Nutrition Study-4th & 5th Graders

Interesting post, Patrick. In some of the reporting I've done on schools, the ones that are having success include awareness of nutrition and whether kids are getting enough food, because their families are too poor too feed their kids adequately. 

Godwin Higa, principal at Cherokee Point Elementary School, includes this awareness of nutrition and sufficient food for kids AND their families as part of the formula for being a trauma-informed school. Here's the story.  

You make some good points, Tracy. I am personally convinced that the US dietary guidelines have contributed to massive health problems among us. My observation about nutrition was intended to be in the context of nutritional deficiencies leading to altered behavior. Our diets are adequate to prevent huge numbers of people from sliding into severe enough behaviors to be noticed by authorities. For intervention, I refer to this group as the target population that needs help healing. Most healing assistance is now talk therapy, and my recommendation is that we look at nutrition first. That allows the brain  to heal, and often stops negative behaviors without additional therapy.  School lunches are generally inadequate, but may be some of the only calories many children will get in a day.. At least one study I read (but didn't write down) spoke about removing food additives from school lunches and there was a positive impact on the kids from doing that. 

Thank you for all the links - I will dig through them soon!  Your comments in this post brought up some other questions, though.  You commented that most folks have adequate nutrition and do not need supplementation.  There are those that argue that it's quite possible that many, if not most, have some level of nutritional deficiency due to the Standard American Diet, and that especially our highly processed school lunches are not providing sufficient nutrition to support focus in the classrooms.  Your original post was on school lunches, so I am curious about your thoughts on this!

Thank you for all of the interest in this topic. I am attaching a one page list of some of the research I have come across. Links are provided for all of the articles, although many of them are just abstracts. I didn't want to pay to get the full article. If I find it elsewhere for free, I will update with the information. With nutrition, I believe we are seeking a small target population with nutrition deficiency that might be genetic or influenced by poor nutrition early in life. We shouldn't need to supplement the entire population, especially the with adequate diets. 

Patrick,

Thank you for your post regarding the connection between nutrition and behavior.  While searching for the original source I stumbled upon an online newsletter called Crime Times: Linking Brain Dysfunction to Disordered/Criminal/Psychopathic Behavior.  www.crimetimes.org  The newsletter was published quarterly 2003-2010.  The statement under the tab "Why Crime TImes?"  lays out their philosophy. They explain that early adversity can lead to brain dysfunction ---- and 

"Some people fear that biological causes must be treated with radical medical interventions such as heavy psychopharmacological agents or even psycho-surgery. But research shows that measures as simple as better prenatal care, better nutrition, reduced exposure to environmental toxins, or remediation of neurochemical imbalances can be highly effective in correcting problems in behavior.   Unless the physiological functioning of the brain is included in the quest to alleviate crime and violence, we suggest that any effort will be a failure."     http://www.crimetimes.org/why.htm

The Crime Times Advisory Board is made up of doctors, judges, and scientists.  More partners in our quest to reduce ACEs and increase resiliency!  

~Debbie

I found the attached file.

Please link any published data on this.

I would as well.  I think this is extremely important work.

I would love more information!  Can you provide links to more details, please?