The effect of diet and nutrition on behavior and psychological health is a controversial topic. Your moods, emotions and actions are governed and influenced by numerous factors, from your genes to your personal relationships. However, the "Journal of Offender Rehabilitation" says there's plenty of evidence that for some people diet may be associated with, and even intensify, issues like impulse control, violent tendencies, hyperactivity, alcoholism and substance abuse. Diets that induce hypoglycemia cause reactions to food additives and may exacerbate aggressive behavior in some people.
Nutritional Influences on Aggressive Behavior
Vitamin deficiencies are known to cause problem behaviors, according to an article in the "Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine." For example, inadequate levels of B vitamins, such as niacin, pantothenic acid, thiamin, B6, along with vitamin C, is associated with irritability. In a review of the literature, the author points to junk food diets that caused thiamine deficiency and were linked to impulsiveness, aggression and sensitivity to criticism. In addition, iron deficiency may affect your level of the dopamine neurotransmitter in your brain, and could have a deleterious impact on your behavior. The journal article says iron deficiency may be a contributor to "aggressive behavioral syndrome." Moreover, the amino acid tryptophan, found in turkey, is a dietary precursor another neurotransmitter, serotonin. Serotonin helps modulate behavior, and the author says impulsive, violent and suicidal behaviors have been linked with low serotonin activity.
Cholesterol
In a meta-analysis of studies on the subject, a University of California San Diego researcher said there is a significant association between low cholesterol and violence. She said numerous studies consistently show that increased violent death and violent behaviors among people with low cholesterol levels. Curiously, men who did not have heart disease and received cholesterol-lowering therapy have died more violent deaths than others not receiving such therapy. The author suggested low cholesterol may reduce serotonin activity and that a tendency toward violence ought to be considered in cholesterol treatment.
Dieting
Two researchers publishing in the "Journal of Consumer Research" set out to find out whether exerting self-control, such as when dieting, could lead to angry behaviors and preferences. It turns out that it can. In a set of several experiments, people who had to exhibit the most control showed a strong preference for violent movies and images. They were also more annoyed and irritated by messages that nagged them to do better, such as "You ought to eat healthier." They liked public policy messages that had an angry undertone, rather than a sad one. For example, they liked, "If funds are not increase for police training, more criminals will escape prison." The authors concluded that public policy and marketing messages that encourage the public to exert more self-control in their daily choices, like the ones associated with weight control in the wake of an obesity epidemic, might incite potentially negative emotions.
Antisocial Behavior in Children and Teens
A study published in the "American Journal of Psychiatry" found that malnutrition in the first few years of life can lead to aggressive and antisocial behavior starting from childhood to late adolescence. The finding is based on researchers who followed an ethnically diverse group of children for 14 years on an island nation off the coast of Africa. Some had deficiencies in the B vitamin riboflavin, protein, zinc and iron. Those who had deficiencies had a 41 percent increase in aggression at age 8, 10 percent more aggression and delinquency at age 11, and a 51 percent increase in violent and antisocial behavior at age 17. The authors of the study said their findings have implications for children in the United States where 7 percent of toddlers and 9 to 16 percent of teens have an iron deficiency.
References
- "Journal of Offender Rehabilitation"; Diet, Nutrition and Aggression; Diana Fishbein and Susan E. Pease; 1995
- "Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine"; Nutritional Influences on Aggressive Behavior; Melvyn R. Werbach; 1995
- "Annals of Internal Medicine"; Cholesterol and Violence: Is There a Connection?; Beatrice A. Golomb; March 15, 1998
- "Journal of Consumer Research"; The Grapes of Wrath: The Angry Effects of Self Control; David Gal and Wendy Liu; epub March 3, 2011
- "American Journal of Psychiatry"; Malnutrition at Age 3 Years and Externalizing Behavior Problems at Ages 8, 11, and 17 Years; Jianghong Liu et al.; November 2004
- Science Daily; Cranky? On a Diet? How Self-Control Leads to Anger; March 18, 2011
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