MOST people know junk food is bad for you - but the message clearly didn't get through to a very unfortunate British teen who has tragically gone blind after years of eating only white bread, processed ham, sausage, French fries and Pringles.
The journal Annals of Internal Medicine published a case study this week describing the boy's "nutritional optic neuropathy" which was apparently caused by a diet low in nutrients.
Scientists from the Bristol Eye Hospital described the various presentations of the boy, who initially complained of tiredness at the age of 14, at which stage vitamin B12 injections and dietary changes were recommended.
A year later he had developed hearing loss, and by the time he was 17 the condition had sadly progressed to the point of blindness.
Investigations found he was suffering from a range of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, at which point he finally admitted to avoiding foods with certain textures since he was in primary school.
Unfortunately by the time the diagnosis was confirmed the youngster had suffered permanent vision loss.
The study's authors said the outcome indicated that "fussy eating" was a form of eating disorder, urging diagnosticians to consider nutritional optic neuropathy in all cases of unexplained vision loss involving people with a poor diet, regardless of their BMI.
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