Our Children, Our Future

"Healthy Food is a Recipe for Peace" That's quite a claim! It is a statement made by Bernard Gesch, a senior research scientist in the physiology department at Oxford University. Gesch is the director of Natural Justice, a British research institute that studies the causes of anti-social behavior. As printed in "ODE Magazine", June 2007 issue: In a British prison, we divided 231 prisoners into two groups. For 18 months, one group was given food supplements including the daily requirements for vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids. The other group was given a placebo. No one in the prison knew who was getting what. Those that were given the supplements committed 26% fewer offences and 37% fewer violent assaults compared with the placebo group. The study was set up to rule out ethnic or social factors potentially affecting the two groups so the supplementation must have been the source of the behavioral improvement. What would the future of these 231 men have been if they had grown up with better nutrition? We have to think about that. We all have to eat for good health and, so it appears, also for good behavior. And if it works in prisons, it will also work with school children. There will be increasing evidence that young people are undermined by what they eat. There is not a diet yet that takes behavior into account. In short: this is a societal time bomb. Bernard Gesch is very clear: "Poor nutrition can be an important source of anti-social behavior." The above study referenced by Bernard Gesch offers evidence that high quality, whole food nutrition makes a real difference in how people experience life's many potential stresses. I am so pleased to have strong scientific evidence that clearly supports what I have observed for over fifteen years! Most of us believe diet is important. But many people do not realize how essential diet is not only for life, but for how that life is going to be lived. Our minds, our emotions, and our intellect require specific nutrients. Lose one, and the amazing healing machine of our body will cope. Lose a few, and it will compromise to protect life. Lose enough, and that life changes dramatically. The most important gifts our children bring--their hopes and dreams--are also in danger-because along with a culture that venerates fast food and often ignores nutrition as an essential component of our children's health, we are also seeing dramatic increases in disorders that involve brain function. How many children and parents do you know who are dealing with: *ADD *Depression in an adolescent *Autistic Spectrum Disorder A look at the facts is frightening. *Preschoolers are the fastest growing market for antidepressants *20% of all children have some sort of legally defined mental disorder *Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in adolescents 15 and over *Adolescent suicide has tripled since 1960 Children-children!-under the age of 12 are now being diagnosed as clinically depressed, bipolar, and schizophrenic. Along with each of these labels come drugs, most of which have not been tested on children and which have never been studied for long term effects. It is heartbreaking to realize that at a time when innocent life is sweetest-before first grade is even begun-over a million children are so affected by unhappiness that they are prescribed antidepressants to get through the day. Footnotes 1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disease/ 2. http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehhe/ 3. Silvia Casabianca, Nutrigenomics: menus based on your genetic code, 10/03/2006 4. John A. Milner, Incorporating Basic Nutrition Science into Health Interventions for Cancer Prevention, The Journal of Nutrition 5. Carmia Borek, PhD., Fish and the N-3 Fatty Acids Reduce Risk of Alzheimer's Disease, Life Extension Magazine, November 2003 6. Morris MC, Evans DA, Bienias JL, et al, Consumption of fish and n-3 fatty acids and risk of incident Alzheimer disease, Arch Neurol. 2003 Jul;60(7):940-6.7. 7. Eva Edelman, Natural Healing for Schizophrenia & Other Common Mental Disorders, 1998 8. www.feingold.org

Gesch B, Hammond S, Hampson S et al., Influence
of supplementary vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids on the antisocial behaviour of young adult prisoners; Brit Journal of
Psychiatry 2002 July;181:22-8

Dr. Lukas Rist, British Journal of Nutrition