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2009-10-04 -Lurid Crime Tales-

Daily candy use can turn children into 'criminals'

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Posted by Fred 2009-10-04 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top

#1 You may not know me but I find children absolutely wonderful - From the Movie "Silence of the Lambs"

-Jack Crawford: Just do your job, but never forget what he is.
Clarice Starling: And what is that?
[cut to Clarice's first trip to the psychiatric prison]
Dr. Frederick Chilton: Oh, he's a monster. Pure psychopath. So rare to capture one alive. From a research point of view, Lecter is our most prized asset.

Likely to work for this Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services

Posted by Hannibal Lecter 2009-10-04 01:49|| 2009-10-04 01:49|| Front Page Top

#2 Yeah, but kids who are overfed with candy turn to become obese criminals, so, at least, they don't get to snatch your purse and run away, fat slobs. Here, fatso, help yourself with a cookie, I see that you are hungry, you hog.

Posted by anonymous5089 2009-10-04 04:24|| 2009-10-04 04:24|| Front Page Top

#3 When did the distinction between correlation and causation stopped being one of the basic principles of research?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2009-10-04 06:05|| 2009-10-04 06:05|| Front Page Top

#4 Coke and chips for breakfast. Mmm Mmm Mmm.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2009-10-04 08:56|| 2009-10-04 08:56|| Front Page Top

#5 So does that make the corollary - Daily use of tax money turns Politicians [and grant studies applicants] corrupt?

Posted by Procopius2k 2009-10-04 09:33|| 2009-10-04 09:33|| Front Page Top

#6 When did the distinction between correlation and causation stopped being one of the basic principles of research?

It's an important distinction that too often is forgotten, to be sure. I haven't read the underlying journal article so don't know if it is solid research or crap. The link here goes to an Iranian news service, which may not be reporting the article correctly.

That said, there is a fair amount of recent neuroscience that demonstrates the effects of nutrition and certain early habitual experiences on brain structure and function. The structures are distinct areas in the brain ... functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)has identified, for instance, that the area of the brain structure that allows us to exercise self-control differs from the area that plans/executes actions. IF the former is underdeveloped or functioning erratically, it means poor impulse control -- a key trait of many violent criminals.

Functions such as the ability to postpone immediate gratification, identify longer term consequences of actions, judge risks, take responsibility and exercise self discipline all depend on neural development and brain chemistry. Those in turn are shaped heavily by repeated experiences and by nutrition. They can be learned, but it's a catch-22 situation: if the basics aren't in place, then learning these traits is less likely and harder to do. Young brains are developing rapidly ... they either do so as a result of favorable experiences and nutrition or they are shaped by the lack of those.

Our ancestors ate far less sugars than we do, including during the critical years of brain development. So it's a reasonable research question to ask whether a diet that is very far from what we evolved to eat, or what our ancestors ate regularly, might not have significant lasting effects on the brain.

Posted by lotp 2009-10-04 10:12|| 2009-10-04 10:12|| Front Page Top

#7
"Candy use"?

I'm picturing a little kid with a Hershey Kiss, a spoon, a candle, and a syringe.

Posted by Parabellum 2009-10-04 10:47|| http://sidemeat.wordpress.com/]">[http://sidemeat.wordpress.com/] 2009-10-04 10:47|| Front Page Top

#8 ;-) Parabellum

I suspect that what's really bad here is not the candy and chips per se but rather that they are eaten instead of foods containing nutrients that are critically important for proper development.

Posted by lotp 2009-10-04 10:49|| 2009-10-04 10:49|| Front Page Top

#9 My wife has a degenerative eye disease, she's near blind.
Last night we were eating out, she needed help and a 12 (Or so) Year old black kid came to her aid unasked. I made a point of congratulating his parents in his hearing, told them they had raised an outstanding young man, and I meant every word.
They should be very proud of him.

Posted by Redneck Jim 2009-10-04 11:16|| 2009-10-04 11:16|| Front Page Top

#10 That's why my children always had Diet Coke (later Coke Zero) with their breakfast Whiskey-and-Coke. Cuz that's what good parenting is all about..."for the chilruns"

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-10-04 12:47|| 2009-10-04 12:47|| Front Page Top

#11 This article is from Iran.... All us EVIL candy eating Americans!

Posted by Chandler 2009-10-04 13:42|| http://www.chandlerswatch.com/]">[http://www.chandlerswatch.com/] 2009-10-04 13:42|| Front Page Top

#12 (a) Lotp, it's not the biochemical effects of the candy, it's the parents who take the easy way---producing offspring who'll grow up to take the easy way (genes + eviro). Which, under proper circumstances translates into criminality.

(b) That said, there is a fair amount of recent neuroscience that demonstrates the effects of nutrition and certain early habitual experiences on brain structure and function.

Lotp (going by the hint's you've dropped over the years) you grew in academic community. Well, things have changed since then. Research, both scientific and scholastic, is no longer a vocation---it's a profession. And, because of the explosion of knowledge, it's no longer a profession where one's colleagues in the same institution are capable of evaluating one's competence directly. That is, it's a profession whose major component is salesmanship.
Now, let us consider a hypothetical case. What is more likely to gain one recognition, grants, etc....
(i) Investigating an issue whose importance is clear to, say, 5 people worldwide.
(ii) Providing evidence (it doesn't have to be a very strong evidence: cf. Global Worming) that some common dietary component is injurious to "the children".

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2009-10-04 17:05|| 2009-10-04 17:05|| Front Page Top

#13 You've misread the hints, g(r)omgoru. I grew up in a blue collar family of people who built things with their hands, hunted, fished and worked in the day to day world.

OTOH I do have education including through the doctoral level. My research is in a science area and I currently manage some basic science research, including decisions about what research to fund and why.

You'll forgive me then if I say that it's quite likely I'm at least as familiar as you are with how research topics are chosen, vetted, funded and results published.

Maybe even a little more familiar. And yes, my research area draws on neuroscience as well as several other foundational disciplines. It's not my specialty but I'm familiar with some parts of the scholarly literature and the state of research questions and results in the field.

FWIW

Posted by lotp 2009-10-04 18:15|| 2009-10-04 18:15|| Front Page Top

#14 Mea Culpa.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2009-10-04 18:17|| 2009-10-04 18:17|| Front Page Top

#15 You cross-correlated your Rantburg females slightly incorrectly, g(r)omgoru. I'm the one who grew up in the ivory tower then left for the outside world, ending up in the sheltered rose garden of suburban housewifery and corporate spousery. Daddy used to write grant proposals though, back in the day. Lots and lots of grant proposals. Followed by preliminary papers, definitive papers, summary papers... the game was to see how many papers could be gotten out of each datum. I edited many of them for language usage as I was a native English speaker, unlike my terribly highly educated parents. Based on your description I'd say the rules haven't changed much since I was a girl.

Posted by trailing wife 2009-10-04 19:37|| 2009-10-04 19:37|| Front Page Top

#16 This article upset me so much I had to go and drizzle some Disaronno over some wonderful chocolate Biscotti fresh from Turano Pastry Shop.

Man everybody in that shop must be criminal....
because they love sweets...

Posted by 3dc 2009-10-04 21:55|| 2009-10-04 21:55|| Front Page Top

23:28 Ebbuting Wittlesbach5857
23:25 CrazyFool
23:11 gorb
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22:59 gorb
22:41 3dc
22:39 3dc
21:55 3dc
21:41 Frank G
21:37 whitecollar redneck
21:36 JosephMendiola
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21:27 3dc
21:26 Pappy
21:26 Glenmore
21:24 JosephMendiola
21:23 Pappy
21:19 Pappy
21:04 JosephMendiola
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20:56 JosephMendiola
20:56 lotp
20:42 trailing wife
20:34 Nimble Spemble