A recently released study by researchers at Cardiff University in the U.K., found that children who eat candy everyday have an increased risk of being convicted of a violent crime by the time they are 34. The study found that almost 70% of respondents who had been convicted of a violent crime, recall eating candy almost every day as a child, compared to almost 42% of those who had never been arrested for a violent crime.
Clearly, there must be other factors at work. So the researchers looked at the data again to control for others factors, like parental permissiveness, urban or rural living, economic status, and more, but the results were surprisingly constant: Eating a lot of candy as a child led to higher rates of committing violent crime as an adult—regardless of other factors.
So what does this mean to you? Should you forbid your children from eating any and all sweets? Not necessarily. The results of this study raise more questions than answers. But researchers are looking into 2 possibilities: either chemicals in the candy are actually affecting brain functions/development, or some children already have issues with self-control, of which eating lots of candy is a symptom not a cause.
Let’s hope it’s the latter. I’d hate to stop giving out candy on Halloween.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20091002/hl_time/08599192734700
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