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"One... negative environmental influence on neurochemistry may be
poor nutrition. Diets low in or otherwise blocking the uptake of
tryptophan or tyrosine (the precursors of serotonin and
norepinephrine, respectively) have been found to lower the levels
of these transmitters in the brain. In addition, even when
returned to a normal diet, brain serotonin levels are never fully
compensated. Poor nutrition possibly occurring in individuals of
lower socioeconomic status, including dietary care during
pregnancy, may very well influence neurotransmitter levels
throughout life."
Adrian Raine, Ph.D., in
The Psychopathology of Crime,
1993
"For the past forty years the mainstream medical establishment
has denied the connection between nutrition and physical disease
states. The mental health establishment has followed suit, with
orthodox psychiatry and psychology contending that nutrition has
no bearing on mental conditions. Yet the reality is that an
objective review of mainstream scientific literature reveals the
following: for virtually every major mental illness, quality
studies exist showing that there are significant nutritional
influences."
Gary Null, Ph.D., and Martin Feldman, M.D., in
"Nutrition and Mental Illness:
Sampling of the Current Scientific Literature,"
Townsend Letter, No. 148, 1996
"I do not have the slightest doubt that, if we improved the
nutritional status of delinquents and prisoners, things would get
better. How much better is hard to say."
Morris Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., discussant on "Nutrition and Criminal
Behavior" at an American Society of Criminology annual meeting.
Dr. Lipton was chair of the National Science Foundation's first
national conference on diet and behavior in 1980, and was
co-director of the American Medical Association's Resource
Conference Task Force on "Diet and Behavior" in 1984
"Nutrition research surveys in the last two decades have shown
that Americans are eating anything but balanced diets, and also
uncovered three startling facts. One, there is clear-cut
malnutrition in America among certain groups. Two, there are
widespread deficiencies in several nutrients among the population
at large. And three, these deficiencies are affecting our health,
disease resistance, and performance-including school behavior and
achievement."
Joseph D. Beasley, M.D., in The Betrayal of Health, 1991
"You can't run a Cadillac on kerosene."
Hugh Powers, M.D., on the effects of poor diet
on behavior and cognition