Miho Itomura and his colleagues from Toyama University, Japan have found that supplementation of fish oil reduces the physical aggression of school children’s behavior. Researchers have found that Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which is a main constituent of fish oil, is an important component of cell membranes of the retina and brain. The researchers have found behavior problems in boys who have lower concentrations of DHA in blood.
The study was conducted in 230 school children’s, were asked to maintain their physical activity level and consume their habitual diets during the study period of 3 months. The study recruits were given bread rolls, steamed bread, sausages and spaghetti which contains high concentration of DHA-rich fish oil. The children’s were tested for a battery of tests like psychological tests, physical tests, questionnaires and blood sampling.The study results showed that DHA concentrations in RBC significantly increased over time in the fish oil group. Fish oil supplementation beneficially influenced impulsivity of girls compared with control foods. The study results also show that girls in the study group after supplementation showed more tolerance and were less aggressive compared to the boys. Though, the recruit number is low the results show that there is a significant reduction in aggressiveness in school children’s taking fish oil supplementation which may be due to an increased DHA concentration in these children’s.
Source: Journal of Nutrition Biochemistry
