Bristol (UK) teenager loses sight and hearing due to processed food diet

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Bristol teenager loses sight and hearing due to processed food diet

Doctors highlight plight of 19 year old to warn of hidden dangers of poor nutrition

Steven Morris and agency
@stevenmorris20
Tue 3 Sep 2019 11.15 BST Last modified on Tue 3 Sep 2019 17.05 BST

The family of a teenager, from Bristol, who suffered irreversible eyesight loss after surviving on a diet of chips, white bread and processed snacks and meat have spoken of their heartache.

The teenager, now 19, has been a fussy eater from an early age and cannot tolerate the texture of fruit and vegetables.

His poor diet caused him to suffer from nutritional optic neuropathy, which is treatable if diagnosed early. In his case, fibres in his optic nerve have been so badly damaged that the harm to his sight has been judged to be permanent.

Speaking anonymously, the teenager’s mother said he could not find work and had had to abandon a college course in IT.

She said her son became a fussy eater when he was about seven and would only eat chips, crisps, sausages, processed ham and white bread.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/sep/03/british-teenager-loses-sight-and-hearing-due-to-processed-food-diet

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Related: Blindness Caused by a Junk Food Diet (Annals of Internal Medicine)

[hlthe2b]

1. Maybe his situation was more extreme than I can imagine, but I grew up in a home where

"picky eating" was not an option. Nor was it with my cousins nor extended family. It isn't as though they didn't try to modify food to make it more palatable to young kids, but to refuse anything remotely healthy. Hell no. That would NEVER have been tolerated. I don't think any of us have ever had picky pets either...LOL

Hard to imagine how his case became so extreme, but I am curious.

[ret5hd]

2. Ha! Exactly. We weren't picky because...

"well, here's what we got. Eat or go hungry. Your choice."

We always had food, and it was good food. I didn't really appreciate the effort my mother put in till I was away and older. But if liver was all they could afford, you ate liver or went hungry.

[murielm99]

3. We were not allowed to be picky, either.

We had to stay at the table until we cleaned our plates. There were no options.

I remember when my brother would not eat liver. He threw it away. My mother found the liver in the trash and spanked him.

I don't think the strictness about food was done out of meanness. My family had to survive on a budget.

To this day, there are very few foods I will not eat.

[sdfernando]

5. Its good to get a balanced diet for sure

but I take issue with the "stay at the table until we cleaned our plates". This can lead to overeating and obesity. Especially with today's over-processed goods and generous use of HFCS.

Although my parents didn't for us to eat everything on our plates, it was gently encouraged. To this day I still continue eating, even though I'm full, because there is still food in front of me. Not all the time, but often. I have to make a conscious decision to stop and leave food uneaten.

[murielm99]

7. My parents were strict because

many of their generation behaved like that. It was not necessarily good. I did not force my children to do the same thing. They did have to try everything, though.

I gardened when my kids were growing up. We limited processed food. If they felt deprived of anything, it was not running to McDonalds all the time or being allowed to drink a lot of pop.

[sdfernando]

8. Sounds like you are a good parent /nt

[CDerekGo]

4. Same here

We had to 'TRY ONE BITE' of everything on our plate. Yes, EVEN LIVER AND ONIONS, which to this day is my Dad's favorite, and one I still despise. There are plenty of vegetables I do LOVE to this day, because I was made to try! I've got nieces who are 'lazy eaters' meaning if it's crunchy (ie Peanuts, celery) they won't eat it, requires too much work, I guess. But, they both do eat healthy foods, and both as adults have gravitated away from Processed Foods entirely. What's the saying, when in the grocery store, only shop the perimeter. Never go down the Aisles. Freshest items are stocked perimeter, all of the processed stuff in the aisles.

Now, after being diagnosed hereditary diabetic, I make certain to read labels when I DO have to travel down those aisles. You'd be amazed at the added sugar and sodium in processed foods. it's almost as if you might try creating some of those products on your own.

[Mosby]

6. Child abuse

They never heard of vitamins?

[LeftishBrit]

10. I don't think you can totally blame the parents, in the case of a teenager

He would (in the UK) have had access to school meals; and by his mid-/late teens, could have bought food for himself.

The parents should have pushed harder to get medical help much earlier - if nothing else worked, intravenous feeding might even have been necessary; but I don't think it's just a matter of what was provided at home. He wasn't a toddler.

[LeftishBrit]

9. From what I understand, it wasn't just an ordinary 'junk food diet'

Causing it a 'processed food diet' is a bit misleading. It was a very restricted diet, where he would not eat sufficient foods outside a very limited range, which did not include any fruits or vegetables; and suffered from vitamin deficiencies, similar to those suffered by many in developing countries who lack *access* to a balanced diet.

We don't know why he refused so many foods (most people, even those who have unhealthy diets, would not take it to such extremes). Some people with autism and similar disorders have such food aversions, but most don't take then to that extreme. It's more common for people to damage their health by not eating enough of anything (anorexia). This may be a related disorder. Ordinary 'picky eaters' do not generally reach such a point of severe malnutrition.

A very sad story, of course,