat fruits when he should, and combined with external medicine and 308 irradiation, the white spots stabilized in more than three months, and obvious pigment islands appeared on the edges.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that if you have vitiligo, you have absolutely no taboos and you don’t need to worry about your diet at all. If you are allergic, eating allergenic foods such as seafood and mango will cause rashes and redness, so you should try to avoid them. After all, when the body has an allergic inflammatory reaction, the immunity will fluctuate, which may stimulate the development of white spots. ； Many patients also reported that their white spots showed signs of spreading after eating particularly spicy hot pot or drinking a lot of alcohol. This can be adjusted according to their own body reactions, so there is no need to forcefully eat.

Speaking of this, some people may ask, why do doctors still tell me to avoid foods high in vitamin C when I go to some hospitals? In fact, this is the cognitive gap that still exists. Some doctors’ experience is still based on the conclusions of early research, and some are afraid that patients will not be able to control it themselves and blindly take large doses of vitamin C supplements. If the doctor you see specifically mentions this point, you can also adjust it based on your own situation. You don’t have to benchmark it with other people’s diet plans. After all, everyone’s condition and physique are different.

To put it bluntly, there is really no need to worry about diet. A normal and balanced diet and keeping up with nutrition are the basis for recovery. If you are really not sure whether you can eat something, just try to eat a few bites less and eat with confidence after observing for a week or two that there are no abnormalities. It is better than not daring to eat anything and ending up with malnutrition, which will delay the recovery of the disease.