FEATURE ARTICLE: DIET AND BEHAVIOR

Why has so little research looked at the effects of nutrition on behavior? In part, the answer is money: millions of dollars in funding are available for studies of drugs, while funds for nutritional research are scarce. Furthermore, nutritional changes, unlike drugs, generally don't take effect immediately. Thus, nutritional research is often costly, and likely to be confounded by intervening circumstances.

Interest in nutritional research is increasing dramatically, however, as more and more studies show that dietary interventions can reduce cancer rates, protect against heart disease, and add years to life. Although research on diet and behavior is still in its infancy, studies to date show convincingly that nutrition may influence our mental health as much as it influences our physical health. In this issue, Crime Times takes a look at these studies- and at the possibility that diet may become an established treatment for behavior disorders and even criminality.