000364 Strict Vegetarians May Risk BlindnessMarch 23, 2000Boston - A 33-year-old man's strict vegetarian diet may have caused him to go blind, a report by French doctors says. The report, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, underscores the need for people who decline to consume any animal product to take supplements. “Vitamin supplementation is essential in persons who adhere to a strict vegetarian diet, especially because vitamin deficiencies may cause severe, irreversible optic neuropathy,” says the report by a team led by Dr. Dan Milea of the Groupe Hospitalier Pitie-Salpetriere in Paris. Their patient had cited “improved health” as the reason he had eschewed meat, eggs, dairy products, fish and all other sources of animal protein for 13 years. But by the time the doctors examined him, his vision was less than 20/400 in both eyes and part of the optic disk had deteriorated. Blood tests showed that he was deficient in key vitamins and minerals. The doctors said deficiencies of vitamins B-12 and B-1 probably caused the vision problems, “but other associated deficiencies may have had a role.” Vitamin shots and pills failed to improve his vision.
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