(*Source: Extracted from Holford, P. (2003) Optimum Nutrition: for the mind. London: Piatkus. Pages 256-262)
Anne was notorious for her anti-authoritarian attitudes and violence. She had lived in care since the age of ten, and had a history of assault and burglary, and bouts of severe depression and solvent abuse. Analyses showed abnormal glucose tolerance, zinc, magnesium and B-vitamin deficiencies. Her energy level was very low in the morning and she’d often have drops in energy during the day, leaving her depressed and edgy. Within three weeks on a low-sugar diet plus supplements, she had freed herself of drugs, was no longer depressed, had improved energy and described how she had never felt so relaxed.
Crime and incidences of violent behaviour are going up all over the world. Why? Could changes in diet be playing a part? When someone commits a crime what do you do? Punish them, remove them from society to prevent further crime, or try to understand the causes of deviant behaviour in order to socially rehabilitate the offender? In the world of rehabilitation, one factor that is almost completely overlooked is nutrition.
Bernard Gesch came across Anne’s case in the course of his work. A former probation officer, he is now director of the UK-based charity Natural Justice, which investigates the root cause of crime. Gesch believes that the criminal justice system falsely places all the emphasis on social issues, ignoring physical factors such as nutrition. ‘There are many chemicals around us that are known to affect behaviour. Our environment is increasingly polluted. Our food supply has fundamentally changed. In the same way that we don’t notice ageing, how would we notice the effects of gradual changes to our diet and environment?’ Yet the effects are there.
(*Source: Extracted from Holford, P. (2003) Optimum Nutrition: for the mind. London: Piatkus. Pages 256-262)
Fig 29 Handwriting and mood: before and after sugar. (Reproduced with the kind permission of Natural Justice).
(The figure cannot be reproduced here, because Blogger does not support the transfer of images; but the illustrations clearly shows dramatic differences in handwriting before and after dietary changes).
The fact is that all thoughts and consequently behaviour are processed through the brain and nervous system, which are totally dependent on nutrition. Approximately half of all the glucose in the blood goes to power the brain which is also dependent on a second-by-second supply of micro-nutrients — vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. Anti-nutrients such as lead and cadmium fundamentally affect brain function. ‘What we’re trying to do,’ says Gesch, ‘is introduce something new into the criminal justice system: that is, the existence of the human brain.’ His research, and that of others, has identified biochemical factors that influence behaviour: exposure to neurotoxins, nutrient deficiencies, paradoxical reactions to given substances and reactive hypoglycaemia.
What’s Behind the Crimes?
Sugar Blues
In a remarkable pilot project known as SCASO (South Cumbria Alternative Sentencing Options), young offenders were required, as part of their sentence, to undergo ‘nutritional rehabilitation. The participants underwent a series of tests for vitamin and mineral levels, toxic minerals, blood sugar balance, as well as dietary assessment. ‘The most common problems were glucose intolerance and zinc deficiency. Every single person we tested had abnormal glucose tolerance on a five-hour glucose tolerance test,’ says Gesch. The importance of glucose control in relation to behaviour is a consistent finding in the criminal population. In Finland Dr Matti Virkkunen investigated 69 habitual offenders for glucose balance. Every single one had reactive hypoglycaemia. A later study confirmed higher insulin activity during glucose tolerance tests among habitually violent offenders.
In the US, Professor Stephen Schoenthaler, head of the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at California State University, has reported a 21 per cent reduction in antisocial behaviour, a 25 per cent reduction in assaults, a 75 per cent reduction in the use of restraints, and a 100 per cent reduction in suicides when 3,000 inmates were placed on an experimental diet which reduced refined and sugary foods. These results were confirmed in a double-blind study involving 1,382 detained juvenile offenders placed on a reduced sugar diet. There was a 44 per cent reduction in antisocial behaviour with most significant reductions among the serious offenders.
A rebound low, otherwise known as reactive hypoglycaemia, occurring after a rapid increase in blood sugar levels from consuming sugar, sweets or stimulants, is associated with extreme tiredness, depression, aggression and attempted suicide. In other words, if you feel bad you’re much more likely to behave badly. According to Gesch, ‘Of the forty to fifty people we worked with on SCASO we could create an effect within a week or two.’ His team taught the young offenders how to prepare simple and nutritious meals and develop an interest in food.
Heavy Metals
One of the most insidious effects on behaviour is that of unseen pollution. A worldwide consensus of research has shown that high lead levels correspond to low intellectual performance and antisocial behaviour. The correlation between high lead and increased antisocial or delinquent behaviour was found in an observational study of 1,000 children by R. Freeman and co workers in New South Wales, by Herbert Needleman and co-workers in the US who found antisocial behaviour correlated to high dentine lead levels in 2,146 children, and by G. Thomson and co-workers, Department of Education, University of Edinburgh, who found deviant behaviour correlated with high blood lead levels. Professor Richard Pihl from the Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, found a correlation between high hair lead and cadmium in violent inmates compared to non-violent inmates. Other researchers have confirmed an association between high lead and cadmium and deviant behaviour.
The levels of neurotoxins like lead, cadmium, copper and mercury needed to produce an effect on behaviour is around 1 per cent of the level needed to produce physical symptoms. This indicates how sensitive that part of the brain involved with socialisation is to environmental and nutritional changes.
Nutritional Deficiencies
Zinc is an antagonist of heavy metals, and supplementing it has had favourable effects on behaviour. Dr Alex Schauss found significantly higher levels of lead, cadmium and copper in violent, antisocial adults compared to non-offenders. The effect of zinc on brain function is consistent with previous studies that have linked zinc deficiency to hyperactivity and learning and eating disorders.
Needless to say, nutritional deficiency is rife among young offenders. Professor Stephen Schoenthaler found evidence of widespread folic acid, thiamine (vitamin Bi) and vitamin C deficiencies. Even adding orange juice to the diets of detainees, which contains each of these nutrients, produced a staggering 47 per cent reduction in antisocial behaviour among juvenile offenders.
Deficiencies in calcium, magnesium, zinc, selenium and essential fatty acids have also been shown to correlate with increases in violence. The simple addition of a multivitamin and mineral supplement containing RDA levels of nutrients has been shown to have extremely positive effects on behaviour in prison populations in the US, according to extensive research by Professor Schoenthaler. In a recent study he compared the behaviour of young offenders in the three months prior to and during supplementation, versus those given a placebo, and showed an overall reduction in recorded offences of 40 per cent, with the subjects on supplements producing 22 per cent fewer assaults on staff and a 21 per cent reduction in violent and non violent antisocial behaviour when compared with the subjects on placebo. Blood tests for vitamins and minerals showed that around one-third of the juveniles had low levels of one or more vitamins and minerals before the trial. Those whose levels had become normal by the end of the study demonstrated a massive improvement in behaviour of between 70 and 90 per cent.
Recently, deficiencies in essential fats have started to be considered as a real contributor to deviant behaviour. Changes in modern diets have certainly reduced our intake of these essential fats and, if deficient during pregnancy, could have long-lasting effects on mental development and behaviour (see Chapter 4). Recent research from Dr Tomohito Hamazaki of Toyama University in Japan suggests that omega-3 fats help control anger and hostility. He reasoned that, under conditions of stress, from an evolutionary point of view, a certain level of aggression could have survival value, but too much aggression would have the opposite effect.
So, he decided to see what would happen to students, under the stress of exams, if given omega-3 fats, specifically 1.5 grams of DHA, or a placebo. He measured hostility at the start of the study and again, three months later, just before the exams. He measured hostility by showing the participants potentially emotionally charged cartoons, with speech bubbles for the characters. The students then filled in the bubbles. The second measure, just before the exams, showed a big increase, a 59 per cent jump in hostile reactions, in those taking the placebo but no change at all in the students taking the omega-3 fats! Omega-3 fats, it seems, help you to keep your head when all about you are losing theirs.
Antisocial Foods
The fourth factor proving to be significant is that of paradoxical reactions to foods. Menzies found that, in a study of 25 children with tension fatigue syndrome, all had disturbed sleep, 84 per cent had abnormal EEG (brain wave patterns) and 72 per cent had digestive problems. All consumed a diet unusually high in refined foods and chemical additives.
Severe allergic reactions can produce Jekyll and Hyde changes in behaviour as has been well reported in hyperactive children with chemical or food intolerances and juvenile offenders. The same can be true for adults, as illustrated by this extraordinary case report by Dr Alex Schauss.
A president of a large American Company, with no previous history of arrest, goes for a drink his local bar. For some reason he decides to have a glass of red wine, a drink he’s never had before. Ten minutes later he pulls out a revolver and guns down a man walking past him. He shoots anyone trying to help this man and ends up injuring 22 people. Miraculously, none are killed, but many have serious wounds to their thighs, arms and torsos. A few hours later, in the local police station, he asks for a psychiatrist. When the psychiatrist arrives, the man asks: ‘Why am I here?’
Fortunately this man was able to afford the best psychiatrist, neurologists and doctors. But none could find out what triggered this atrocious action. He could not even remember committing the crime, and was deeply horrified at having done so. Tests eventually showed he had a very imbalanced immune system and the common allergic symptoms of rhinitis and headaches.
The businessman was then tested for two months (by injection, sublingual drops and ingestion) for sensitivity to various substances, including red wine — the likely offender. But, without anyone else’s knowledge, he was simply being given placebos — non-reactive ‘dummy’ substances. Then, again without anyone else’s knowledge, he was given exactly the same wine he had drunk that fateful evening. Within ten minutes he became increasingly violent and aggressive, grabbing the nurse present and tearing things apart in the laboratory. He was literally going through a Jekyll and Hyde-like metamorphosis: the psychiatrists present classified him as acutely paranoid schizophrenic.
Twelve years before this incident, the man had moved to a very expensive block of flats in which a type of natural gas was used for heating and cooking. In the following years, most people left their apartment because of the health-damaging effects of the gas, even though they had no chance of getting their money back. Birds had been known to die because of exposure to the gas. This man had spent seven years in the flat It is likely the gas considerably weakened his immune system, contributing to his aggressive reaction, which was probably to an ‘amine’ in the wine.
Of the few studies so far conducted, all show dramatic reductions in re offending rates among offenders maintained on low-sugar, high-nutrient diets. Although much harder to identify (and eliminate), it is certainly possible that the introduction of 3,500 new chemicals into the food supply could be contributing to deviant behaviour. Suspect foods include wheat and milk, overconsumption of which has been reported in delinquent behaviour.
According to Gesch, whose SCASO project encouraged whole foods and no refined sugar, ‘Seventy-five per cent of our referrals were for violent offences, many of whom were multiple offenders. Of those kept on the combined social and nutritional regime, none re-offended with a violent offence by the end of the eighteen-month pilot study.’ The nutritional supplements used in the treatment only cost between £4 and £10 a month, compared to the average cost of over £2,000 a month to keep someone in prison.
Crime: Nourishment or Punishment?
Of course, many offenders are suffering from undiagnosed or untreated mental illness such as manic depression or schizophrenia. Any of the most common biochemical imbalances (…), including pyroluria, neurotransmitter imbalances and hormonal imbalances, can lead to aggressive and delinquent behaviour.
One of the most promising treatments is the role of tryptophan in correcting serotonin deficiency, which leads to depression and, in some, aggressive and violent behaviour. Antidepressant drugs which block the reuptake of serotonin can also lead to aggressive behaviour in some people (…), which shows the importance of this neurotransmitter in relation to antisocial behaviour. So many of these biochemical imbalances could be nutritionally treated, if only they were checked for.
However, the focus within the criminal justice system is culpability, not testing for and correcting biochemical imbalances. If behaviour is thought of purely as a psychological/social phenomena, then the blame rests on the individual and their relationship with society. Hence the current strategy of punishment, removal from society and social rehabilitation. If brain function, and all the factors that affect brain function, are put into the equation, then issues around nutrition and environmental pollution have to be considered.
This will necessitate the establishment of diagnostic centres at each prison and hospital. Education is so often the key, and the establishment of prison nutrition clubs to promote awareness of good nutrition among patients, prisoners and security personnel, backed up by the availability of food charts and literature, would do much to improve the awareness that’s currently so sadly lacking. Perhaps even more pressing is the need for a research institute dealing with psychopathic, violent or antisocial behaviour.
After years of fund-raising and campaigning, Natural Justice persuaded the Home Office to allow the first UK double-blind trial on young offenders in a maximum security prison in Aylesbury, giving them either a multi- nutrient containing vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, or a placebo. The results, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, showed a staggering 35 per cent decrease in acts of aggression after only two weeks.’ Since prison diets are, if anything, better than those most young offenders eat, this shows just how important optimum nutrition is for reducing violent and deviant behaviour. When the trial was over and the supplements were stopped, there was a 40 per cent increase in offences in the prison.
###
For further information, please contact Jim Byrne at ABC Coaching and Counselling Services.
~~~
ABC Coaching and Counselling Services.
Jim Byrne’s Email Address.
Face-to-face coaching, counselling and therapy, Hebden Bridge.
Renata's Lifestyle Coaching & Counselling Service
About Albert Ellis.
Online and telephone coaching, counselling and therapy.
Email coaching and counselling service.
The Institute for E-CENT Studies
Couples Therapy Service: (Relationship skills; marriage counselling).
Anger management counselling
~~~
