Vitamins plan 'to cut prison violence'

[Demi]

The Telegraph
London, UK
15 January, 2008


Vitamins plan 'to cut prison violence'

Prisoners (in the UK) will be given vitamins and mineral supplements in an attempt to improve their behaviour and cut down on violence behind bars, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

The Ministry of Justice will fund pioneering research into the connection between the diet of young offenders and their behaviour.

The pilot scheme comes as a cross-party group of MPs and peers prepares to publish a study showing how greater use of nutritional supplements could improve the education and criminal justice systems.

Some scientists believe that a diet low in important nutrients encourages violent and disruptive behaviour in children and young adults.

The MoJ is planning to test that theory using vitamin and mineral supplements.

Tests will be conducted at two young offenders' institutions later this year.

Inmates at one will be given pills containing vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. Subjects at the other will get placebos.

The study will be led by scientists from Oxford University's Laboratory of Physiology.

Bernard Gesch, an Oxford scientist who is expected to lead the Government-funded trials, argues that the modern diet, heavy in sugars and additives but poor in key minerals, is a potential factor in crime and anti-social behaviour.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=X4CDFZU0VR5O5QFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2008/01/14/nvitamins114.xml

[Honeyed]

It'll be fun to see the results of this test. I'm more of a believer that most behavior is not linked to poor diet but more of a conscience choice, mental disability, and just plain sadistic behavior. I don't think there'll be much supporting this, though if they do it over a short time I'm sure the prisoners will behave because they'll probably get something out of the deal.

I work with juvenile offenders and in a lot of these kids you can already see where their paths are leading them because of the choices they are making, without care of consequences. However, there are a small percentage that we're able to help before its too late. The field is grim, but can be rewarding. As for adults, I don't think you can change the majority of them.

[cs_carver]

It'll be fun to see the results of this test. I'm more of a believer that most behavior is not linked to poor diet but more of a conscience choice, mental disability, and just plain sadistic behavior.<SNIP>I don't think you can change the majority of them.

Wow. My personal experience is exactly the opposite, and the women I've worked with who were in prison said much the same. All the biggest changes in my life have arisen from physiological shifts in diet and exercise. Most of the NC prison population has alcohol and substance abuse at the root, and while one could possibly call that a "choice," it is also a huge physiological disturbance.

I guess it depends on which intepretation provides the most useful field for intervention.

[Nancy LC]

Yeah, I'm a big believer in diet being able to change mental states. I've had it happen in myself.

[glennette]

Well, I don't know about diet.. but talk to me when my thyroid is overproducing you'll swear you're talking to Mrs. Hyde. I get downright hostile with an anger that feels uncontrollable and unreasonable even to myself.

That said, I am in favor of this study and hope they find that it works. What a great, simple, solution that would be!

[waywardsis]

I had a huge change in my mental state when I changed my diet. HUGE.

The gut and the brain are more closely linked than most of us realize. I am trying to tackle "The Second Brain" by Michael D. Gershon, MD, but it's a pretty dry read - basically, that our gut controls itself, independently of the brain (hence "the second brain") but the two must cooperate, or there is chaos in both. I'll be interested to see the results of the tests - but would be more so if they took the subjects off grains, etc as well.