Page 5 - IAV Digital Magazine #482

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Teen Left Blind And Deaf After Living Off Crisps, Chips And White Bread
A teenager who for years had lived off a diet of chips, crisps, white bread and processed meat has lost his hear- ing and sight because of a lack of vitamins and minerals.
The unnamed boy from Bristol had first gone to his doctor com- plaining of tired- ness when he was 14.
Tests showed that he had low vitamin B12 lev- els and macrocyt- ic anaemia - a condition bringing larger-than-nor-
mal red blood cells. It was said the ailments had been brought on by him being a "fussy eater".
A case report by researchers from Bristol Eye Hospital, pub- lished in in the Annals of Internal Medicine, said he was given B12 injections and dietary advice, but when he returned to the doctor a year later his hearing and vision were already impaired.
The report said that "by the age of 17, the
patient's vision had become pro- gressively worse, to the point of blindness".
It was at this point that he con- fessed that since primary school he had "avoided foods with certain textures and only ate French fries, Pringles, white bread, processed ham slices, and sausage".
"By the time his condition was diagnosed, the patient had per- manently impaired vision," the report said.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine