Deficiencies in zinc, vitamin B and protein cause children to grow into adult criminals with aggressive, anti-social behavior

While more evidence is needed to prove that there is a definitive link between nutrition and aggressive behavior, this significant discovery could impact the way people raise and feed their children.

• Children who have a poor diet are more likely to become aggressive and anti-social, US researchers believe.
• The University of Southern California found a lack of zinc, iron, vitamin B and protein in the first three years caused bad behaviour later on.
• At eight years old, children fed poorly were more likely to be irritable and pick fights than those fed healthily.
• Aged 11, they swore, cheated and got into fights, and at 17, they stole, bullied others and took drugs.
• The researchers analysed the development of more than 1,000 children on Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa, over 14 years.
• They found the more malnurished the children were, the greater the anti-social behaviour later on.
• The team took into account factors such as social background, health and education, the American Journal of Psychiatry reported.
• Report co-author Adrian Raine said parents could prevent their children developing bad behaviour by ensuring they get better diets.
• "Poor nutrition leads to low IQ, which leads to later anti-social behaviour.
• "There's more to anti-social behaviour than nutrition, but we argue that it is an important missing link.
• "Biology is not destiny, we can change the biological disposition to anti-social and aggressive behaviour."
• "Identifying the early risk factors for this behaviour in childhood and adolescence is an important first step for developing successful prevention programmes for adult violence."
• But Dr Ann Hagell, research development adviser at the Nuffield Foundation, a charitable trust which funds social and education research, raised doubts about the findings.
• "I would not dismiss the study out-of-hand but I would be surprised if diet plays a big role.
• "In my experience diet is not part of the explanation.
• "It can cause hyper activity disorders, but anti-social behaviour is more influenced by parenting and genetics and teen peer pressure in teenage groups."