Partial blindness from poor eating

Bristol: trekearth.com

BBC September 3 2019

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Teenager 'blind' from living off crisps and chips 

By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online

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Eye doctors in Bristol cared for the 17-year-old after his vision had deteriorated to the point of blindness. 

Since leaving primary school, the teen had been eating only French fries, Pringles and white bread, as well as an occasional slice of ham or a sausage. 

Tests revealed he had severe vitamin deficiencies and malnutrition damage.

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Three years later, he was taken to the Bristol Eye Hospital because of progressive sight loss, Annals of Internal Medicine journal reports. 

Dr Denize Atan, who treated him at the hospital, said: "His diet was essentially a portion of chips from the local fish and chip shop every day. He also used to snack on crisps - Pringles - and sometimes slices of white bread and occasional slices of ham, and not really any fruit and vegetables.

"He explained this as an aversion to certain textures of food that he really could not tolerate, and so chips and crisps were really the only types of food that he wanted and felt that he could eat." Dr Atan and her colleagues rechecked the young man's vitamin levels and found he was low in B12 as well as some other important vitamins and minerals - copper, selenium and vitamin D.

Annuls of Internal Medicine September 3 2019

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Blindness Caused by a Junk Food Diet 

Rhys Harrison; Vicki Warburton, PhD; Andrew Lux, PhD; Denize Atan, PhD

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Background: Popular media have highlighted the risks for poor cardiovascular health, obesity, and cancer associated with junk food, but poor nutrition can also permanently damage the nervous system, particularly vision. 

Objective: To alert clinicians of the visual complications of a diet restricted to junk food.

Case Report: A 14-year-old boy presented to his family practitioner with tiredness. He was a “fussy eater” but was otherwise well and took no medications. Tests detected macrocytic anemia and low vitamin B12 level but no antibodies to intrinsic factor or tissue transglutaminase. He was treated with vitamin B12 injections and dietary advice....

University of Rochester Medical Center

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Tissue transglutaminase is an enzyme that fixes damage in your body. 

Back to the BBC article

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He was not over or underweight, but was severely malnourished from his eating disorder - avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder. "He had lost minerals from his bone, which was really quite shocking for a boy of his age."

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"He can walk around on his own though because he has got peripheral vision."

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Nutritional optic neuropathy - the condition the young man has - is treatable if diagnosed early. Left too long, however, the nerve fibres in the optic nerve die and the damage becomes permanent. Dr Atan said cases like this are thankfully uncommon, but that parents should be aware of the potential harm that can be caused by picky eating, and seek expert help.
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Fascinating articles...

Cases such as this are uncommon, as documented. I personally ingest a high fibre diet that includes a significant amount of fruits and vegetables and is almost entirely, non-processed foods.

I would deduce, based on these articles, that persons that have insufficient vitamin intake and limited nutrition is his/her diet would be prone to poor health and ailments, but are not necessarily prone to nutritional optic neuropathy, as it is a rare condition.

Philosophically, for example, there are many street people with significant health issues, including from substance abuse and nutritional deficiencies, but most are not effected by degrees of blindness, I deduce.

(Not from I have viewed walking the streets of Vancouver and Maple Ridge, for example)