Omega-3’s Can Help Keep Kids Out of Trouble

Something as simple as a dietary supplement could reduce disruptive, even abusive behavior, according to newly released research by a team led by a UMass Lowell criminal justice professor.

Giving children omega-3 fatty acid supplements reduces disruptive behavior, which in turn had a positive effect on their parents, making them less likely to argue with each other and engage in other verbal abuse, according to Jill Portnoy, an assistant professor in UMass Lowell’s School of Criminology and Justice Studies.

“This is a promising line of research because omega-3 fatty acids are thought to improve brain health in children and adults. There is more to be learned about the benefits, but if we can improve people’s brain health and behavior in the process, that’s a really big plus,” said Portnoy.

This is a pretty cool concept that what we eat can affect our behavior, but we’ve seen it in our office plenty, and I’m sure you’re aware of it in yourself if you really think about it. This is and interesting article, but from where I left off above it goes into more of a discussion on nature vs. nurture and crime which is not what I want to hit on here.

So I’m sure you know that when you eat crap, you feel like crap. But hopefully you not feeling well doesn’t affect your behavior all that much. But does it affect or kids? Well I think there’s more to it than them just not feeling great, and acting out. We’ve seen it in our office with children’s behavior when they start following the diet we teach. Usually it’ll happen because the parents start our Straight 60 diet and the kids will kinda have to do it by default if they want to eat. However, the kids aren’t usually made to do it strictly, but they are eating more healthy foods than they typically would. And we’ve had parents note their kids improvement. Which would support what the article is saying, since our diet we talk about the importance of omega-3 fat vs. omega-6 (specifically with eating grass fed organic beef vs. conventionally raised). But there is also the decrease in pretty much any processed foods, which cutting down on the chemical intake has to play a major role in that improvement. Lastly, I should also mention most of these kids that have shown this type of behavioral improvement also started Juice Plus as these other changed were made. From our experience, I don’t think the omega-3 alone can take all the credit, we’re more complex than being able to say taking one supplement can fix us. The omega-3 consumption with decreasing chemical intake, increasing healthy sources of protein, lots of vegetables, minimal sugar, and more vegetables (raw or as juice plus) and of course don’t forget these kids are all being adjusted too, all these things I believe will be huge contributing factors to overall health, and potential improvements in behavior. Be the example your children need and you and they will be rewarded!

(that picture was from 2012)

referenced article:

https://www.uml.edu/News/press-releases/2018/Omega-3sresearchrelease.aspx