Buzz
A teenager lost his sight after living on a very restricted diet for years. This event is being sensationalized in the media, with stories claiming junk food is the cause of his blindness. The boy is now likely to be a topic in parents' cautionary tales for many years. However, the real issue here is a rare and specific eating disorder.
As per the case report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the boy, at age 14, visited his family doctor suffering from fatigue and low levels of vitamin B12. His family described him as a 'fussy eater,' prompting doctors to recommend vitamin B12 shots and dietary guidance. Over the following three years, he experienced hearing loss, followed by vision loss, which left doctors puzzled. Eventually, they discovered the boy was dealing with several nutritional deficiencies, including a lack of vitamin B12, copper, selenium, and vitamin D.
How could someone be so selective with their eating habits?
Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a condition commonly seen in people with autism, including children. It can also occur independently or alongside other disorders. While the report doesn’t explicitly state that the boy was autistic, it mentions that he avoided 'certain textures' and typically ate fries, Pringles, white bread, ham slices, and sausage.
This is not truly a story about 'junk food.' If burgers and milkshakes had been included in his diet, the nutritional outcome would likely have been different. The intention behind this report wasn’t to criticize those who eat fries or white bread, but to alert doctors: 'Nutritional optic neuropathy should be considered in any patient with unexplained vision symptoms and poor diet, regardless of BMI.'
To understand how ARFID differs from simply being a 'picky eater' or from other eating disorders, check out this description from an autistic person about what it’s really like:
ARFID causes me to involuntarily limit the foods I can eat, based on factors like appearance, smell, taste, texture, brand, presentation, or negative past experiences with specific foods. You might call me 'a picky eater,' but it’s more accurate to see it as a food phobia. It’s not about body image; it’s driven by anxiety and sensory sensitivity.
People with ARFID may lose weight from not consuming enough food, but they can also get enough calories and maintain a normal body type. The boy who lost his vision seemed to be in this situation: His family and doctors knew he didn’t eat a broad variety of foods, but they didn’t realize his restrictive diet was causing health problems until it was too late.
