Читать книгу They Are What You Feed Them: How Food Can Improve Your Child’s Behaviour, Mood and Learning - Dr Richardson Alex - Страница 82

The food provided by the prison in Gesch’s trial met official dietary requirements. The problem was that ‘poor food choices’ by prisoners compromised their nutritional status.¹³ Exactly the same problem applies to children, mental health patients and a very large proportion of the general population.

Previous research had already indicated that improving diet could improve the behaviour of young offenders. In one study more than 20 years ago involving 3,000 imprisoned juveniles,¹⁴ snack foods were replaced with healthier options, reducing the inmates’ consumption of refined and sugary foods. There followed a 21 per cent reduction in antisocial behaviour over 12 months, a 100 per cent reduction in suicides, a 25 per cent reduction in assaults, and a 75 per cent reduction in the use of restraints. Although this study didn’t use the rigorous placebo-controlled design employed by the Natural Justice trial, why weren’t these findings followed up earlier? And why won’t the Government—even now—put funding into doing something about this?

I hope you can see that the B vitamins (all of them) are vital to your child’s overall health and well-being—and yours. General tiredness or lack of energy, lack of concentration, loss of appetite or skin problems are among the first signs of B deficiencies.