Supplements may turn around kids

A study featured in the February 2000 issue of The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine suggests that supplements may correct kids' nutritional deficiencies and in the process, reduce anti-social behavior.

Many children with violent or disruptive behavior suffer from nutritional deficiencies. Correcting these deficiencies with supplementation reduced the incidence of anti-social behavior in 6- to 12-year-olds. The children in the study who received supplements were disciplined 47 percent less during the school year than those who received a placebo.

Researchers gave a group of 40 students daily supplements formulated to provide the nutritional equivalent of vitamins and minerals present in a well-balanced diet; another group of 40 received a placebo. The students were then rated on serious rule violations.

The authors of the study believe that poor nutritional habits lead to low concentrations of water-soluble vitamins in the blood, impair brain function and subsequently cause violence and other serious anti-social behavior. They theorised that correcting the low vitamin concentrations improved brain function and lowered the incidence of violent and anti-social behavior.