Laying down the law and tinkering with a constitution designed to enpower
the individual and protect their rights are obviously difficult and emotive
acts. I personally disagree with censorship but recognise that there are
some limits and that rules and laws sometimes protect the many from the few.
I hope we would all agree with freedom of speech but would be against child
pornography. Again I essentially do not see the problem with the right to
bear arms if people acted rationally and appropriately at all times.
Unfortunately this is not the case. Whether it is video games or diet, the
fact is that guns were designed to damage and kill other lifeforms. We can
not control the people but we can control (to an extent) the people who have
access to weapons which were thought up for horrific deeds.
Humans appear to always have the ability to cause misery and suffering to
others for the most bizarre reasons. Preventing them from doing this
whether it is by having a law against child cruelty, mugging, drink driving,
control of firearms or control of nuclear/chemical/biological weapons
(although our governments are hypocrits in these instances) must be a
acceptable form of censorship.
Simon Mesner on Chris McLean's address.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 04 June 1999 10:31
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: FOOD & BEHAVIOUR
>
> It has been about two months since the tragic murders at Columbine High
> School in our suburb and we have heard psychologists, teachers,
> politicians,
> crime experts, children and many others presenting their opinions of why a
>
> dreadful crime could have been perpetrated by school children.
>
> Obviously I could not have heard all the contributors to these
> discussions,
> but I was wondering if anyone had raised the issue of nutritional factors
> as
> one of the possible contributory factors in this crime. Certainly in
> trying
> to decipher the nature of complex and complicated human behaviour, it
> would
> be overly simplistic to blame any single factor, just as it is overly
> simplistic to blame a single cardiac risk factor for causing coronary
> heart
> disease.
>
> Initially it might sound a bit far-fetched to suggest that faulty
> nutritional
> habits could be one of the factors involved in leading to that horrendous
> event, but before we dismiss such a notion at the outset, let us examine
> some
> research which may have a bearing on the issue:
>
> 1. In the 1980s, hardened juvenile delinquents at a detention facility
> in
> Virginia were fed a balanced diet low in sugar and chemical additives for
> two
> years instead of the typical fast food, low nutrient diet characteristic
> of
> those age groups. Over the duration of that study, theft decreased by
> 77%,
> hyperactivity by 65% and insubordination by 55% (Schoenthaler S "Diet and
> Crime: An empirical examination of the value of nutrition in the control
> and
> treatment of incarcerated juvenile offenders' Intern J of Biosocial
> Research 1983, 4(1): 25-39). The same researcher elaborated on this study
> in
> the next issue of that journal: 'Types of Offenses which can be reduced in
> an
> Institutional Setting using Nutritional Intervention - A Preliminary
> Empirical Evaluation. 1983, 4(2): 74-84.
>
> 2. Several other studies using diets with low sugar and no chemical
> additives for a total of over 8000 youths in 12 juvenile correctional
> facilities reduced deviant behaviour by 47% (Schoenthaler S "Institutional
>
> Nutritional Policies and Criminal Behavior' Nutrition Today 1985, 20(3)
> :
> 16)
>
> 3. In Los Angeles juvenile detention facilities, similar diets
> administered
> to nearly 1500 adolescents reduced problem behaviour and suicide attempts
> by
> 44% (Schoenthaler S ' The Los Angeles Probation Department Diet Behavior
> Program: An Empirical Evaluation of Six Institutions' Intern J of
> Biosocial
> Research 1983, 5(2): 88-98
>
> 4. The Lancet reported that 79% of children diagnosed as being
> hyperactive
> improved when dubious foods were removed from their diets, but
> deteriorated
> as soon as these additives and suspect foods were reintroduced. The worst
>
> offenders were identified as artificial colourants and flavourings, with
> sugar also having a significant effect (Egger J et al 'Controlled Trial
> of
> Oligoantigenic Treatment in the Hyperkinetic Syndrome' Lancet 1985: 540)
>
> 5. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study in the 1979 Journal of
> Biological Psychiatry showed that large doses of vitamin B6 was more
> effective than Ritalin in reducing hyperactivity in children (cited by
> Autism
> Research Institute, San Diego, June 1992 - see their website:
> http://www.autism.com/ari/ which also reports on the possible role for
> magnesium, vit C and DMG in treating autism).
>
> 6. In a 4 year study (1979-1983), considerable improvement in academic
> performance of over 1 million children at 803 public schools in New York
> city
> took place when only the at-schoolmeals were altered to eliminate
> artificial
> additives and reduce sugar, while adding fresh fruits, vegetables, whole
> grains and more plant-based proteins (Schoenthaler S 'The Impact of a low
>
> food additive and sucrose diet on Academic Performance in New York Public
> Schools' Intern J of Biosocial Research 1986 8(2): 182-195
>
> Besides the implications for the behaviour of children, these studies and
> many others indicate that it is not simply narcotics, stimulants,
> hormones,
> LSD and other obviously psychoactive drugs which may modify one's
> psychological state, but even ones which are far more subtle and which are
>
> associated with our normal modern eating habits. Extrapolating this
> directly
> to the world of sport, let us for a moment shift aside our current
> preoccupation with the physiological effects of anabolic-androgenic
> steroids
> (AAS), prohormones, ephedra, caffeine, energy replacement drinks and other
>
> substances which are popularly researched in sponsored studies, and ask if
>
> sufficient attention is being focused on the psychological effects of
> these
> drugs, as well as other constituents of one's normal daily diet, insofar
> as
> this may affect sporting performance.
>
> Dr Mel C Siff
> Denver, USA
> [log in to unmask]
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