Growing up, many of us clashed with our parents over what we were supposed to eat. Although it seemed perfectly reasonable to request McDonald’s all the time, they insisted that we actually needed to eat those vegetables we did our best to ignore.
As we got older, most of us understood why eating fast food every day isn’t a particularly good idea, but it seems that our parents were more right than even they would have realized.
Because while they may have told us we’d get big and strong with healthier foods and were really just trying to make sure we didn’t end up with diabetes or heart disease, it turns out those weren’t the only health issues to worry about.
Ever since he was in the U.K. equivalent of elementary school, one anonymous British 17-year-old has followed a very specific diet.
According to The Mirror , he has only eaten fries, Pringles chips, hot dogs, processed ham, and white bread.
As far as doctors are now concerned, this is the result of a rare eating disorder called avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder, or AFRID.
It’s not necessarily that this teen was intentionally avoiding healthy foods, but rather that he couldn’t stand their texture.
He had told doctors that fruits and vegetables had particularly discouraging textures for him and doctors have identified that as one of AFRID’s triggers.
For other sufferers, the taste, smell, appearance, or even temperature of foods could be factors.
When he was 14, the teen was found to be severely deficient in vitamin B12, which left him feeling “tired.”
Although doctors gave him vitamin injections and advised a healthier diet, both his vision and hearing started to deteriorate by the time he turned 15.
By 17, the teen’s vision had reached 20/200, which is the threshold for being considered legally blind.
As for why this happened, the teen’s diet had allowed him to contract a condition called nutritional optic neuropathy and he was found to be missing nerve fibers in his retinas.
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As Live Science reported , a study in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine confirmed that a poor diet much like the one this teen lives with can cause permanent damage to the nervous system, which often takes the form of vision problems.
At its extreme, this damage can be consistent with nutritional optic neuropathy, which is usually limited to countries where access to food is severely restricted.
The teen also developed bone weakness and hearing loss over the course of his ill-fated diet.
Much like a poor diet can have a surprising effect on vision, an overabundance of carbohydrates and sugar can also damage the ears.
Although nutritional optic neuropathy is considered reversible if discovered early, it can lead to permanent blindness if left untreated. Considering how long his condition has persisted without his knowledge, this will likely be the teen’s fate.
h/t: The Mirror
