The junk food smugglers

[Xenocrates]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4987966.stm

Kids are increasingly profiting by selling crisps and chocolates to their classmates, especially in schools that serve health food.

Higher profit and lower risk than selling drugs?

When I was at school, I noticed that the junk food junkies were more likely to be the ones with behaviour problems.

This study supports that:

Lack of Basic Nutrition Creates Generation of Criminals; Prison System Society A new study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry shows that children who experience malnutrition exhibit strikingly increased behavioral disorders and aggressive behavior as they grow older. The study looked at children between the ages of eight and 17 years, and found some rather shocking statistics about their behaviors. Children who suffered certain nutritional deficiencies demonstrated a shocking 41% increase in aggression at age eight. At age 17, they demonstrated a 51% increase in violent and antisocial behaviors. And the only difference is their diet. It's all about the foods they were eating and the nutrients they were missing.

What specific nutrients were missing from their diets? Four primary nutrients were tried in the study: Zinc, iron, B vitamins and protein. Malnourished children weren't getting crucial minerals like zinc and iron, and they weren't getting the B vitamins they needed to develop healthy nervous systems. And a healthy nervous system is a prerequisite for mental and emotional health and stability.

In other words, a major indicator of criminality and psychological problems is diet. Which countries in the world have the poorest diet (in the sense of consuming vast amounts of junk food) and the highest violent crime rates?

Children are making a definite shift away from milk to sodas and sugary drinks. While 90% of 6- to 11-year-olds in the late 1970s said they had milk on a given day, just 78% could say so by the mid-1990s. At the same time, daily soda consumption rose in the same age group from 31% in the 1970s to 46% two decades later.

The war between milk and soda is indicative of a shift in the U.S. diet, where nutrient-poor "junk foods" are gradually replacing healthier items such as low-fat milk, fruits and vegetables. "One is being consumed at the expense of the other," said the author of a third study, Dr. Ashima Kant of the City University of New York.

Bold by me.

http://www.lauralee.com/news/junkfoodintake.htm

The UK isn't far behind.

Is junk food addictive?

Deanne Jade, a psychologist and founder of the Centre for Eating Disorders, doesn't agree with the idea of food addiction either, but says it can have a powerful effect. "Food is, to some extent, a very powerful drug," she said. "It changes our mood and it impacts on the chemicals and neurotransmitters in the brain in a similar way to alcohol, nicotine and cocaine - so there are overlaps with drugs."

In contrast, Kathleen DesMaisons PhD, author of "The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Programme" strongly believes that sugar is addictive. "Sugar evokes a brain chemical called beta endorphin, the same chemical affected by morphine and heroin," she explained. "The sugar creates a wonderful feeling of euphoria and wellbeing, but when it wears off, you feel edgy, irritable and cranky - this is actual withdrawal. If you use the drug [sugar] again, it relieves the symptoms, so you get caught in a cycle of needing it."

Other similar comments and opposing ones are here:

http://www.bupa.co.uk/health_information/html/health_news/190703addic.html

So, do you belive the connection between diet and violence and that junk food is addictive? If so how can that cycle be broken?

 

[Rik Meleet]

I think there is a weak positive correlation, yes.

 

[joycem10]

I knew this was coming. Food is the next logical target after booze and smokes.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Junk food is deficient in iron? I'd thought all those hamburgers would keep you bountifully supplied.

 

[Xenocrates]

Maybe the iron can't be absorbed because something else is missing?

 

[warpus]

I work on the campus of a University - the food that is served around here is 95% junkfood.. it's disguisting.

Not only is it overpriced - it's also very unhealthy.

 

[Masquerouge]

I hope the notion that junk food is bad for you does not come as a big surprise to anyone.

 

[Xenocrates]

I hope the notion that junk food is bad for you does not come as a big surprise to anyone.

It goes much further than that.

If there's a diet-violence/psychological disorder link or a diet-crime link, and junk food is addictive, crime can only increase.

It's not just bad for the eaters' health but for everyone's.

Maybe police and other important Government employees should be prohibited from eating junk food? Maybe free vegetables should be given to suppliment the police's usual doughnut and coffee diet?

Or do you foresee speakeasies springing up where hamburgers are cooked in illegal secret 'stills' in bar basements?

 

[Babbler]

The Twinkie Defence Returns?

 

[.Shane.]

The Twinkie Defence Returns?

ROFL! Nice reference!

 

[Tycoon101]

It goes much further than that.

If there's a diet-violence/psychological disorder link or a diet-crime link, and junk food is addictive, crime can only increase.

It's not just bad for the eaters' health but for everyone's.

Maybe police and other important Government employees should be prohibited from eating junk food? Maybe free vegetables should be given to suppliment the police's usual doughnut and coffee diet?

Or do you foresee speakeasies springing up where hamburgers are cooked in illegal secret 'stills' in bar basements?

Go Healthy Vigilante Justice!
I eat plenty of vegetables (About a pound a day) so I have no worries about my breaking down, too much.
Thanks for posting this "Food For Thought" (A pun! A pun!)

 

[Xenocrates]

The Twinkie Defence Returns?

'Excuse me Sir, have you got a license for that cookie?'

What's the twinkle defence, a chess opening?

 

[Babbler]

'Excuse me Sir, have you got a license for that cookie?'

What's the twinkle defence, a chess opening?

It is a (purported) legal tactic. A San Francisco supervisor enter city hall and assassinated a fellow supervisor (the first open gay supervisor, in fact) and the mayor. During the trial, the defence strategy was that the supervisor was depressed; one piece of evidence was that he stopped eating healthily and consuming more Twinkies.

It now comes to mean a legal defence on frivious grounds.

 

[Xenocrates]

It now comes to mean a legal defence on frivious grounds.

Yes there are legal implications aren't there?

If tobacco companies can be sued for increasing the chance of cancer in their customers then so might food companies for turning their customers into idiots or killers.

If it were possible to isolate a particular product that produced the detrimental effect that is....

Perhaps it's not so frivolous?

 

[7ronin]

Maybe police and other important Government employees should be prohibited from eating junk food? Maybe free vegetables should be given to suppliment the police's usual doughnut and coffee diet?

Or do you foresee speakeasies springing up where hamburgers are cooked in illegal secret 'stills' in bar basements?

Police and other government employees? You're stereotyping.

As for the rest of it, sure I can see it. Ground beef will be smuggled in from Canada. Drug dogs will be retrained to smell out chocolate milk shakes. The police will conduct random nutrition checks on suspicious individuals: "Okay, I'm taking you in. Your BMI is too low and the blood-o-lyzer shows that you're deficicent in iron. You're gonna get ninety days in a forced nutrition camp." Election campaigns will center around whether or not either or both of the candidates accepted campaign contributions from - "Gasp" - the fast food industry.

 

[Babbler]

Yes there are legal implications aren't there?

If tobacco companies can be sued for increasing the chance of cancer in their customers then so might food companies for turning their customers into idiots or killers.

If I were suing big food, I go for the health effects, since its obvious. I am not sure the evidence warrants your conclusions.

Perhaps it's not so frivolous?

I talking about twinkie defence, not the food-pychology link (agian, if there is convincing evidence, you have a case).

Don't ya hate it when spam need so much exposition?

 

[EdwardTking]

...and a life sentence for frying up mars bars..

 

[.Shane.]

'Excuse me Sir, have you got a license for that cookie?'

What's the twinkle defence, a chess opening?

It references a murder trial in California from the late 70s...

Twinkie Defense...

 

[Xenocrates]

I can imagine two felons in jail; one turns to the other and asks what he's in for. The other replies "three counts of pastry and two of food colourings".

Anyway the justification for limiting access to guns is that a % of the holders will use them. So if statistics show that big consumers of junk food are more likely to kill or be violent, there's no difference to the ethics.

Maybe incarcarating people with mineral deficiencies would actually be easier and more effective than actually trying to solve crimes and arresting people for specific crimes?