A food additive found in most fast foods and junk foods may trigger violence and depression later in life if the fetus absorbs its mother's toxic habits.
New research conducted at the National Institutes for Health outside Washington, D.C. has turned up persuasive evidence that junk food diets can cause depression, violence, and other anti-social behaviors.
A group of 80 volunteers, many of them with criminal records of violence, went through a double-blind study in which half had their omega-6 fatty acids (found in fast foods and junk foods) drastically reduced and replaced with more healthy omega-3 fatty acids as found primarily in fish oil. The result was a startling drop in anger and aggression and depression.
The clinician in charge of the study, Dr. Joseph Hibbein, says our modern diets are "changing the very architecture and functioning of the brain." For those of you who have read The Hundred Year Lie, you will recognize this sort of language as fitting into my argument that we are becoming a mutant species.
The key finding of the NIH research is that omega-6 fatty acids, found in everything from margarine and ice cream to snack foods such as potato chips, have replaced the healthy omega-3s and that has produced severe disruptions of serotonin and dopamine in the brains of junk food addicts. Low serotonin is known to be linked to depression, the risk of suicide, and violent and impulsive behaviors. Dopamine is crucial to decision-making.
When these deficiencies occur as the human brain is in rapid development -- as a fetus, in the first five years of life, and at puberty -- the brain's architecture can be permanently altered. That means a mother's diet while pregnant can help predict whether her child will grow up to suffer depression or be prone to anti-social acts.
Dr. Hibbein and other researchers have compared statistics of omega-6 consumption since the 1960s in 38 industrialized countries to the increase in murder rates in those countries during the same period. They are a perfect match! Depression and suicide rates, if measured the same way, will probably prove a match as well.
These toxic changes in our diets, Dr. Hibbein told The Guardian in Britain on Oct. 17, "are a very large uncontrolled experiment that may have contributed to the societal burden of aggression, depression and cardiovascular death."
I agree with your report. I have seen the remarkable results of eliminating junks foods in my own family and others. I work with adults who have had developmental challenges since early childhood. I began to notice the relationship between junk foods and illness/symptoms/behaviors.Changes in eating habits always improved functioning at any age. Even symptoms of speech impairment which had been given up on have been notably improved by eliminating junk foods. One should check for allergy and food intolerances to dairy and wheat products if they are having unwanted symptoms. My two sons and I have completely reversed all of our symptoms through diet.
Posted by: Gina Woodruff | June 10, 2007 9:05 AM