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People who don't eat these three foods are prone to aggressive and violent outbursts, study claims
If you're prone to blowing up at people, it might not be your personality that's to blame but your diet.
Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania have found that people who take omega-3, which is found in fish, flaxseed and walnuts, are less likely to have aggressive and violent outbursts.
The team analyzed over 20 studies that tested the nutrient, finding a 30 percent reduction in aggression among people who took the supplement for at least two weeks.
Because omega-3 has been shown to promote brain functions, researchers suggested that it could improve mechanisms that aren't working well in people with such behaviors.
People who frequently exhibit violent or aggressive behavior have been found to have less robust brain anatomy in previous studies.
'I think the time has come to implement omega-3 supplementation to reduce aggression, irrespective of whether the setting is the community, the clinic, or the criminal justice system,' Penn neurocriminologist Adrian Raine said in a statement.
'Omega-3 is not a magic bullet that is going to completely solve the problem of violence in society. But can it help? Based on these findings, we firmly believe it can, and we should start to act on the new knowledge we have.'
Omega-3 is a type of fat that your body needs to survive but that it can't produce on its own. Some common sources of the nutrient are fish like mackerel, salmon and herring, as well as flax and chia seeds, walnuts and soybeans.
If you're not a fan of these foods, then doctors sometimes recommend taking fish oil pills, which are high in the nutrient.
Professor Raine has been investigating the link between omega-3 and criminal behavior since for a decade.
His most recent study, which was published in the journal Aggression and Violent Behavior, collected and analyzed data from 29 previous studies that represented 3,918 participants from 1996 to 2024.
About 51 percent of the individuals were children, but the mean age of participants was 21.74.
Participants took, on average, a 1.18 gram dose omega-3 supplements for 16.37 weeks.
Averaging those findings, Professor Raine and his colleagues found that across people of all ages, genders, psychological diagnosis, treatment lengths and dosage, there was an average reduction of aggressive behavior by 30 percent.
Since the body doesn't naturally produce omega-3 fatty acids, you have to consume it from food. Some common groups include seeds, nuts and seafood.
However, the team noted that their findings only proved sure for a short-term reduction and more research is needed to see long-term effects.
There are many studies that have linked abnormalities in brain tissue to aggressive behavior.
When the nerves in a region of your brain known as the prefrontal cortex are underdeveloped, you're more likely to develop violent, aggressive or impulsive tendencies, neurologist Dr Pamela Blake, from the Georgetown University Hospital, wrote.
However omega-3 works in the brain, scientists aren't saying it's a cure-all for aggressive behavior. Likely, people who struggle with violent outbursts will need more than a diet change to improve their situation.
'At the very least, we would argue that omega-3 supplementation should be considered as an adjunct to other interventions, whether they be psychological (e.g. CBT) or pharmacological (e.g. risperidone) in nature, and that caregivers are informed of the potential benefits of omega-3 supplementation,' Professor Raine and his team wrote in the study.
'We believe the time has come both to execute omega-3 supplementation in practice and also to continue scientifically investigating its longer-term efficacy.'