In a recent report, a teen who consumed chips, fries and other junk food as his diet for years went blind due to poor nutrition and anemia.
Poor diet is not only linked to obesity, cancer, and heart diseases but it also causes serious damage to the nervous system which then could lead to permanent loss of vision according to the Annals of Internal Medicine Journal.
The reports shows that his vision began to fade when he was fourteen. He went to see the doctor complaining about feeling very tired all the time. When asked about his diet, his parents described his diet as a "fussy eater". The results of the blood tests show that his poor diet has developed him anemia and critically low levels of vitamin B12. Then, he was given several injections of B12 along with a clear advice on how to further improve his diet.
However, when he turned 15, he started having vision and hearing problems, but doctors could not identify the root cause. All the results from the eye exam, including a full MRI could not detect what was wrong. Over the course of two years, the vision problems of this teem patient has only gotten worse. When he turned 17, his eye exam showed that he had a 20/2000 vision, which in the United States qualified him to be "legally blind".
Further tests have been conducted and they show that the damage to his optic nerve has gotten progressively bad. Furthermore, his Vitamin B12 levels are still low as well as the levels of copper, Vitamin D, and selenium. These vitamin deficiencies have pushed the doctors to look into the foods that he ate.
"The patient told us that since elementary school, there are certain foods that he didn't eat because of their particular texture," the authors of the study wrote in their report. The team of researchers are from the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. He told the doctors that his diet particularly included Pringles, processed ham slices, white bread, chips, and fries.
After the doctors have ruled out all the other possible causes of loss of vision, they diagnosed the teenager with a nutritional optic neuropathy. This is an illness that causes serious damages to the optic nerves due to nutritional deficiencies. "Although it is a rare case, this type of blindness is caused by his nutritional consumption," the authors wrote.
At the moment, the teen was prescribed with various nutritional supplements. Although these make not bring back his 20-20 vision, it will help prevent his condition from getting worse.
