17-Year-Old Teen Loses Sight After Steady Diet Of Fries And Pringles

A diet of Pringles, french fries, and white bread was sufficient to make a teen boy lose his sight according to a case study.

The reason was an extreme vitamin deficiency in his diet.

One of the doctors that authored the study and personally treated the case over three years claimed the boy's diet was a portion of fries from the local fish and chip shop. He also used to snack on crisps and slices of white bread along with slices of ham.

Apparently, he was so fussy he avoided fruits, vegetables and other foods which had particular textures. The boy, who is yet to be identified, first visited a doctor at 14 years with complaints of fatigue.

He was not taking any medication, and he had a healthy BMI and height and did not illustrate any signs of malnutrition according to the presiding physician.

It was then that doctors discovered he had low levels of vitamin B12 and anemia. They treated him with B12 injections and gave some dietary advice.

A year later, there were a few signs of hearing loss and vision issues, but doctors could not yet identify the issue.

His vision had gotten worse to the point of blindness by the age of 17, and doctors still found a vitamin B12 deficiency along with low selenium and copper levels. There was a high level of zinc and low levels of vitamin D.

By this time, the damage to his vision centers was long term. Experts from the Bristol Medical School and Eye Hospital assessed the case and found the patient was suffering from nutritional optic neuropathy. It is dysfunction related to the optic nerve.

In developing nations, it is usually caused by bowel problems or medication that does not agree with nutrient absorption. In short, it is not usually caused by a poor diet considering food is generally available in those states.

The doctor explained that if nutritional optic neuropathy is caught early, then it can be treated. The teen’s eyesight had deteriorated fast, according to his mother, and no one else had identified other signs of ailing health.

She claimed the boy has always been skinny, so weight was not necessarily a key symptom concerning health. The media always related fast food to obesity, and the boy was thin, so it did not raise alarms when he ate fries or Pringles all the time.

By the time they realized he was severely malnourished, it was too late to save his eyesight.

To prevent similar cases, the researchers on this case have urged doctors to ask patients concerning their dietary history as part of the routine examinations.