Letters to Editors
VRG Dietitian Reviews NEJM Letter to the Editor About Blindness in Vegans
French physicians recently contacted the New England Journal of Medicine to report a case of a 33-year-old male vegan who had become irreversibly blind because of damage to his optic nerves. Their report was published in the form of a letter to the editor entitled "Blindness in a Strict Vegan." They attributed the blindness to vitamin deficiencies due to the man's vegan diet, specifically to deficiencies of vitamin B12 and thiamin. The man also had deficiencies of folate, vitamins A, C, D, and E, zinc, and selenium. Unfortunately, due to space requirements, more information about the man's diet was not provided in the letter. Apparently the man was not following a typical vegan diet. Vegan diets are generally quite high in folate, vitamin A, and vitamin C mainly from fruits and vegetables, and contain adequate amounts of thiamin and vitamin E, so deficiencies of these nutrients would not be expected.
Certainly, all vegans should choose reliable sources of all nutrients, including vitamin B12. We do not know if this vegan was choosing foods and supplements which are reliable sources of vitamin B12. Additional information about his dietary habits is critical to the research into the true cause of his blindness. It is inaccurate to simply attribute his blindness to a vegan diet.
Milea D, Cassoux N, LeHoang P. 2000. Blindness in a strict vegan. N Engl J Med 342:897-8
Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
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