Confectionery Linked to Adult Violence
While Julia Hunt of the Food and Drink Federation calls it utter nonsense or a distasteful April Fool joke, Dr. Moore and his team of researchers from Cardiff University think that there is a link between confectionery and adult violence but “did not believe additives in confectionery were to blame”.
I do not think it is any great secret that our eating habits (diet) have been linked to behavioral problems which also include aggression. However, the long-term effects of our eating habits in our childhood with regard to adult violence as never been studied. So the findings by Dr. Moore and his team of researchers are a first.
The researcher’s findings were published in the British Journal of Psychiatry and came from a study of 17,500 people. The team is quoted as saying: “Giving children sweets and chocolate regularly may stop them from learning how to wait to obtain something they want. Not being able to defer gratification may push them towards more impulsive behavior, which is associated with delinquency.”
It would appear that Dr. Moore and his team believe that bribing children for good behavior with the promise of sweets and chocolate on a regular basis may stop them from learning the art of patience and how to wait for something they would like to own. The findings pointed to children at 10yrs of age who had consumed excessive amounts of confectionery daily giving them a higher ratio of being convicted for violence at the age of 34yrs.
So in a nutshell, it is more or less saying that when we bribe our children with the promise of a reward such as sweets and chocolate for good behavior the child learns that being naughty at the right time will always lead to a reward for its continued good behavior.
We take this learned behavior, whether we realize it or not, into adulthood. Where patience and consideration have not been learned you will find aggression. Aggression in the adult with no immediate reward may then lead to violence for no other reason than ‘I could not get my own way’
If you do accept that this behavior is the result of adult violence then you would also have to consider that it does not only apply to sweets and chocolate. The reward could also extend to that games machine etc. you will not get if you show me up in public again… or am I reading too much into the written word. Take care.
Image by Anita S. from Pixabay