British criminologists believe they can cut youth crime by increasing the content of fresh fruit and vegetables in the diet, following a study at a youth prison, details of which were published on Tuesday.
Adding carrots, cabbages and broccoli to the standard diet of meat and potatoes – usually fried -”remarkably reduced anti-social behaviour” among inmates at the Aylesbury Young Offenders Institution near London, the researchers said.
The University of Surrey team claimed their results were a world first and said they would lead to significant reform in the handling of young offenders and reduced prison populations.
Bernard Gesch, lead author of the study, said: ”In the future we may have a choice where we continue to lock up even more of our children, or we nourish them properly.”
He called for diet improvements both inside prison and in the wider community.
”The supplements just provided the vitamins, minerals and fatty acids found in a good diet which the inmates should be getting anyway. Yet the improvement in behaviour was huge,” Gesch said.
Natural Justice, the charity which commissioned the report, suggested it would cost around 3,5 million pounds year to give all prisoners the ”micronutrient capsules”.
The government-backed study saw half the young offenders receive the dietary supplements while the rest were fed dummy pills.
Although reasonable food was available in jail most inmates plumped for the least healthy option, the researchers noted.
The 230 young offenders aged 18 to 21 who took part were all volunteers serving an average sentence of four years. Sapa-DPA