Facing a lifetime of fruit and veg: The girl, 7, who could get brain damage if she eats any protein

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Borsi Batki, 7, risks severe damage to her brain if she eats anything with protein in it


A seven-year-old girl faces brain damage if she eats anything but fruit and vegetables.

Borsi Batki from Coventry is forced to watch as the other children tuck into cakes and biscuits at birthday parties, because she can't eat anything with protein in it.

Due to an extremely rare metabolic condition, almost everything is off the menu except for a protein replacement supplement she has to drink six times a day.

The majority of her lunches and dinners consist of a special pasta in tomato sauce.
Borsi suffers from phenylketonuria (PKU), a metabolic disorder which if undetected leads to problems with brain development, progressive mental retardation, brain damage, and seizures.

Thankfully, Borsi's condition was spotted when she was six days old when a routine test in her native Hungary showed abnormalities in her blood.

Her condition means her body cannot process the amino acid phenylalanine, which is found in most protein-rich foods.

Just one in 15,000 children are born with the condition, which is caused by a genetic mutation.

Her mother Maria, 37, said: 'Pretty much everything is off the menu. She can't eat any meat, normal pasta, bread, fish and yoghurt.

'When she goes to children's parties she finds it hard to watch the other children enjoying cakes and biscuits and sometimes she cries.

'We have to explain to her that she cannot eat those things and she understands, but it's still really difficult for her.

'Easter and Christmas are hard too. There's so many things she's not allowed to eat everywhere you look. '

Borsi lives with her mother Maria and father Zsolt, 37, plus eight-month-old brother Ben and sister Biborka, nine.

The family emigrated from Hungary in August for her father's job as an online communications specialist.

Maria said: 'We try to adapt what we eat as a family, but it would be impossible for us all to stick to Borsi's diet.

'Her special foods taste so different from ours because they don't contain any flour or eggs and her sister won't eat them - she says they are disgusting, which just makes things worse for Borsi.

'We try not to eat much meat and to eat a lot of fruit and veg, but sometimes she prefers not to eat with us because it's too hard for her.

'When it's just me and her I only eat what she eats, but if we are with other families I can't punish them because of her condition.

'How can I tell someone else's child not to eat ice cream in front of her? It's something she will have to experience her whole life and she has to learn to cope.'

Maria added: 'The thing about PKU is that it isn't like diabetes - you don't see the affects straightaway. If Borsi has a meatball or a bite of cake, she will seem fine on the outside.

'But if she carries on the toxins gradually collect in her body, poisoning her brain.

'This is why so many families find it hard to stick to the diet, because they don't see the harm in giving them a little bit here and there.

'Thankfully Borsi is very advanced and mature for her age so she knows very well what she is and isn't allowed to eat.'


source :dailymail

Posted in: Healthy Foods,News Update