Tuesday 3 September 2019

Poor diet can lead to blindness

Nutrition is the selection of foods and preparation of foods, and their ingestion to be assimilated by the body. By practicing a healthy diet, many of the known health issues can be avoided. The diet of an organism is what it eats, which is largely determined by the perceived palatability of foods. Dietitians are health professionals who specialize in human nutrition, meal planning, economics, and preparation. They are trained to provide safe, evidence-based dietary advice and management to individuals, as well as to institutions. Clinical nutritionists are health professionals who focus more specifically on the role of nutrition in chronic disease, including possible prevention or remediation by addressing nutritional deficiencies before resorting to drugs. Government regulation of the use of this professional title is less universal than for “dietitian.” A poor diet may have an injurious impact on health, causing deficiency diseases such as scurvy and kwashiorkor; health-threatening conditions like obesity and metabolic syndrome; and such common chronic systemic diseases as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis.

French fries (stock image). | Credit: © Pixelbliss / stock.adobe.com

Nutritional optic neuropathy is a dysfunction of the optic nerve which is important for vision. The condition is reversible, if caught early. But, left untreated, it can lead to permanent structural damage to the optic nerve and blindness.

The most common causes of nutritional optic neuropathy are bowel problems or drugs that interfere with the absorption of various important nutrients from the stomach. Purely dietary causes are less common because food supply is good, but elsewhere in the world, poverty, war and drought are linked to malnutrition and higher rates of nutritional optic neuropathy.

The researchers concluded that the patient's 'junk food' diet and limited intake of nutritional vitamins and minerals resulted in the onset of nutritional optic neuropathy. They suggest the condition could become more prevalent in future, given the widespread consumption of 'junk food' at the expense of more nutritious options, and the rising popularity of veganism if the vegan diet is not supplemented appropriately to prevent vitamin B12 deficiency.

Dietary history should be part of any routine clinical examination like asking about smoking and alcohol intake. This may avoid a diagnosis of nutritional optic neuropathy being missed or delayed as some associated visual loss can fully recover if the nutritional deficiencies are treated early enough.

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