Kevin,
YOU'RE RIGHT ON !
kevin reese schrieb:
> Dear Mel
>
> I have been for an exceptional night out, so please excuse the standard of
> my typing and response.
>
> Several years ago I saw the statistic that hand gun deaths in the US were
> 10450 per annum in the UK 20. Our population is only 1/5 that of the US so
> the above statistic is way out of proportion. Before looking at nutrition
> could I suggest that the accessibility of fire arms in your country is the
> main problem not nutrition.
>
> This right to bare arms business is silly in the 1990's and if dysfunctional
> adults/adolesents have easy access to fire arms only the worst can be
> contemplated. Lobby your government against this foolishness.
>
> Regards Kevin.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 04 June 1999 10:34
> 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]
--
Erik Goossens
Dipl. PT SRK - PT Educator Akad. TvdL Landquart
Physiotherapie Erik Goossens GmbH
MediFIT Medical Reconditioning
CH-4102 Binningen - Switzerland
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