The Literal Chill Pill: Omega-3 Believed To Reduce Agressive Behavior In Children

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania revealed that children with extreme aggression who started taking omega-3, vitamins, and mineral supplements have experienced a short term reduction in this behavior especially its more impulsive, emotional form.

According to Medical Daily, psychology researchers wanted to investigate if changing the brain could help people behave better. They demonstrated how a diet rich in in omega-3s, which are naturally found in salmon, tuna, avocado, and seeds, influences a child's behavior on the short and long-term basis.

"No matter what program you use, could adding omega-3s to your treatment help? This [study] suggests it could," said the study's lead author Adrian Raine, a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, in a statement. "We can't oversimplify the complexity of antisocial behavior. There are many causes. It's not just the brain. Is it a piece of the jigsaw puzzle? I think it is." Dr. Raine has spent his career studying how the brain's biological functioning affects antisocial behavior. His research focuses on how to change the brain to modify these behaviors, whether it's a more benign situation such as a child acting out or something more extreme, such as the case of a homicidal killer.

For this study, Raine and his research team recruited 290 children aging between 11 and 12 years old and randomly divided them into four groups. One group received omega-3 supplements, in the form of juice, multivitamins, and calcium for three months while the second group didn't receive omega-3 but instead participated in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). A third group took the supplements and participated in CBT, and the last group was just given information on how to reduce aggressive behavior. The therapy involved weekly hour-long meetings that rotated between the child and parent individually and together.

The researchers also extracted blood samples from each study participant at the start of the study and at the end in order to monitor their levels of omega-3. "Sessions focused on the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and also practicing alternative actions the children could take to deal with difficult situations rather than to emotionally react to something," said Dr. Therese Richmond, the study's co-author and associate dean for research and innovation at The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine who observed the clinical trials.

Psychcentral.com also reported Richmond saying that after three months of nutritional intervention rich in omega-3s, the research team has found a decrease in the children's reporting of their aggressive behavior. Those who had a combination of CBT and omega-3s and an omega-3s-only intervention, reported less aggression compared to the groups receiving only CBT or information on aggression. However, the researchers feel like they still have to investigate further to understand the underlying neurological factors at play because the benefits of omega-3s diminished to mimic those derived from CBT-only intervention.

The American Institute for Cognitive Therapy said that CBT is a goal-focused treatment approach that probed on how the child's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors intertwine. Experts usually identify problematic behaviors and patterns to figure out a way for the child to cope and be guided to a healthier place emotionally. Researchers wanted the children to experience the standard treatment for behavior problems, such as aggression and antisocial tendencies, in order to have an effective comparison for the omega-3s dietary intervention.

"As a protective factor for reducing behavior problems in children, nutrition is a promising option," said the 2015 study's co-author Jianghong Liu, an associate professor at Pennsylvania University's School of Nursing. "It is relatively inexpensive and can be easy to manage."