Teenager legally blind after 7-year diet of french fries, white bread and ham slices, doctor says



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An extreme case of "food consumption" has caused blindness in a teenager in the UK, according to a new report published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

When Denize Atan, the lead author of the study, met the 17-year-old boy from Bristol Eye Hospital, his eyesight had been deteriorating for two years. But what shocked her the most was "how long the patient's eating behavior persisted," Atan wrote in an email to The Post on Tuesday. "By the time I met him for the first time, he had followed the same diet [approximately seven] years. "

The teenager, who was not named, told doctors that since elementary school, "he ate french fries every day at the local fish-and-chip shop and nibbled at Pringles (Kellogg), bread. white slices of ham and sausages, "the study said.


The risks of malnutrition are often associated with obesity, poor cardiovascular health and cancer, but the Atan study warns that it can also have disastrous effects, and sometimes irreversible, on the nervous system, including vision.

The boy had been treated for the first time three years earlier by his family doctor for "fatigue". According to the report, the 14-year-old was a tough eater, but "otherwise healthy and not taking any medicine". Initial tests showed that he had low levels of vitamin B12 and macrocytic anemia, treated with B12 injections and "dietary advice".

At age 15, the boy's hearing began to fail, and then visual complications arrived. The doctors could not determine what was causing one or the other of these symptoms.

After two years of progressive vision loss, the boy was declared legally blind. Additional tests revealed that his vitamin B12 deficiency had not decreased. He had also developed reduced bone mineral density, high concentrations of zinc and low concentrations of copper, selenium and vitamin D.

According to the report, his diagnosis was twofold: nutritional optic neuropathy and restrictive food intake disorder with respect to avoidants, eating disorder that usually begins around the middle of childhood and early childhood. is motivated not by concerns of weight or form, but by an aversion to certain textures fearing the consequences of eating.

Nutritional optic neuropathy, which according to Atan is more often caused by malabsorption, certain drugs and alcoholism, is an optic nerve dysfunction. If it is taken early, it is reversible, but it can result in permanent damage to the optic nerve and blindness if it is not treated.


"Nutritional deficiencies are actually quite common, but nutritional blindness is not," she told The Post. "Blindness is a rare but serious complication of malnutrition."

In a press release issued Monday by the University of Bristol, Atan, who is also a lecturer in Ophthalmology at Bristol Medical School and Clinical Lead for Neuro-Ophthalmology at Bristol Eye Hospital, said: "This case highlights the impact of diet on physical health and the fact that calorie intake and BMI are not reliable indicators of nutritional status. "

Researchers worry about nutritional optic neuropathy, which could become more prevalent because of the massive consumption of junk food and the "growing popularity of veganism" that is not regularly supplemented with vitamin B12.

"It's important to have a varied diet! There is not a single food that provides all the vitamins and minerals you need – variety is the key," Atan said.

She hopes that the teenager's case will serve as a cautionary tale, which will lead to the widespread inclusion of food history in routine clinical examinations.

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