The teenage girl who can only eat Tic Tacs

Last updated at 16:02 09 February 2008


A teenager is battling a mystery illness that means she can only eat Tic Tacs.

Natalie Cooper, 17, says she the two-calorie mints are the only food her body doesn't reject. The rest of her sustenance comes from a specially-formulated feed which she receives from a tube.

The youngster from Maidstone, Kent has never been able to keep food down. She discovered the only thing her stomach would accept were the little mints.

"I like eating everything you would expect. I enjoy eating but it just comes back up," she said.

"It happens pretty much immediately and it's no effort."

Natalie experimented a few years ago by eating mints after a family meal.

"When they started to come back up, I started reducing the size of the mints," she said.

"I went from Trebor Extra Strong Mints to Polos and ended up with Tic Tacs. They give me a bit of energy, but I eat them mostly to get rid of hunger. It's a psychological effect."

Doctors investigated whether she was suffering from bulimia, but they have dismissed this theory and are now baffled by her condition.

At one stage, Natalie's weight dropped to five stone. She now tips the scales more comfortably at just over seven stone.

She is hoping to visit medical specialists in the future to help her beat the condition, which means she is too weak to be able to hold down a regular job.

"I did have a job at a shop, but the six-hour shift was too much," she said.

Her mother Sharon Cooper said: "Natalie is going to have a gap year and we are hoping a second opinion will find something different.

"It was quite upsetting at first. Doctors thought it was going to be bulimia, but I knew it wasn't."

Natalie received an award for her bravely dealing with her condition from Chief Superintendent John Molloy of the Kent Police. She was among a number of young people who received awards at Margate Winter Gardens to recognise their achievements.

Most watched News videos