People who don’t eat these three foods are prone to aggressive and violent outbursts, study claims
If you tend to blow up at people, it may not be your personality, but your diet.
Scientists have found that people who take omega-3, found in fish, flaxseed and walnuts, are less likely to have aggressive and violent outbursts.
This could be because our brains use fat molecules to build our nerves, omega-3 could help promote nerve growth and brain function.
According to the researchers, not getting enough omega-3 could therefore lead to underdeveloped or poorly performing brain areas, such as those associated with aggressive behavior.
Previous studies have shown that people who frequently exhibit violent or aggressive behavior have less robust brain anatomy.
“I believe the time has come to implement omega-3 supplementation to reduce aggression, regardless of whether the setting is the community, the clinic, or the criminal justice system,” Penn neurocriminologist Adrian Raine said in a rack.
‘Omega-3 is not a panacea that will completely solve the problem of violence in society. But can it help? Based on these findings, we are confident that this is possible, and we must take action based on the new knowledge we have.”
Omega-3 is a type of fat that your body needs to survive, but it cannot produce itself. Some common sources of this nutrient include fish such as mackerel, salmon and herring, as well as flax and chia seeds, walnuts and soybeans.
If you’re not a fan of these foods, doctors sometimes recommend taking fish oil pills, which contain many nutrients.
Professor Raine, who works at the University of Pennsylvania, has been researching the link between omega-3 and criminal behavior for ten years.
His most recent research, published in the journal Aggression and violent behaviorcollected and analyzed data from 29 previous studies representing 3,918 participants from 1996 to 2024.
Averaging these findings, Professor Raine and his colleagues found that across people of all ages, genders, psychological diagnoses, duration of treatment and dosage, there was an average reduction in aggressive behavior of 30 percent.
There are many studies that have linked abnormalities in brain tissue to aggressive behavior.
When the nerves in a part of your brain known as the prefrontal cortex are underdeveloped, you are more likely to develop violent, aggressive, or impulsive tendencies. neurologist Dr. Pamela Blakeof Georgetown University Hospital, wrote.
However omega-3 works in the brain, scientists are not saying it is a panacea for aggressive behavior. It’s likely that people experiencing violent outbursts will need more than just a diet change to improve their situation.
‘At the very least, we would argue that omega-3 supplementation should be considered as an adjunct to other interventions, whether psychological (e.g. cognitive behavioral therapy) or pharmacological (e.g. risperidone) in nature, and that healthcare providers are informed of the potential benefits. of omega-3 supplementation,” Professor Raine and his team wrote in the study.
‘We believe that the time has come to both apply omega-3 supplementation in practice and to continue to scientifically investigate its effectiveness in the longer term.’