17-year-old goes blind and deaf after eating only junk foods

A teenager is believed to be the first in the UK to go deaf and blind due to his junk food diet, a report has warned. The 17-year-old lived off a daily portion of chips, crisps, white bread and processed meat for around a decade.

His poor diet, which resulted in a number of vitamin deficiencies, led to the boy developing a condition called nutritional optic neuropathy (NON).

More commonly seen in malnourished children in developing countries, purely dietary causes of NON are rare in the western world.

It manifests in damage to the optic nerve, which leads to sight loss and if undiagnosed, blindness.

The unnamed patient, from Bristol, also developed hearing loss and bone weakness.