A woman who suffers from liver poisoning and malnutrition warned the public to be careful over the food they eat.

Mickia Brangman, 33, said it was difficult for Bermudians to eat a good diet because of the expense and easy access to unhealthy food.

She added that a poor diet was easy to develop but could become dangerous earlier in life than many suspect.

Ms Brangman, who was speaking after she revealed that she had to go to the UK for treatment for a serious stomach problem, said: “I do think a lot of the foods that we are getting access to in Bermuda have to be monitored and changed.

“A lot of the time we eat what we eat here because we could afford to eat that, but it’s just not healthy.”

She added: “I was definitely one of those children who grew up on chicken nuggets and Popsicles and soda and stuff like that.

“We have to really educate our parents about what we’re feeding our kids because it starts from that age.”

Ms Brangman, a sailing instructor with the Endeavour programme for young people, had suffered for about 13 years from an excess of gut bacteria which stopped the absorption of nutrients in food.

She now suffers from malnutrition and weighs under 90lbs.

Ms Brangman, who was diagnosed last Monday, also learnt that metals had built up in her liver, which had raised toxicity levels in the organ and prevented her from consuming many types of food or drinks.

Ms Brangman said that she started becoming sick when she first moved to Europe and tried to change her diet.

She added that she believed her body rejected the healthier diet because it was not used to it.

Ms Brangman said: “I don’t agree with the way that Bermuda’s going with our food.

“I think something like this could have been prevented and it can be preventable for other people who take their health seriously.”

Ms Brangman said that she found it difficult to eat healthily on the island because of the expense, despite being single with no children.

“Healthy foods cost an arm and a leg when it should be the opposite way around — the sugary cereals and all of that should be sky high and the produce should be cheap.

“We need to work out a way where this is affordable, otherwise people’s health is just going to drop.

“I think that’s honestly why we have such a high diabetic rate.”

She added: “I do think Bermudians drink too much.

“I can raise my hand and say that I’ve been there, but this whole Covid thing is making matters worse when it comes to drinkers and eating poorly, when it should make us more health-cautious.”

Ms Brangman started a GoFundMe page on Wednesday to raise funds to help her to attend a specialist programme in the UK.

Yesterday she reached £4,200 of her £6,500 goal — about $8,832.

She added: “I think Bermuda needs to take these digestive issues — especially of young people — very seriously.”