I recently read an article where a 17-year old male from the
United Kingdom went blind and deaf from solely consuming Pringles and French fries
for the majority of his life. His symptoms began when he was only 14 with fatigue,
anemia, and decreased levels of vitamin B12. He went to see his physician where
it was determined his poor diet was to blame. By the time he turned 17, he was considered
legally blind and had hearing damage. His B12 levels were significantly
deficient, as well as insufficient copper and selenium. The physicians soon
discovered he had not changed his diet and his poor nutritional choices led to
his acquired condition. (“Teenage
boy goes blind after eating nothing but Pringles, French fries and white bread
since elementary school—New York Daily News,” 2019).
A B12 deficiency consists of B12 serum levels below 200 pg/mL (Ankar & Kumar, 2019). B12 is involved in several different aspects of cellular metabolism, including with blood and the nervous system (Ankar & Kumar, 2019). When a deficiency in B12 is observed it can lead to detrimental symptoms and conditions because it is an essential vitamin. An untreated B12 deficiency can lead to several life-threatening
conditions, including heart failure, gastric cancer, autoimmune disorders, and
a decreased cognitive ability (Ankar & Kumar, 2019).
One area I especially struggled with while reading the
article was he continued to eat his limited diet despite being sick. There are
several ethical principle violations that failed this young male. The physician
and family did not practice non-maleficence. His family continued to let him
live on Pringles, despite being sick for several years. I am questioning if the
physician stressed the importance of a proper diet when he went in at the age
of 14 with symptoms. I believe proper nutrition should have been practiced by
the family of the patient as soon as they realized his diet was his problem. The
article states that his eye damage could have been reversible if treated in
time, therefore, had he been able to change his diet I believe there would not have
been the harm he suffered at the age of 17, and he will be able to avoid any
future harm as a result of his B12 deficiency.
This is quite a sad situation so I am curios to hear
everyone’s input on what they think the physician and the family of the patient
should have done.
Ankar, A.,
& Kumar, A. (2019). Vitamin B12 Deficiency (Cobalamin). In StatPearls.
Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441923/
Teenage boy goes blind after eating nothing but Pringles, French fries
and white bread since elementary school—New York Daily News. (2019). Retrieved
December 4, 2019, from
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ny-pringles-teen-blind-fries-white-bread-picky-eater-20190903-qara6ajowje37oqiseseltx3h4-story.html
Jen,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! I remember reading about this as well and as someone who ate an entire pringles can in one sitting last week (who needs dinner right?), I can not believe that he continued with this diet. At 14, I ate whatever my parents bought that was available to me in the house. You are absolutely right that the parents of this young man aided in his disability given that dietary changes and restrictions were not made. Obviously, he still could have gotten pringles from other places like school, but it would not have been the only thing he consumed day in and out. Why junk food was continuously left out for him is beyond me. Also, I wonder if the doctor was not straight forward to the family and the boy that this was a huge deficiency and could cause damaging long-term effects. I also think it is odd that he saw the doctor at 14, but not again until 17; I thought schools required yearly physicals, unless that is just for sports. If he was alarmingly low at 14 years old, clearly something was not effectively communicated to this young man and his parents for him to continue this way. I know in cases of eating disorders, many times families do try to help their loved ones by getting them the help and therapy they need, and sometimes it still isn’t enough; is that still the fault of the parents? The only way I can think that the parents would not be at some sort of fault here is if they absolutely put effort in for him to change his diet and provide alternative meals. However, the fact that he continued to eat mainly only pringles for another three years goes to show that it doesn’t seem that the parents or physicians intervened enough to halt these poor behavioral choices. Though the child has some blame, his brain was still developing, and probably not the level that was normal for his age given his symptoms. Looking back, I am somewhat appalled at all the junk my parents let me consume growing up, however I still ate dinners provided and exercised non stop as a kid. Why pringles were still allowed in the house after the visit at 14 is bewildering, and now this young man has to live the rest of his life knowing this could have been prevented if only he had the proper advocates in his life to rally for better dietary choices.
Jen,
ReplyDeleteThis is insane! We stress the importance of B12 (whether in the diet or with supplementation) in my clinic, but I also know many doctors that do not. The deficiency can cause so many physiological issues! I absolutely agree with you that this young man was let down by his physician and family. But, I also think he could have started making the dietary changes himself as well if he had been provided with the correct information that with his deficiency, should he continue eating the way he is, he would have to face the consequences. This makes me agree with you and Alex that something must not have been properly conveyed about the severity of what could come if the family continued to let him eat like that. I also can't help but to wonder if the lack of change from the diet could come from an addiction to those foods. People always throw around "carb craver" or "sugar addict", but food has been found to have a similar excitatory response that drugs do through the release of dopamine (Lindgren et al., 2018). Regardless, it's a shame to think that he will remain blind and deaf for the rest of his life from choices that could have been easily fixed.
Lindgren, E., Gray, K., Miller, G., Tyler, R., Wiers, C. E., Volkow, N. D., & Wang, G. J. (2018). Food addiction: A common neurobiological mechanism with drug abuse. Front Biosci (Landmark Ed), 23, 811-836.