從 Alternet 中看到一篇有關食物與行為學的文章, 說糖份和很多煎炸的快餐, 會令到人暴躁不安, 有一家美國學校, 本來學生到處惹事, 要派警察駐場, 後來新的校長, 把學校飯堂的餐單改了, 由炸雞腿等快餐, 變成以蔬菜為主的食譜, 最重要的是減少汽水機, 結果學校的學生就慢慢乖起來了...
花咁多錢請警察, 不如向一些 Junk food 收稅啦, 好似抽煙稅咁.
...Indeed, the study proves what every parent already knows. Serve soda
and candy at a children's birthday party and you'll get loud,
hyperactive behavior followed by tears and tantrums. It works like
this: Blood-sugar levels jump suddenly after you eat sugar, which
initially gives you a burst of fresh energy. But then your blood sugar
falls, and you become lethargic and sleepy. In an attempt to prevent
blood-sugar levels from falling too low, your body produces adrenalin,
which makes you irritable and explosive.
But sugar can't be the
only problem. After all, high blood-sugar levels mainly have a
short-term effect on behavior, while the research of Schoenthaler and
Gesch indicates changes over a longer period. They suggest it is much
more important that you get the right amount of vitamins, minerals and
unsaturated fatty acids because these substances directly influence the
brain, and therefore behavior.
If these findings prove true --
and they do look convincing -- then we should be sounding an alarm
about good nutrition. What are the long-term implications of the fact
that the quality of our farmland has sharply declined in recent
decades? The use of artificial fertilizer for years on end has
diminished the levels of important minerals like magnesium, chromium
and selenium, therefore present in much lower concentrations in our
food.
The eating habits of children and young people also should
be a cause for serious concern. Their diets now are rich in sugar, fats
and carbohydrates, and poor in vegetables and fruit. Add to this an
increasing lack of exercise among kids, and the problem becomes even
worse. The World Health Organization (WHO) talks of an epidemic of
overweight among children. Obesity, the official name for serious
weight problems, is said to absorb up to six percent of the total
health budget -- a cautious estimate as all kinds of related diseases
cannot be included in the exact calculation. Think of what this
situation will look like when the current generation of overweight kids
hits middle age.
The link between food and health is better
understood by most people than the relationship between food and
behavior, so health has become the driving force behind many public
campaigns to combat overweight. A discussion has arisen in a number of
countries about introducing a tax on junk food, the proceeds of which
would be spent on promoting healthy eating. In Britain, Prime Minister
Tony Blair announced in May he planned to spend an extra 280 million
pounds (the equivalent of 420 million euros or $500 million U.S.) on
improving school lunches after the famous television chef Jamie Oliver
began speaking out on the issue.
Yet with crime a major political
issue almost everywhere, it's surprising more leaders have not embraced
the idea of healthy eating as a recipe for safe streets and schools.
After Gesch published his findings in 2002 in The British Journal of Psychiatry,
the study was picked up by European and American media. The newspaper
headlines were clear: "Healthy eating can cut crime"; "Eat right or
become a criminal;" "Youth crime linked to consumption of junk food;"
"Fighting crime one bite at a time." Then the media went deafeningly
silent.
Perhaps that's because the relationship between nutrition
and violence continues to be controversial in established professional
circles. During their educations, doctors and psychologists are given
scant training in nutrition, criminologists provided little awareness
of biochemistry, and nutritionists offered no hands-on experience with
lawbreakers or the mentally ill. As a result, the link between food and
behaviour winds up in no-man's-land. Even researchers interested in the
subject are discouraged -- not least of all because you can't get a
patent on natural nutrients like vitamins and minerals. Far more effort
goes into pharmaceutical, rather than dietary, solutions.
The
Netherlands currently is the only country where Gesch's research is
being explored. Plans to test the findings about nutrition supplements
and behaviour further are being set up in 14 prisons, with nearly 500
subjects. Ap Zaalberg, leading the project for the Dutch Ministry of
Justice, remembers how he and his colleagues reacted when they first
heard of Gesch's study. "Disbelief," he states resolutely. "This was
surely not true. But when I looked into the issue more closely, I
landed in a world of hard science."
Zaalberg knows diet is not
the only factor that determines whether someone exhibits aggressive
behavior. "Aggression is not only determined by nutrition," he states.
"Background and drug use, for example, also play a role. Yet I
increasingly see the introduction of vitamins and minerals as a very
rational approach."
"Most criminal-justice systems assume that
criminal behaviour is entirely a matter of free will," Gesch says. "But
how exactly can you exercise free will without involving your brain?
How exactly can the brain function without an adequate nutrient supply?
Nutrition in fact could be a major player and, for sure, we have
seriously underestimated its importance. I think nutrition may actually
be one of the most straightforward factors to change antisocial
behaviour. And we know that it's not only highly effective, it's also
cheap and humane."
Cheap it is. Natural Justice, the British
charity institution chaired by Gesch, which is researching "the origins
of anti-social and criminal behaviour," estimates it would cost 3.5
million pounds (5.3 million euros or 6.4 million U.S. dollars) to
provide supplements to all the prisoners in Great Britain. That is only
a fraction of the current prison budget of 2 billion pounds (3 billion
euros or 3.6 billion U.S. dollar)....