A 5-year-old child suffers from moyamoya disease. Is it related to picky eating and lack of vitamin C?

A family member of a patient consulted online. The child is 5 years old this year. He is picky about food and likes meat but not vegetables and fruits. He often runs and runs, and then he becomes weak, tired, anorexic, and sometimes has a headache. Neighbors said that the child may be lacking in nutrients. After going to the hospital for a checkup, it was found that the child is a little lacking in vitamin C. The MRI showed that the child had moyamoya disease. The family members were very curious, can a lack of vitamin C in the body cause moyamoya disease?

Moyamoya disease has nothing to do with vitamin C deficiency. Moyamoya disease is a rare cerebrovascular disease of unknown cause, which is common in East Asia, such as Japan, South Korea and China. Moyamoya disease may be related to genetics. Clinically, there have been cases where a grandmother had moyamoya disease and her grandson also had moyamoya disease, and there have also been cases where three siblings suffered from moyamoya disease at the same time. However, these cases are relatively rare. The probability of inheritance of moyamoya disease is also relatively small. Some scholars also believe that moyamoya disease is related to diseases such as neurofibromatosis type 1, sickle cell disease and Down syndrome.

After the patient is diagnosed with moyamoya disease, it is recommended to undergo surgical treatment in time. Because the long-term development of moyamoya disease affects the blood supply to the child's brain. If the child's brain is not supplied with enough blood, he will experience transient cerebral ischemia symptoms such as headache, dizziness, and numbness of one side of the limbs. Some people even have cerebral infarction, which causes the child to have symptoms such as intellectual impairment, aphasia, and mental disorders. Surgical treatment can improve the patient's brain blood supply, reduce the risk of stroke, and improve the patient's quality of life.

Children are mostly vitamin C deficient because they are picky eaters and do not like to eat fruits and vegetables. Anorexia and fatigue are symptoms of vitamin C deficiency. Children are in the growth and development stage, and they can only grow up healthily if they have a balanced diet. If the child's vitamin C deficiency is serious, it is recommended to go to the nutrition department and ask the doctor to prescribe special vitamin C supplements. If the child's symptoms are mild, food is the first choice to supplement vitamin C. When facing picky eaters, parents can add childishness when cooking, such as arranging vegetable flowers or smiley faces on rice to increase the child's appetite.