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Think Junk Food Can’t Lead to Health Issues? UK: Teenager Goes Blind After a Limited Diet of French Fries, Pringles, White Bread, Ham and Sausage

Pringles

Yeah, I know, sounds crazy doesn’t it. Like fake news or something. Except this was reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine on 9/2/19 by University of Bristol researchers.

Clinician scientists from Bristol Medical School and the Bristol Eye Hospital examined the case of a teenage patient who first visited his General Practitioner complaining of tiredness.

He first visited a doctor at age 14, complaining of tiredness, according to the case report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine on Monday, September 2, 2019.

One year later there were signs of hearing loss and vision symptoms, but doctors did not find the cause.

He wasn’t taking any medication, had a normal BMI and height, and showed no visible signs of malnutrition.

The link between his nutritional status and vision was not picked up until much later, and by then, his visual impairment had become permanent.

Further investigation found the patient had vitamin B12 deficiency, low copper and selenium levels, a high zinc level, and markedly reduced vitamin D level and bone mineral density.

Link to Nutritional Intake

Since starting secondary school, the patient had consumed a limited diet of chips, crisps, white bread, and some processed pork. By the time the patient’s condition was diagnosed, the patient had permanently impaired vision.

The unidentified patient told doctors he had only eaten fries from the fish and chip shop, Pringles potato chips, white bread, slices of processed ham and sausage since elementary school, and he avoided foods with certain textures. 

The researchers concluded that the patient’s “junk food” diet and limited intake of nutritional vitamins and minerals resulted in the onset of nutritional optic neuropathy.

They also suggested that the condition could become more prevalent in the future because of the widespread consumption of “junk food” and even the vegan diet, if the diet is not supplemented with B12 appropriately.

A word to the wise is sufficient as they say. Nutrition is more powerful than you think.

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