A poor diet of chips and crisps caused a teenage boy in England to become blind. The boy – let's call him Jasper – first visited his family GP complaining of tiredness when he was 14 years old.

　　英国一个十多岁的男孩吃垃圾食品薯条和薯片失明了，小男孩Jasper(化名)14岁的时候第一次看家庭医生，说感觉累。

　　Tests showed he was anaemic with low vitamin B12 levels. He was also a picky eater, but had no problems with his health.

　　检查结果表明他贫血，缺乏维生素B12。他挑食，但很健康。

　　His GP gave him vitamin B12 injections and advice on how to improve his diet. But by the time he was 15, he had started to develop hearing loss and had problems with his vision.

　　家庭医生给他注射了维生素B12，还提了一些改善饮食的建议。但他到15岁时听力就开始变差，视力也出现了问题。

　　He was referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist and was examined by an ophthalmologist, but no cause was found.

　　他被转诊到耳鼻喉科专家那里，眼科医生也给他做了检查，但没找到病因。

　　By age 17, his vision had become worse, to the point of blindness. He was referred to the Bristol Eye Hospital when he saw a specialist in neuro-ophthalmology. He was diagnosed with optic neuropathy (damage to the optic nerve) and further tests revealed that the cause was nutritional.

　　到17岁的时候，他的视力越来越糟，最终失明。他找神经眼科的专家看病时被转到布里斯托尔眼科医院，被诊断为视神经病变(视神经损伤)，进一步的检查表明病因就是营养问题。

　　He had several micronutrient deficiencies, including low vitamin B12 (his vitamin B12 injections had lapsed), vitamin D, copper and selenium levels, and a high zinc level. His bone mineral density was also very low – probably resulting from his low vitamin D.

　　他缺乏几种微量营养素，包括维生素B12(他注射的维生素B12已失效)、维生素D、铜和硒，而且锌含量高。他的骨密度也很低，可能是缺乏维生素D的原因。

　　Jasper confessed that he had been a picky eater since primary school and would not eat certain textures of food. He had a daily portion of chips from the local fish and chip shop and snacked on crisps, white bread, processed ham slices and sausage.

　　Jasper承认自己从小学开始就很挑食，不吃某些口味的食物。他每天都从当地的炸鱼薯条店买一份薯条，零食主要是薯片、白面包、加工过的火腿片和香肠。

　　Deficiencies of vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin B9 (folate), vitamin B12 (cobalamin), iron, calcium, magnesium and copper are all known to cause optic neuropathy and are easily misdiagnosed as other disorders if the doctor doesn't have the patient's dietary history.

　　众所周知缺乏维生素B1(硫胺素)、维生素B2(核黄素)、维生素B3(烟酸)、维生素B6(吡哆醇)、维生素B9(叶酸)、维生素B12(氰钴胺素)、铁、钙、镁和铜会导致视神经病变，如果医生不了解病人的饮食史很容易误诊为其他疾病。

　　The condition is reversible if caught early. But left untreated, it can lead to permanent structural damage to the optic nerve and blindness, which happened in Jasper's case.

　　如果及早发现还可以治疗，但如果不及时治疗，会导致视神经永久性的结构损伤和失明，Jasper就是这种情况。