Poor Diet and Blindness

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Poor Diet and Blindness

            According to an article published in Science Daily authored by the University of Bristol (2019) titled "Poor diet can lead to blindness, case study shows," there is a probability that blindness can result from poor eating habits. According to the article, an extreme case of 'picky' or 'fussy' eating made one young patient blind (Harrison et al., 2019). The material (University of Bristol, 2019) continues to state that he researchers examining the case recommended that the clinicians use nutritional optic neuropathy in each of the patient who had an unexplained poor diet and unexplained vision symptoms, independent of BMI, for avoiding permanent loss of vision. This is a summary and critique article of the article by the University of Bristol, (2019).

           Harrison et al. (2019) state that the researchers from the University of Bristol examining the case of the young patient mentioned above recommend clinicians to consider nutritional optic neuropathy in patients who have poor diets and symptoms of unexplained symptoms of vision regardless of BMI in an effort to avoid permanent loss of sight. Nutritional optic neuropathy is defined as optic nerve dysfunction. It is a reversible dysfunction if detected early. However, if it is not treated, it could result in permanent damage to the optic nerve structure and blindness.

           Several clinicians and scientists examined a teenage patient's case who complained of tiredness in his first visit to GP. The link between his vision and poor nutritional status was not picked until it was too late when the patient had a permanent visual impairment. Although the patient was a 'fussy eater,' he had no visible malnutrition signs, healthy BMI and height, and did not take any medications. The patient was treated with dietary advice and injections of vitamin B12 after initial tests indicated low vitamin B12 levels and macrocytic anemia. After a year, the patient's vision and hearing loss symptoms had developed progressively, but there was no cause found. The condition worsened, and the medical professionals tried to cure it but to no success. By the time the state of the patient was diagnosed, he had a permanently impaired vision.

           The researchers concluded that the junk food diet of the patient plus limited nutritional minerals and vitamins intake caused the onset of nutritional optic neuropathy. They predicted the prevalence of the condition in the future because of the widespread junk food consumption instead of nutritious options. Additionally, the rising veganism popularity without supplementing the diet appropriately results in vitamin B12 deficiency. The recommendation by the team includes a dietary history in any routine clinical examination to avoid a missed or delayed diagnosis of nutritional optic neuropathy. The dietary history inclusion is essential because some associated visual losses are fully recoverable if the nutritional deficiencies get treated early enough.

           The article is informative as it analyzes a real-life case. It explains well how the incident started, progressed, and ended, plus the conclusions by the researchers. It also warns about a condition that could be prevalent and affect many people if not diagnosed early enough as the current world population prefers fast foods and do not watch their diet. However, there could have been at least one more case included in the article to support the findings. In most cases, basing one's conclusions on just one case is weak; it needs support from more similar cases.

           In conclusion, the study that a junk food diet could result in blindness is a well thought out research. It progressively narrates the case as it happened and concludes it with recommendations. However, a single case is not enough to base conclusions on. There would be more concreteness if at least one more case were included.

 

References

Harrison R., Warburton V., Lux A., & Atan D. (2019). Blindness caused by a junk food diet.       Annals of Internal Medicine. DOI: 10.7326/L19-0361

University of Bristol. (2019). Poor diet can lead to blindness, case study shows. ScienceDaily.      Retrieved from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/09/190903091437.htm