UK Prison research: nutritional deficiencies play key role in violent behaviour

This would be an awesome pod. We actually have three prisons in our area and it would be neat to interview some inmates. Or some former inmates. Hmmm... I know one with some anger issues too. Maybe I'll see if I can talk him into a new diet and cover the process?

dbocaz...this is amazing!
It's a joy to be able to get this response in a few minutes after posting it, after thinking about it in frustration for years.

Thank you Current .
If this is successfully executed it could make major systemic changes in our government and in people's lives...if it works once it should be a template for millions of others....

Interesting.

I do get a little bitchy when I eat spicy foods.

I don't know. I'm a skeptic. I do believe there's a strong correlation between certain foods and moods, but I think more than anything, people's propensity for violence or negative behavior has more to do with the environment they were subjected to growing up in. Nuture vs. Nature. I think they work hand in hand.

Looking at the chart, I'd like to know the stats on the amount of guns, drugs alcohol and violent movies each country has.

The big question is in my book:

Why does it have to be one magic pill that solves everything.
Sometimes it might be a little Omega 3 that someone is missingthat makes them off center.
...sometimes it might be a whole slew of reasons...like you say...Neghie ...family...violence in the house.

They have cut the violence in these prisoners by I think it says 1/3. That is so significant.

I can put up some more links to the other stories I posted that have more details later.

Neghie--what people eat is part of the environment they were subjected to growing up in....food is intrinsic to the Nature vs Nurture debate...it is one of the most significant ways all human beings and animals nurture each other.

Another way to look at these findings is to surmise that people who have not been properly nurtured have a propensity for violence....hard to argue with that. We probably all know someone who immediately comes to mind. It shouldn't surprise us.

When people grow up without being properly nurtured, for whatever reason, and begin to look around at all of the excess and waste in the world, particularly if they are being denied access to resources for fulfilling their most basic human needs, that realization nurtures anger. It feeds the anger, which in turn gives rise to criminal behavior. It is all tied up together.

Incredulous,

I'm following your logic and it kind of makes sense, but I think it's how you want to look at it. I grew up not having much to eat in my house. There were times my brother and I went to bed without eating. Celery and carrot sticks with peanut butter on the side was a good night sometimes. I turned out all right with a few scrapes, but my brother ended up with a drug habit and wrap sheet.
We were poor, so we lived in a bad neighborhood, which means we could barely eat, which means our environment wasn't the best.
Poor people, eat poorly. Kool-aid and pickled pig feet is probably not the best diet for anyone.

This is a chicken before the egg scenario for me. If you're well off, you'll eat better, be in a better situation and probably do better in life. It's what you do with the cards you were dealt.

This is a very interesting article and makes perfect sense. The health crisis in the U.S. is a socio-economic problem.

Where do most of the drug dealers, murders, & sex offenders come from? From the undernourished underclass who can't afford good food or don't have enough education to know how to stay healthy.

How will this ever change? Only if healthy food and choices are made affordable for everyone.

Binarysunset and Neghie..., it is not only poor people who are undernourished,,,a lot of rich and middle class in the USA are well fed and huge but undernourished...they have problems too that are psychological many of them are not put in jail because they have money and support to keep them out.

I love my 1 coffee a day and decaf.
I have chocolate in moderation..
since I am a Vegan I can only eat dark.
...in moderation I think...its ok....I try to drink copious green tea.

I guess I have hard time saying it's the food because it it's like saying, "Change the food, Change the world!" It's nice and wonderful to hope that everyone can get equal everything, but it's not the world we live in. I get the idea that it can be a "cause", but I don't think it's the inception of the problem. My problem lies with the idea that societies problem starts with the food... oh, wait a minute....I just got it. Nevermind!

Neghie Glad you got it!

I am sorry about your brother having trouble. I feel so bad for people who are victims of this system. Maybe Obama will help us all...I am not sure if he can but t least he seems like he wants to.

You might have had a poor home and I sympathize.
I do know that my nutritional deficiency was not from lack of money but it was ignorance of the correct things to eat. We grew up eating hot dogs with white rolls..sugary foods..lots of soda and fake juices. french fries. I ended up with severe asthma from all of the chemicals.
Your mother was wise and knew that your celery sticks and peanut butter were a good option to give you solid nutrition.

It must have been hard going to bed with no food...I never had to do that..

Interesting, I agree to a point, I had a horrible diet up until a couple of years ago, 6-pack of soda a day, Hamburgers, Doritos, Pizza pockets, you name a food fried in fat and I ate it. But I never beat my kids, I never wanted to kill people and I didn't have abnormal anti-social behaviour outside of being a geek who played D&D all the time.

I can however attest to being very grumpy when I don't have my white chocolate mocha in the mornin' lol. Everyone should clean up their diet and drop the junky processed foods, they ain't good for anyone.

I agree that there are a lot of upper & middle class individuals who are not eating correctly, but it is more common among those who are not educated or who cannot afford good health care.

I mean, even if you DO have good health care most insurance companies will not pay for gym memberships, personal trainers, dietitians, unless you are considered "morbidly" obese (over 300 lbs.).

The media & medical industry complain that we are obese/unhealthy, but yet do not give us the tools to actually solve the problem.

Going back to the underclass, even if they were educated as to what to eat or how to exercise, it's STILL cheaper to buy a $0.99 box of frozen pizza than it is to buy a pint of $3.99 strawberries. When you're barely making it with 3 kids, two jobs, and make "too much" to qualify for welfare, every penny counts.

If the health of the US is to improve, our CULTURE will have to change.

The Japanese institute exercise in their daily lives. I'm sure many have seen the videos of factory workers doing jumping jacks on a company sponsored break. I remember seeing street sweepers "warming up" before working when I visited Japan.

If our culture actually focused on what will make us healthier (i.e. if it actually made businesses any money), then things might change.

Right now "being healthy" just seems to be a media driven fad that only certain people are following.

I grew up with a nurse in my home so I've been blessed with having a healthy diet my whole life practically.
When I went thru my first semester of college however, I probably went out to eat once a week. Which to most, doesn't seem like a lot but to me, who ate out once every couple of months was. I never did get violent but I did feel my mood change for the worst. I also became more tired.
It wasn't about gaining weight because I didn't gain a lot during that period but my mindset was completely different and that's what made me feel unhealthy.

An extra idea for the pod (if someone is going to do it) is to take a look at our fattest states or cities. How does Memphis, Houston or New Orleans stack up against Denver, Portland, or SF? Are these cities more violent than the others based on their eating habits?

MornRail:

That's a GREAT idea! Along the lines of the first poster.

A few years ago I went through a nasty bout with depression and I'm sure many of you can comiserate.

I really hated the numb feeling the meds gave me, so I researched alternative methods, and what do you know... Wholistic nutritionists reccomend Omega 3!

I started eating more sushi, which I love, and taking supplements and gradually I began to feel better. This obviously didn't happen over night. I see a therapist and found other outlets to express the pain in my life.

I still do have to give credit to proper nutrition... It really helped me. I learned that there's no such thing as a quick fix for your problems.

For those of you that had it rough growing up, I can relate. I had a parent who was an alcoholic, drug addict, abuser, and that really effs you up. My sister and I pretty much ate everything out of a can because our Mom would rather have drugs.

One good thing that does come from that kind of experience is the strength that comes from knowing that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Viva Omega 3!

Here are the 2007 charts and figures on our fattest states: http://calorielab.com/news/2007/08/06/fattest-states-2007/
Colorado, our leanest while Mississippi is once again our fattest.

I grew up in San Antonio, TX but am currently residing in Denver and I can tell you that I definitely see the difference between the restaurants and what-not here compared to the restaurants back home. Lots of Tex-Mex versus a lot of cafes and sandwich shops. It's quite interesting. I don't really know the violence level of SA over Denver but I went to an inner-city school where we'd have fights practically 3 times a month. There were also a couple of gangs.

I've been in Denver for only about 8 months and though I feel they have a big problem with homelessness here, I haven't seen much in the way of violence.

MornRail:

I grew up in SA & currently live in Austin and I notice a BIG difference just in these two cities! (Although, most consider people who choose to live in Austin Californians & not Texans.)

The tex-mex, southern fried foods, fast foods, and dependency on cars for travel all contribute to obesity. The "thinner" cities/states not only have different foods & attitudes, but better public transportation & you can walk everywhere (NYC, SF, Boston, etc.)

If only we can convince people to invest in metrorail across Texas.

Hitler had an excellent diet, he was vegetarian, he didn't drink alcohol nor smoked cigarettes nor indulged in any other form of tobacco smoking. Go figure...

For some reason Current is not letting me reply to your pm, binary so I'll just answer it here since it still pertains to the whole thing anyways.

I definitely think you're right about these healthy cities not just having better food choices but how they get around, the exercise and whether their air is cleaner too.

Denver is a really easy city to get around in with lightrails and simply by walking. Also, in SA they keep building jobs far out. Our downtown is not a economic hotspot. Rather our medical centers and other booming businesses are always being built on the outskirts of town (i.e. the new Microsoft server farm). So I too wish SA will do something transportation-wise or atleast try to do something with the downtown area. People are going across town to get to work and that seems silly considering a big population live downtown.

Love my hometown but they're not making that a big enough issue down there.

Thanks Carolyn for pointing out that many people eat a lot of food but are still suffer from undernourishment.

I agree it is class but also it is the fact that if upper class people get in trouble they are sent to therapy and not to jail. That is unfair.

cheyroze, I think you meant malnourishment, not undernourishment. Many people eat a lot of the wrong food - they are over-nourished and malnourished.