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Enrico C
Guest
A British newspaper reports:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_obj...-who-only-ate-chips-and-toast--name_page.html
17 January 2006
DEAD AT 20 .. THE BOY WHO ONLY ATE CHIPS AND TOAST
SCOTT KILLED BY JUNK DIET
By Jeremy Armstrong
SCOTT Martin's distraught mum Margaret told how she desperately tried
to wean her son off his fatal diet of chips, toast and baked beans.
The 56-year-old said he even defied medical experts to keep up his
love of junk food. The bizarre diet led to his death at 20 from liver
disease and bleeding caused by malnutrition.
Margaret added: "He was fine when he was younger. I could get him to
eat properly. But as he grew older he ended up with just toast, beans,
chips and the odd tin of spaghetti. He hardly ate any fruit."
Scott's diet was so bad it caused liver cirrhosis - a condition
normally associated with heavy drinkers.
He was told a transplant could save him but he was too frightened to
have the operation and carried on eating his favourite McDonald's
French fries, sliced white bread and tinned beans, all high in salt.
Scott developed auto-immune hepatitis - where the body's own defence
system attacks the liver - which caused thinning of the blood.
The condition got so bad that when he needed three infected teeth
removed he was warned he could bleed to death or die from the
infection. He had the extraction but surgeons could not stop the
bleeding and his heartbroken family could only watch helplessly as his
life ebbed away.
Scott's sister Gail Fairweather helped care for him in his final
months when he was so weak he was confined to a wheelchair.
The mum-of-six said: "In a short time he had gone from being a normal
fit, healthy lad to someone who could barely get across the room.
Scott began to feel ill last year. In May he was seen by doctors,
suffering what we thought was the flu.
"He was tired all the time and could not walk far. He would get out of
breath quickly. The doctors sent him to see a specialist.
"The specialist found he had cirrhosis of the liver. We were baffled
because Scott was not a drinker. He did not go to pubs, he was a real
home boy. But we found out cirrhosis could be caused by bad diet and
malnutrition.
"There were only a few things he would eat, McDonald's chips were his
favourite.
"He would eat toast but only from sliced white Danish bread with a
thin spreading of Lurpak butter. He would eat baked beans but only now
and then.
"He was always like that, from when he was little. Finding stuff he'd
eat was a struggle."
Childminder Gail, 32, said Scott was terrified of having a transplant
and decided to go on medication, against the advice of doctors. She
added: "He would not consent to one.
"The medication was not making him any better. He get very weak. For
the last six months of his life he was in a wheelchair.
"He saw a dietician and she gave him loads of nutritional drinks but
he did not like them."
Scott, who lived with his mum and two sisters in Whitburn, Sunderland,
was buried last week. Margaret said: "The hardest thing is that he was
so young. I feel I have been robbed of my little boy. He just did not
deserve to die like that. It was terrible."
Patrick Holford, founder of The Institute for Optimum Nutrition, said
Scott's diet was "a recipe for death".
He added: "A processed and refined foods diet can lead to an early
grave. Young people are at a vital stage where a good diet is a must."
===
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_obj...-who-only-ate-chips-and-toast--name_page.html
17 January 2006
DEAD AT 20 .. THE BOY WHO ONLY ATE CHIPS AND TOAST
SCOTT KILLED BY JUNK DIET
By Jeremy Armstrong
SCOTT Martin's distraught mum Margaret told how she desperately tried
to wean her son off his fatal diet of chips, toast and baked beans.
The 56-year-old said he even defied medical experts to keep up his
love of junk food. The bizarre diet led to his death at 20 from liver
disease and bleeding caused by malnutrition.
Margaret added: "He was fine when he was younger. I could get him to
eat properly. But as he grew older he ended up with just toast, beans,
chips and the odd tin of spaghetti. He hardly ate any fruit."
Scott's diet was so bad it caused liver cirrhosis - a condition
normally associated with heavy drinkers.
He was told a transplant could save him but he was too frightened to
have the operation and carried on eating his favourite McDonald's
French fries, sliced white bread and tinned beans, all high in salt.
Scott developed auto-immune hepatitis - where the body's own defence
system attacks the liver - which caused thinning of the blood.
The condition got so bad that when he needed three infected teeth
removed he was warned he could bleed to death or die from the
infection. He had the extraction but surgeons could not stop the
bleeding and his heartbroken family could only watch helplessly as his
life ebbed away.
Scott's sister Gail Fairweather helped care for him in his final
months when he was so weak he was confined to a wheelchair.
The mum-of-six said: "In a short time he had gone from being a normal
fit, healthy lad to someone who could barely get across the room.
Scott began to feel ill last year. In May he was seen by doctors,
suffering what we thought was the flu.
"He was tired all the time and could not walk far. He would get out of
breath quickly. The doctors sent him to see a specialist.
"The specialist found he had cirrhosis of the liver. We were baffled
because Scott was not a drinker. He did not go to pubs, he was a real
home boy. But we found out cirrhosis could be caused by bad diet and
malnutrition.
"There were only a few things he would eat, McDonald's chips were his
favourite.
"He would eat toast but only from sliced white Danish bread with a
thin spreading of Lurpak butter. He would eat baked beans but only now
and then.
"He was always like that, from when he was little. Finding stuff he'd
eat was a struggle."
Childminder Gail, 32, said Scott was terrified of having a transplant
and decided to go on medication, against the advice of doctors. She
added: "He would not consent to one.
"The medication was not making him any better. He get very weak. For
the last six months of his life he was in a wheelchair.
"He saw a dietician and she gave him loads of nutritional drinks but
he did not like them."
Scott, who lived with his mum and two sisters in Whitburn, Sunderland,
was buried last week. Margaret said: "The hardest thing is that he was
so young. I feel I have been robbed of my little boy. He just did not
deserve to die like that. It was terrible."
Patrick Holford, founder of The Institute for Optimum Nutrition, said
Scott's diet was "a recipe for death".
He added: "A processed and refined foods diet can lead to an early
grave. Young people are at a vital stage where a good diet is a must."
===