Today in news of the Wow What the Fuck variety, CNN has come through with a story of a teen with a highly restrictive diet whose choices ultimately resulted in blindness.
"Our vision has such an impact on quality of life, education, employment, social interactions, and mental health," Dr. Denize Atan—the lead author of the University of Bristol study and a consultant senior lecturer in ophthalmology at Bristol Medical School—said of this peculiar case. "This case highlights the impact of diet on visual and physical health, and the fact that calorie intake and BMI are not reliable indicators of nutritional status."
The teen is not named in the UK study and is said to have first paid a doctor a visit at age 14 with tiredness-related complaints. He was not on medication and boasted a normal BMI, with no visible signs of malnutrition at the time. However, low B12 levels and anemia was detected, prompting B12 injections and general dietary suggestions.
One year later, things—per the Annals of Internal Medicine-pubbed findings—had gotten dramatically shittier. The teen had developed hearing loss and vision symptoms, with no cause determined at the time. And by 17 years of age, his vision problems and worsened to blindness. Ultimately, medical officials found low levels of copper and selenium, high levels of zinc, reduced vitamin D and bone mineral density, and a B12 deficiency.
Since secondary school, the teen's diet had consisted of french fries, Pringles, white bread, and sporadic slices of processed pork a la ham and sausage. Ultimately, researchers have linked this diet to what became an instance of nutritional optic neuropathy. Now, the study's team is recommending that dietary history become a regular part of any and all clinical exams in much the same way questions of the smoking and alcohol consumption variety are. The condition, they add, "could become more prevalent in the future" thanks to junk food's prevalence and mismanaged diets.
Anyway, eat your veggies.
