If you’re prone to getting angry at people, it may not be your personality that’s to blame, but your diet.
Scientists have found that people who take omega-3, found in fish, flaxseed and walnuts, are less likely to have aggressive and violent outbursts.
This could be because our brain uses fatty molecules to strengthen our nerves, omega-3 could help promote nerve growth and brain function.
Therefore, not consuming enough omega-3s could lead to underdeveloped or underperforming brain regions, such as those related to aggressive behavior, according to the researchers.
Previous studies have found that people who frequently exhibit violent or aggressive behavior have less robust brain anatomy.
“I believe the time has come to implement omega-3 supplements to reduce aggression, regardless of whether the setting is the community, the clinic, or the criminal justice system,” Penn neurocriminologist Adrian Raine said in a statement. statement.
‘Omega-3 is not a magic solution that will completely solve the problem of violence in society. But can it help? Based on these findings, we firmly believe that it is possible and that we should start acting on the new knowledge we have.’
Omega-3 is a type of fat that the body needs to survive but cannot produce on its own. Some common sources of this nutrient are fish such as mackerel, salmon, and herring, as well as flax and chia seeds, walnuts, and soybeans.
If you’re not a fan of these foods, doctors sometimes recommend taking fish oil pills, which are rich in nutrients.
Professor Raine, who works at the University of Pennsylvania, has been researching the relationship between omega-3s and criminal behavior for a decade.
His most recent study, published in the Aggression and Violent Behavior magazinecollected and analyzed data from 29 previous studies representing 3,918 participants between 1996 and 2024.
About 51 percent of the individuals were children, but the average age of the participants was 21.74 years.
Participants took, on average, a dose of 1.18 grams of omega-3 supplements for 16.37 weeks.
Averaging those findings, Professor Raine and his colleagues found that in people of all ages, genders, psychological diagnoses, treatment duration and dosage, there was an average reduction in aggressive behavior by 30 percent.
However, the team noted that their findings only proved safe for short-term reduction and that more research is needed to look at long-term effects.
There are many studies that have linked abnormalities in brain tissue to aggressive behavior.
When the nerves in a region of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex are underdeveloped, you are more likely to develop violent, aggressive, or impulsive tendencies. neurologist Dr. Pamela Blakefrom Georgetown University Hospital, he wrote.
Regardless of how omega-3 works in the brain, scientists are not saying it is a panacea for aggressive behavior. People who struggle with violent outbursts will likely need more than just a diet change to improve their situation.
“At a minimum, we could argue that omega-3 supplementation should be considered as a complement to other interventions, whether psychological (e.g., CBT) or pharmacological (e.g., risperidone) in nature, and that caregivers be informed of the potential benefits of omega-3 supplementation,” Professor Raine and his team wrote in the study.
“We believe the time has come to put omega-3 supplementation into practice and also to continue scientifically investigating its long-term effectiveness.”