An extreme case of "fussy eating" caused blindness in a United Kingdom teenager, according to a report published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

When Denize Atan, the study’s lead author, met the 17 year old boy at Bristol Eye Hospital, his eyesight had been deteriorating for two years. But what shocked her most was “how long the patient’s eating behaviour had persisted,” Atan wrote in an email Tuesday to The Washington Post. “By the time I first met him, he had followed the same diet for [approximately seven] years.”

The teen, who has not been named, told doctors that since elementary school, “he had a daily portion of fries from the local fish and chip shop and snacked on Pringles (Kellogg), white bread, processed ham slices, and sausage,” the study said.

The risks of poor nutrition are often associated with obesity, poor cardiovascular health and cancer, but Atan’s study warns that it can also have disastrous, and sometimes irreversible, effects on the nervous system, including vision.

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder

Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, previously known as selective eating disorder, is a type of eating disorder, where certain foods are limited based on appearance, smell, taste, texture, brand, presentation, or a past negative experience with the food, to a point that may damage their health. The person may forget to eat and may only eat when they are starving. ARFID is usually developed around 18 months and people with this eating disorder may have anxiety too.

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