Fish v. Drugs for Children And Criminals

Sun, 16 Apr 2006 13:27:58 +0000

When most of us think about Eating Our Way To Happiness we tend to think delicious doesn't exist on the same spectrum as nutritious. There are several T.V. advertising campaigns promising happiness in association with foodstuffs at present. Pop Quiz. Do you think that these foodstuffs are vegetables or confectionery? Nutrient-dense or nutrient-poor? How much truth is there in this advertising?

Does it matter? Well, according to research conducted in prisons, the nutritional profile of what we eat may matter a great deal. Physiologist Bernard Gesch had lead this research in UK prisons and is quoted as claiming that:

Research suggests that we may have seriously under-estimated the importance of nutrition for our social behaviour. Since the 1950s there has been a ten-fold increase in offences. How else can we explain that but by diet? It is not down to genetics. The main change over that period has been in nutrients.

Gesch's trials with supplements in a prison population indicated that inmates responded with a drop by more than a third in their level of antisocial behaviour (as measured by assaults and similar transgressions) relative to their previous records. For some, this raises questions about the link between diet and behaviour, and the link between violence and free will. Gesch was interviewed on the topic for the New York Times [behind a paywall] and argues:

UnLtd Blogs - anti-depressants

Fish v. Drugs for Children And Criminals