Boy Goes Blind Because Of Junk-Food Diet

by Kevin Burton

    An 8-year-old Malaysian boy found out the hard way, the importance of a healthy diet.

   According to multiple reports, the boy went blind suddenly one day while sitting in school. The boy was said to have had a diet consisting of only chicken nuggets, sausages and cookies, iHeart reported.

   Doctors said the boy’s vision loss is permanent. The story is beyond heartbreaking because his blindness was so easily preventable.

   “Whether you are a parent or you don’t have any kids, you probably know that most children are pretty picky eaters. It’s hard to get kids to eat vegetables and many would happily have just mac and cheese or peanut butter and jelly daily,” writes Dave Basner of iHeart radio. “It turns out though, there is a reason they shouldn’t. Sadly,  an eight-year-old boy suffered the consequences.”

   “As a mother, we can’t always cook because we are busy. Pity for the parents of this student. It is not easy for them to accept,”  Dr. Erma Nadia, a popular Malay doctor with a large following on social media, wrote on Facebook.

   “The youngster was extremely deficient in an essential vitamin for keeping optical nerves healthy, according to a doctor who revealed the case,” wrote Connon Boyd of the Daily Mail.

   “His terrifying ordeal began during a second-grade class in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur when he shouted: “Teacher, why can’t I see anything?”

   “He was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with severe vitamin A deficiency, a condition that affects one percent of Americans to a lesser extent,”: Boyd wrote.

   The publication reported that the child likely suffered from optic atrophy, which, The Cleveland Clinic says is a condition that “happens because of long-term damage to optic nerve fibers from many different causes,” which can lead to “irreversible issues with vision, including blindness.”

   Doctor Nadia urged parents to be aware of the symptoms of vitamin A deficiency, which include the following:

• Dry eyes
• Shadows or gray spots on the whites of the eyes
• Difficulty seeing in the dark
• The inability to produce tears

   “You are what you eat,” my fourth-grade teacher stressed in health class, teaching us about the four food groups and how to eat a balanced diet. The Cleveland Clinic says the best way to prevent vitamin A deficiency is to eat a healthy diet that includes food such as:

• Green vegetables, such as leafy greens and broccoli
• Orange and yellow vegetables, such as carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and squash
• Orange and yellow fruits, such as oranges, mangos, cantaloupe and papayas
• Dairy products
• Liver, beef and chicken
• Certain types of fish, such as salmon
• Eggs
• Cereals, rice potatoes, wheat and soybeans fortified with vitamin A
• If necessary, take a vitamin A supplement

   The easy reaction is to blame the parents, and some people have. But none of the stories I saw detailed the living conditions of the family. Still, it’s extremely difficult to imagine this family had no access to healthier kinds of food for their son.

   A shouted “yuck” is no excuse to not feed children properly. The parents will have to answer that question, “why can’t I see anything” for the rest of their lives.

   According to the clinic, many people in developing countries don’t get enough vitamin A, with infants, children and people who are pregnant or breastfeeding most at risk. Although vitamin A deficiency is rare in the United States, it is the leading cause of blindness in children around the world, per the clinic.

   The Daily Mail first reported last year in October that a 12-year-old boy from Massachusetts went blind due to similar circumstances.