Candy-gobbling kids may turn violent as adults.

Kol · **Candy-gobbling kids may turn violent as adults. -** October 2nd 2009, 02:37 AM

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33091821...and_nutrition/

Quote:

Willy Wonka would be horrified. Children who eat too much candy may be more likely to be arrested for violent behavior as adults, new research suggests. British experts studied more than 17,000 children born in 1970 for about four decades. Of the children who ate candies or chocolates daily at age 10, 69 percent were later arrested for a violent offense by the age of 34. Of those who didn't have any violent clashes, 42 percent ate sweets daily. The study was published in the October issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. It was paid for by Britain's Economic and Social Research Council. The researchers said the results were interesting, but that more studies were needed to confirm the link. "It's not that the sweets themselves are bad, it's more about interpreting how kids make decisions," said Simon Moore of the University of Cardiff, one of the paper's authors. Moore said parents who consistently bribe their children into good behavior with candies and chocolates could be doing harm. That might prevent kids from learning how to defer gratification, leading to impulsive behavior and violence. Even after Moore and colleagues controlled for other variables like different parenting skills and varying social and economic backgrounds, they found a significant link between childhood consumption of sweets and violent behavior in adulthood. Previous studies have found better nutrition leads to better behavior, in both children and adults. Moore said his results were not strong enough to recommend parents stop giving their children candies and chocolates. "This is an incredibly complex area," he said. "It's not fair to blame it on the candy."

I don't think Candy is the problem.

Xujhan

No, likely the candy is another symptom of the problem, whatever you want to argue the problem actually is.

Union Of V

A fantastic example of correlation not equaling causation (yes I have yet to install spellcheck...). Like female polititians leading to nuclear warfare. It just doesn't make sense.

losing touch.

mehh. they always come out with new studies about this. a few sweets here and there isn't gunna make a child become violent.. it's other things as well as eating sweets that make people turn into violent adults.

tk338

But then people have linked the economy with skirt sizes

http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/col...-and-economics

There could be something in it, but not a major factor...

Comatose

Seriously? What kid doesn't eat candy as a child and how many turn out to be normal healthy non-violent people?
So stupid.

Lizzie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Union Of V

A fantastic example of correlation not equaling causation (yes I have yet to install spellcheck...). Like female polititians leading to nuclear warfare. It just doesn't make sense.

Yeah for psychology.

You know what also causes violence? Drinking water, because all the criminals I have ever met, have drank water at some point in there life. LET’S BAN WATER….

Barbed Lungs

Correllation, not causation. These experts need to rethink their research.

Toast

Lol. More likely it's because parents who let their children eat too much candy are more lenient.

Casey.

Candy doesn't lead to violence. Well, I'm not violent anyway xD. More likely, bad parenting, social situations, and life choices let to being violent.

InSovietRussiaORGASMGotU

It's the amazing phenomenon of the media not being able to differentiate correlation with causation. You might as well say that criminals are correlated to eat steak so let's ban selling steak.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barbed Lungs

Correllation, not causation. These experts need to rethink their research.

I think the experts who did the research know the difference. Look at the article, did the actual researchers write it? No. It's on MSN, written by someone from the Associated Press, no where near an expert in the field that the article concerns. If the actual researchers did write that article, then I'd be worried.