- Children who have a poor diet are more likely to become
aggressive and anti-social, US researchers believe.
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- The University of Southern California found a lack of
zinc, iron, vitamin B and protein in the first three years caused bad behaviour
later on.
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- At eight years old, children fed poorly were more likely
to be irritable and pick fights than those fed healthily.
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- Aged 11, they swore, cheated and got into fights, and
at 17, they stole, bullied others and took drugs.
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- The researchers analysed the development of more than
1,000 children on Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean off the cost
of Africa, over 14 years.
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- They found the more malnurished the children were, the
greater the anti-social behaviour later on.
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- The team took into account factors such as social background,
health and education, the American Journal of Psychiatry reported.
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- Report co-author Adrian Raine said parents could prevent
their children developing bad behaviour by ensuring they get better diets.
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- "Poor nutrition leads to low IQ, which leads to
later anti-social behaviour.
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- "At a societal level, should parents be thinking
more about what kids are eating?
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- "There's more to anti-social behaviour than nutrition,
but we argue that it is an important missing link.
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- Risk factors
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- "Biology is not destiny, we can change the biological
disposition to anti-social and aggressive behaviour."
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- Fellow researcher Jianghong Liu, of the university's
Social Science Research Institute, agreed.
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- "Identifying the early risk factors for this behaviour
in childhood and adolescence is an important first step for developing
successful prevention programmes for adult violence."
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- But Dr Ann Hagell, research development adviser at the
Nuffield Foundation, a charitable trust which funds social and education
research, raised doubts about the findings.
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- "I would not dismiss the study out-of-hand but I
would be surprised if diet plays a big role.
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- "In my experience diet is not part of the explanation.
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- "It can cause hyper activity disorders, but anti-social
behaviour is more influenced by parenting and genetics and teen peer pressure
in teenage groups."
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4032449.stm
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