A young Massachusetts boy was left permanently blind due to his highly restrictive, all-junk food tastes, reports the Daily Mail.
The 12-year-old, who is on the autism spectrum, had developed an extreme phobia of many textures and would only eat plain hamburgers, fries with ranch dressing, donuts and small cartons of juice.
Earlier this year, the youngster began experiencing eye problems; his vision became darker in the morning and evening, although it was better during the day.
In just a few weeks, he began having difficulty walking without leaning on his parents, in addition to regularly running into doors and walls.
Then, one night, the boy woke up screaming that he couldn’t see anything. His parents then took him to the hospital, where doctors discovered that his diet had caused severe deficiencies in several nutrients essential for the health of his eye nerves.
Specifically, he suffers from optic atrophy due to a significant lack of vitamins A, C and D, copper and zinc.
Despite nutritional supplements and therapy, experts fear his blindness is now irreversible.
Doctors concluded that the 12-year-old suffered from selective and avoidant eating disorder, an eating disorder that affects about half of children on the autism spectrum.
His parents described their boy as a “picky eater” who wouldn’t try new foods or even vitamins because he didn’t like the texture.
In addition to receiving vitamin A, C, D and K supplements, calcium, thiamine, copper and zinc, the young American began eating lettuce and cheese in his hamburgers.
His family also added a supplement to the child’s juice, but the child began refusing to drink it after a few weeks.
