GeographicTongue.org

By Timothy McMahon

Geographic Tongue is an annoying condition where the tongue develops “Bald” patches often surrounded with a thin white line. It is not considered serious or life threatening by doctors. These patches are called “denuded” meaning that the “papillae” or little bumps on the tongue have actually fallen off. Fortunately the papillae tend to replace themselves in 7 to 10 days.

If you have Geographic Tongue and watch it carefully, as I have, you will notice that the replacement process is what gives the tongue the appearance of the patches moving around on the tongue. This by the way is where the technical name (“Migratory Glossitis”) for geographic tongue comes from.  It appears to me that as the older papillae fall off they aren’t replaced quickly enough so the bald patches develop. After a few days new “baby papillae” start to appear within the bald patch but by then another spot is losing its bumps.

Doctors are basically clueless about the cause and treatment of Geographic Tongue although a few studies have been done. Unfortunately, those studies are mostly statistical in nature. They have found that roughly 3% of the world’s population has geographic tongue. They also found that more women than men seem to get Geographic Tongue and also that women on birth control pills seem to experience the worst symptoms on day 17. From this they surmise that the problem may be related to hormones. Also people with already weakened systems like those with asthma, allergies, eczema and immune deficiencies seem to get it more often than more “healthy” people.

In addition, people who are extra sensitive to the environment tend to get geographic tongue as well. These are people who already have conditions like asthma, allergies or eczema. Several studies have found that geographic tongue tends to run in families. But they haven’t found any definite pattern of inheritance like you find with eye color or tongue rolling. It is possible that the reason for this tendency is that the nutritional intake within the family is also very similar resulting in the same condition.

Unfortunately, most researchers have not looked into the nutritional aspects of geographic tongue although some research has been done in Europe and Asia. Findings have shown that there are several nutrients that will cause geographic tongue like symptoms. As a matter of fact deficiencies in several vitamins including the B- Vitamins have been classified as the direct cause of tongue problems. It is therefore likely that the other factors like hormones and tendency to occur with in people with weak immune systems and other problems may be a result of vitamin deficiencies related to those problems rather than genetics or other reasons for correlation.

About the Author-

Timothy McMahon of Healthy Tongue Secrets has published a book compiling the various nutritional and other methods of treatment that have found success among sufferers of Geographic Tongue. His site is HealthyTongueSecrets.com

Vitamin B₆: What is it?

Vitamin B₆ is a water-soluble vitamin that exists in three major chemical forms: pyridoxine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxamine. It performs a wide variety of functions in your body and is essential for your good health. For example, vitamin B₆ is needed for more than 100 enzymes involved in protein metabolism. It is also essential for red blood cell metabolism. The nervous and immune systems need vitamin B₆ to function efficiently, and it is also needed for the conversion of tryptophan (an amino acid) to niacin (a vitamin).

Hemoglobin within red blood cells carries oxygen to tissues. Your body needs vitamin B₆ to make hemoglobin. Vitamin B₆ also helps increase the amount of oxygen carried by hemoglobin. A vitamin B₆ deficiency can result in a form of anemia that is similar to iron deficiency anemia.

An immune response is a broad term that describes a variety of biochemical changes that occur in an effort to fight off infections. Calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals are important to your immune defenses because they promote the growth of white blood cells that directly fight infections. Vitamin B₆, through its involvement in protein metabolism and cellular growth, is important to the immune system. It helps maintain the health of lymphoid organs (thymus, spleen, and lymph nodes) that make your white blood cells. Animal studies show that a vitamin B₆deficiency can decrease your antibody production and suppress your immune response.  Read the rest of this entry »

What is vitamin D and what does it do?

Vitamin D is a nutrient found in some foods that is needed for health and to maintain strong bones. It does so by helping the body absorb calcium (one of bone’s main building blocks) from food and supplements. People who get too little vitamin D may develop soft, thin, and brittle bones, a condition known as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults.

Vitamin D is important to the body in many other ways as well. Muscles need it to move, for example, nerves need it to carry messages between the brain and every body part, and theimmune system needs vitamin D to fight off invading bacteria and viruses. Together with calcium, vitamin D also helps protect older adults from osteoporosis. Vitamin D is found in cellsthroughout the body. Read the rest of this entry »