Understanding and Preventing Violence, Volume 2: Biobehavioral Influences (1994)
Chapter: INTRODUCTION
Nutrition and Violent Behavior
Robin B. Kanarek
INTRODUCTION
The concept that nutrition can affect behavior is not new. For thousands of years, people have believed that the food they eat can have powerful effects on their behavior. Some foods have been blamed for physical and mental ills, whereas others have been valued for their curative or magic powers. Within this framework, a variety of ideas about the association between food and antisocial behavior have arisen. For example, many primitive societies believe that an individual takes on the characteristics of the food that he/she consumes. Thus, eating aggressive animals (e.g. lion) is associated with belligerent behavior, whereas eating timid creatures (e.g. rabbit) is identified with less hostile acts.
The belief that certain foods can lead to antisocial or aggressive behavior is not limited to primitive societies. In this country, the idea that food affected behavior was an integral part of the nineteenth century health reform movement. The concept that ''you are what you eat" was fundamental to the movement. Diet was believed to determine not only health and disease, but also spirituality, mental health, intelligence, and temperament. The health reform movement produced persuasive leaders who charmed
Robin Kanarek is at the Department of Psychology, Tuffs University.
