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This teen went blind and partially deaf after only eating Pringles, French fries and white bread for a decade - Marketwatch
The British patient developed a nutritional deficiency that’s rare in developed countries.
This cautionary tale could get your kids to eat their veggies.
A British teenager described as a “fussy eater” went blind and partially deaf after noshing nothing but potato chips, sausages, French fries and white bread for the past decade, according to an alarming case study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine over the weekend.
The 17-year-old, who wasn’t named in the report, had visited a general practitioner three years earlier complaining of fatigue. Tests at that time revealed he was anemic and had low levels of the vitamin B12, so he began taking vitamin injections and receiving diet advice. But his height and BMI were normal, so doctors didn’t suspect any greater nutritional issues.
By the time he was 15, however, his vision and hearing had begun to deteriorate. Now at 17, he has suffered permanent vision loss, partial hearing loss, as well as bone weakness. So researchers at the University of Bristol examined his case. And after ruling out factors such as his BMI, family history, medications, or drug and alcohol use, they determined that his poor diet had damaged his optic nerve badly enough to cause blindness.
The British patient developed a nutritional deficiency that’s rare in developed countries.
This cautionary tale could get your kids to eat their veggies.
A British teenager described as a “fussy eater” went blind and partially deaf after noshing nothing but potato chips, sausages, French fries and white bread for the past decade, according to an alarming case study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine over the weekend.
The 17-year-old, who wasn’t named in the report, had visited a general practitioner three years earlier complaining of fatigue. Tests at that time revealed he was anemic and had low levels of the vitamin B12, so he began taking vitamin injections and receiving diet advice. But his height and BMI were normal, so doctors didn’t suspect any greater nutritional issues.
By the time he was 15, however, his vision and hearing had begun to deteriorate. Now at 17, he has suffered permanent vision loss, partial hearing loss, as well as bone weakness. So researchers at the University of Bristol examined his case. And after ruling out factors such as his BMI, family history, medications, or drug and alcohol use, they determined that his poor diet had damaged his optic nerve badly enough to cause blindness.