“You are what you eat” is anything but a new idea. But would it surprise you to hear that there is a connection between our diet and our aggressiveness? And supplementing prisoners’ diets with vitamins and minerals has been shown to reduce violence and bad behavior?
The idea that a poor diet can make people more aggressive isn’t entirely new either.
In the 1940s, an unapproachable scientist named Dr. Hugh Sinclair (who was one of the first to demonstrate the health benefits of eating fatty fish) persuaded the British wartime government to give free cod liver oil and orange juice to children during the war on the grounds that, among other things, a poor diet could lead to antisocial behavior.
I also remember reading a book in the 1970s by the American psychologist Dr. After reading George Watson’s “Nutrition And Your Mind,” in which he argued that getting people to eat more nutrient-dense, high-fiber foods and more “good” bacteria (in the form of yogurt) not only improves their gut health, but also their behavior.
In the 1970s, not much was known about gut bacteria, so he was clearly ahead of his time.
“You are what you eat” is anything but a new idea. But would it surprise you to hear that there is a connection between our diet and our aggressiveness?
DR MICHAEL MOSLEY: How “bad” gut bacteria can make you mean and aggressive
These claims – that people’s behavior could be improved by changing their diet – were largely ignored until researchers at the University of Oxford decided in 1998 to conduct a nutritional study in a nearby prison.
At the time, prisoners were fed a cheap and starchy diet that consisted largely of grains, white bread, and highly processed foods such as mass-produced meat pies. (According to a friend of mine who works in a prison, prison food hasn’t changed much.)
For the study, Oxford researchers randomly assigned 231 male prisoners to take a pill containing vitamins, minerals and omega-3 fatty acids (a fatty acid obtained mainly from eating fatty fish) or a placebo.
Neither group knew what they were taking, and both groups took their pills every day for just over four months.
During this time, researchers monitored inmates’ behavior using “Governor’s Reports,” a record of all actions that involved intimidation or violence.
At the end of the study, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2002, researchers found that reports of violence dropped by a remarkable 37 percent in the group receiving the supplements, while there was no significant change in behavior of the prisoners who took the placebo.
A similar study was conducted later in 2021 by California State University in the US with 450 young offenders who were given an omega-3 supplemented vitamin and mineral supplement – this led to a reduction in violent attacks on staff and others prisoners by 39 percent.
The researchers pointed out that providing allowances to prisoners would be a cost-effective way to not only reduce the level of aggression in prisons, as committing violent crimes leads to longer periods of imprisonment, but also to increased absenteeism and burnout among prison staff. clues. , but also saves money (according to the Ministry of Justice, housing a prisoner costs over £47,000 a year – so spending a small amount of money on improving their diet seems like a good investment to me).
And of course it’s not just prisoners. A 2016 University of Pittsburgh study of aggressive children ages 11 to 12 found that taking vitamin, mineral, and omega-3 supplements for three months resulted in a significant decrease in aggressive behavior. Unfortunately, when the children stopped taking the supplements, the bad behavior returned. Why does taking dietary supplements have this effect?
Well, anyone who eats a largely junk food diet is almost certainly deficient in important nutrients, and we know from countless studies that a lifetime supply of the right vitamins and minerals is essential for the proper functioning of your brain. and central nervous system.
And this, in turn, can have a huge impact on impulse control and help you keep your feelings of anger and aggression under control.
In addition, a poor diet affects your gut microbiome: the microbes that live in our gut and affect our health in many ways.
In a recent yet-to-be-published study on mice, scientists at Bar-Ilan University in Israel showed that they could make mice more or less aggressive simply by manipulating their microbiome. The less diverse their microbiome was and the more “bad” insects they harbored, the more aggressive the mice acted.
It’s not clear why, but it could be because the nasty insects produce chemicals that cause inflammation, and these chemicals can travel to the brain via our blood supply.
On the other hand, if you have a lot of “good” bacteria in your gut, they help produce feel-good hormones like dopamine.
In addition, the scientists showed that changing the mice’s microbiome caused genes associated with aggression to be activated or deactivated in their brains.
I’m not sure if all of this means we can say, “It wasn’t my fault, my gut bacteria made me do it.” But there seems to be little doubt that taking care of your gut bacteria can help your mood and keep it stable.
You know the motto: Eat a healthy, Mediterranean diet with lots of vegetables, nuts and fatty fish and eat fermented foods like sauerkraut and yogurt.
It may seem like an eternity, but while you were lying on the beach enjoying the sun last summer, your body was producing melanin, a chemical that protects our skin from the sun’s UV light. . Now researchers at Northwestern University have developed a cream containing a synthetic version of melanin that not only protects skin from sun damage, but also heals skin that has already been damaged by sun or chemical burns.
The hope is that in the future it could be used in sunscreens and for patients undergoing radiation therapy.
The future for donor patients?
Stock photo of an anatomical model of a human
The variety of things that surgeons can transplant has long fascinated me. I have filmed people undergoing kidney transplants, heart transplants, lung transplants and even hand transplants.
The latter was particularly strange since the donor arm, transplanted into a man, actually came from a woman; and because it was a different size, it looked out of place. But most importantly, it worked.
That’s why I was excited when I read in the email that Aaron James, an American veteran, recently underwent the world’s first full eye transplant and partial face transplant after surviving a 7,200 volt electric shock.
The major disadvantage of transplants is that you usually have to take life-long immunosuppressive medications, which have significant side effects. So much so that one patient who had an arm transplant stopped taking the medication after three years and lost the arm.
But that could change: In a recent study at the University of Pittsburgh in the US, patients who were to undergo a liver transplant were given dendritic cells from the donor. Dendritic cells roam your body, identifying anything they consider “foreign” and handing it over to the immune system to destroy.
But adding dendritic cells before the liver transplant “taught” the recipient’s immune system to tolerate the new organ, eliminating the need for immunosuppressive drugs.
If further efforts are successful, it could revolutionize transplantation.
Embrace the cold to live longer
You May Be Lowering Your Biological Age With Mild Hypothermia (stock photo)
How old are you really? Not how many birthdays you’ve had, but deep down, on a cellular level?
As part of a recent series on super-olds (people in their 70s and older who look and act decades younger), I visited the Clock Foundation in California, where they are conducting cutting-edge longevity research.
Based on work at the University of California, Los Angeles, they developed a biological age test that measures certain chemical changes in DNA that occur over time. The test is also called the “death knell” because it is a much better indicator of how much time you have left than the number of candles on your birthday cake. To my relief, the test revealed that although I am 66 years old, my biological age is only 61.
Being biologically younger than you can make a difference: A new study published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry found that your risk of developing dementia is 40 percent higher if you are five years older than your biological age if your actual age, dementia can develop. a stroke
But you can lower your biological age. Research shows that increased exercise, good sleep and a healthy microbiome are helpful, as is mild hypothermia (ie feeling cold). That’s a good thing now that the cold months are approaching.
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Crystal Leahy is an author and health journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a background in health and wellness, Crystal has a passion for helping people live their best lives through healthy habits and lifestyles.
