Juvenile Delinquency

All information in this article is for educational purposes only.

It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Delinquency is a serious mental health problem in most nations of the world. ​Nutritional balancing can help with this problem, often in dramatic ways. Here are a few case histories from my own client files and those of physicians whom I have worked with:

Case #1. James, now age 26, had always been a rather angry child. In his first year of high school, he began using marijuana. Soon he graduated to cocaine, and ended up dropping out of college, although he was a very bright young man. His mother heard of nutritional balancing science and convinced him to begin a program of diet, targeted supplements and a better lifestyle. Slowly, James has stayed with his program, reduced his drug use, and now is back in college and getting all As.

Case #2. Robert had bee thrown out of 4 high schools and was living at the Arizona Boys Ranch, a home for delinquent teens. Someone at the Ranch heard of nutritional balancing science and agreed to pay for Robert’s hair analysis and several supplements. When he arrived, his driver warned me that Robert “had a very bad attitude”. When the driver walked out of the room, Robert immediately said to me “Doc, my brain just doesn’t work.” Robert’s first hair analysis revealed high levels of aluminum, iron, mercury, and cadmium. I told him to stay away from white sugar and white flour, and gave him several nutritional supplements for his oxidation type and to begin to correct the heavy metal problems. I also instructed his escort driver to tell the cook to emphasize more cooked vegetables and meats, and fewer sweets, breads and other empty starches. About four months later, Robert returned for hair analysis retest. His driver softly told me that “Robert’s attitude has turned around”. When Robert sat down in the office, he said “Doc, my brain works.” Robert’s retest hair analysis still showed some high levels of toxic metals, but fewer than before.

Case #3. Jung Lee lives in Korea, and had become a juvenile delinquent, abusing alcohol, mainly, and behaving irresponsibly. His mother convinced him to have a hair analysis, improve his diet and take the supplements recommended on his nutritional balancing program. Jung Lee’s hair analysis revealed a lot of copper, in particular, although other toxic metals were present as well. He has been following a nutritional balancing program for over a year, and his retests indicate slow improvement. This month, for the first time, Jung Lee’s mother reports that a change has occurred in her son. He is finally more self-reflective, she says. In other words, he does not just act impulsively and he is aware when he retraces old emotions and moves through his healing crises. He appears to be on the mend and has stopped drinking alcohol.

Case #4. Amir, age 26, lives in Saudi Arabia. He has had violent tendencies and has beaten up his parents on several occasions, with whom he lives. He has followed a nutritional balancing program for over six months and he reports feeling much calmer and in control of his mind. He states that his problems started when he was given medication by a doctor some ten years ago and he was never the same afterward.

Many more cases and information about this subject are found in a small, older book called Diet, Crime, and Delinquency by Alexander Schauss. Dr. Schauss was a probation officer who researched the connection between body chemistry, diet, and delinquency and has written about it extensively.

An Epidemic

Today, in America alone, almost nine million children, or almost one out of every five children, take psychoactive drugs for behavior disorders, and the problems of troubled young people are only getting worse each year, all around the world. In fact, they are increasing faster in Asia and other parts of the world than in the West, perhaps due to eating more fish containing mercury, or due to lax pollution standards for the air, water, and food. The number of children diagnosed with ADD and ADHD increased by 90% between 1989 and 1996! Three-fourths of the doctor visits resulted in drug treatment. Clinical Psychiatric News, July 1998 reported that 223 children under age 3 who enrolled in Michigan’s Medicaid program before December 1996 were labeled ADHD. The author adds: “Amazingly, 57% of these children were treated with one or more psychotropic drugs including Ritalin, Prozac, Dexedrine, Aventyl and Syban. Thirty-three percent were medicated with two or more of these drugs.” Combining anti-depressants (Prozac or Luvox) and psychostimulants (Ritalin) increases the risk of cardiovascular collapse, seizures, euphoria and psychosis (3). Researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory reported that “when Ritalin was given to cocaine users, they couldn’t distinguish the Ritalin high from the cocaine high”.

WHY THE EPIDEMIC? Let us examine some of the reasons for the epidemic of mental illness, and delinquency in particular, and what can be done about it naturally, instead of using dangerous psychoactive drugs whose side effects in young people include suicidal tendencies and can lead to homicide.

The Nutrition-Delinquency Connection

Mild Vitamin Deficiencies. Pellagra is a vitamin B3 deficiency disease. In 1938, the American Journal of Medical Science, Vol. 196 published an article entitled, “The Mental Symptoms of Subclinical Pellagra (in children)” by T.D. Spies et al. Symptoms include hyperactivity, perceptual difficulties, inappropriate social behavior, and problems in school. These symptoms sound very much like the current diagnoses of ADD, ADHD, and related disorders. Is it possible, you might ask, that a child living in the modern world could have a subclinical or mild vitamin deficiency disease that should have been eradicated years ago? Yet this is exactly what happens when a child lives on a standard type of modern diet with white flour, white rice, refined sugars, and a few cooked vegetables. In a California study involving 400 prisoners, 200 were given a multi-vitamin-mineral supplement, while the others were given a placebo. Neither the prisoners nor the prison staff knew who was getting the placebo. The number of discipline violations in the treated group fell 38% in the 15 weeks of the study. There was no change in violations in the placebo group.

Food Allergies can Cause Psychiatric Symptoms. Psychiatrist Abram Hoffer, MD has added much to our understanding of human nutrition. Two of his contributions concern food allergies and dosages of vitamins. He writes that “food allergy can reproduce almost every known psychiatric syndrome, from autism and schizophrenia to mood and behavioral disorders”. His work with concentration camp victims proved that some people need much higher doses of vitamins than others to maintain health. Delinquency & Nutrition. Many studies support the concept that better nutrition reduces crime and delinquency in adults as well as in children. A recent study appeared in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2002. This was a well-controlled study in which half of a group of 230 young offenders were given a food supplement containing vitamins, minerals, and essential fatty acids. The other half were given a placebo or dummy pill (an excellent choice of words, in this case). Those who took the real food supplement over an eighteen-month period experienced a reduction in all repeat offenses of 25%. Violent crime was reduced by nearly 40%. Those who took the placebo had no reduction in their repeat offenses over the same period of months.

Old Brain & New Brain

Our brain has several parts. The so-called ‘old brain’ is the diencephalon, often referred to as the emotional brain. It is responsible for our animal responses, including the desire to harm or kill another, violent responses, and other anti-social behavior. It is a natural defensive response. The ‘new brain’, also called the neo-cortex, literally sits on top of the old brain. One of its main functions is to modify our animal responses, substituting or replacing the old responses to attacks with higher emotions such as forgiveness, patience, and compassion. Dr. Paul Eck read that copper stimulates the old brain, whereas zinc is needed in greater quantity for the new brain. In fact, zinc is considered by some researchers as a calming neurotransmitter in its own right. Most hair mineral analyses reveal zinc deficiency and hidden or over copper toxicity. Symptoms of copper toxicity from a standard textbook include psychosis, exaggerated emotions, panic attacks, anxiety, schizophrenia, and emotional instability. Among the important reasons why copper is high in most people today are zinc-deficient refined food diets, diets too low in animal protein and higher in fruit and sugars, adrenal gland weakness, use of birth control pills and copper intra-uterine devices in mothers, vegetarian diets, and stress.

The Pepsi Generation

Many children today are overstimulated with caffeine and sugar. Refined caffeine – a more potent stimulant than that found in foods such as tea or coffee, is readily available to youngsters of all ages. It gives a temporary lift, but eventually exhausts the adrenal glands, leading to fatigue and irritability. It is ironic that the FDA is very tough on vitamin manufacturers, but ignores children’s access to this well-known stimulant drug.

Sugar. Refined sugar, which is labeled fructose, corn sugar, corn sweetener, honey, dextrose, liquid sugar or other names, depletes the body of B-complex vitamins needed for its digestion. It also feeds fungal and other infections in the intestines and elsewhere. Yeast can, in some cases, find its way into the brain and cause havoc with one’s thoughts and emotions. Sugars of any kind in the diet seriously upset calcium metabolism, which is critical for the regulation of the nervous system. Sugars are also very yin, and this may be related to violence and delinquency as well. Do not substitute Nutrasweet, Aspartame or any of the artificial sweeteners for regular sugar. Instead, just reduce the amount of all sweeteners in the diet as much possible. The artificial sweeteners can be even worse for some people. For more on this, read Aspartame And Other Deadly Sweeteners on this website.

Caffeine. Another possible cause for delinquency is that some young people are overstimulated with caffeine and sugar. Isolated caffeine – a more potent stimulant than that found in foods such as tea or coffee, is readily available to youngsters of all ages. It gives a temporary lift, but eventually exhausts the adrenal glands, leading to fatigue and irritability. Ironically, the FDA is very tough on vitamin manufacturers, but ignores children’s access to this well-known stimulant drug.

Mineral Deficiencies. Another cause for violence and delinquency are widespread deficiencies of the sedative minerals. these include calcium, magnesium and zinc. They may also include others such as lithium. Not only are the diets low in the sedative minerals, but common food items such as soda pop contain phosphoric acid that binds and eliminates calcium, magnesium and zinc from the body. This is a very harmful combination of factors.

TOXIC METALS Lead, cadmium, and mercury can damage children’s brains and cause mood swings and violent thoughts. This is not a debatable issue or one that needs more research. It is well-known and well-studied but generally ignored. For example, hair tissue mineral tests on several serial killers found they had high tissue levels of these metals. A study of Naval recruits found the higher the cadmium level, the more disciplinary problems. The “mad hatters” of Alice in Wonderland were real people. They became poisoned with mercury working in the hat industry in the mid 1800’s. Today, some American, European and Asian children are poisoned with mercury on a much larger scale from their dental fillings and eating too much tuna fish and other sea creatures. Many European nations have banned amalgam fillings. The American Dental Association knows about the problem. If they told you the truth, there might be lawsuits, so the poisoning continues. When the diet is low in vital minerals, the body absorbs much more of the toxic metals from food and the environment.

TOXIC CHEMICALS Pesticide exposure can induce homicidal behavior. Many pesticides affect cholinesterase activity. This enzyme affects the level of acetylcholine, a calming neurotransmitter. This can induce states of agitation and irritability. Studies show that many children by age five have reached a dangerous level of pesticide exposure. Schools are often built today without windows for better insulation. Many have carpeting, which formerly was never used in schools. This creates a closed environment with sometimes elevated levels of carpet molds, dust, toxic cleaning products and formaldehyde in furniture and building materials. The result is called “sick building syndrome”. Excellent books such as Is This Your Child’s World? by Doris Rapp, MD document the harmful effects these chemicals can have on children’s behavior.

Simple Solutions

What can be done about all this? The answer is that a lot can be done, and most of it is very inexpensive and simple. Diet. Children need to eat real meats and cooked vegetables and stay away completely from junk foods, food chemicals, caffeine, sweets, and sugars – including most fruit and all fruit juices. Don’t keep junk food in the house, substitute healthier products, and be sure to set a good example for your children. Yell and scream until they take the soda machines and McDonald’s-style meals out of the schools. If the schools will not listen, strongly consider taking your child out of school. When you visit your child’s school, note if there is proper ventilation, and how many toxic carpets and other items your child will be exposed to. Natural light, provided by windows or full-spectrum bulbs, is also much healthier for children than windowless school buildings and standard fluorescent lights. A Nutritional Balancing Program. All children are toxic today as they are born that way and then become much worse thanks to improper diets, vaccines, medical drugs and other sources of toxins. Children do very well on nutritional balancing programs that are designed to remove two dozen toxic metals, hundreds of toxic chemicals, improve the child’s energy and mental functioning and balance the entire body chemistry. Children need just a few nutritional supplements along with a healthful diet and about 1-3 quarts of quality spring water to drink each day. Stay Involved With Your Troubled Child. Too many parents do not really know or perhaps care what is happening to their teens. Be firm with children and explain to them it is important that you, as a parent, know at all times where your child is, with whom, and what they are doing. ​Do not be afraid to limit computer time, check on your child’s Facebook and other social media pages, monitor emails and phone calls, and know exactly what is going on in your child’s school and elsewhere. This is very critical so that you are properly informed so you can help your child grow up strong, healthy, and happy.

Drug Therapy and the Side Effects of Prozac

Prozac, Luvox, Paxil, and Zoloft belong to a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs. These drugs can induce akathisia – mental and physical agitation that sparks self-destructive, violent behavior. They can also induce dissociative reactions. The one taking the drug becomes insensitive to the consequences of his behavior.

The combination of these effects can lead to anti-social behavior of the worst kind. In one study, 6% of the children on Prozac became psychotic (1).

Ann Blake Tracy, PhD has studied Prozac for ten years. She researched 32 murder cases involving women and their children. In 24 of the cases, the women were taking Prozac or another SSRI.

Why isn’t this on the news? Perhaps because drug company advertising supports most TV and radio stations, newspapers and medical journals. Drug companies spend $11 billion a year on advertising.

An article in California Lawyer, Dec. 1998, reported that Eli Lilly, manufacturer of Prozac, settled nearly a dozen cases involving Prozac out of court in one year. They did this to avoid unwanted publicity that would unleash an avalanche of Prozac horror stories.

Love the Children

If your child is too active, depressed, anxious or otherwise not feeling well, use drugs only as a last resort. Seek for causes, and begin with nutritional imbalances. Most of these cannot be seen on blood, urine and saliva tests. However, they are often revealed easily and inexpensively with a properly performed and interpreted hair mineral analysis that assesses the body chemistry at the cellular level. Once these imbalances are attended to, including candida albicans infections, and at times, food allergies and chemical sensitivity, our experience is that most of these children and young adults become whole and normal once again. Children need to be loved and cared for carefully. Too many parents are tired, too busy, or some just don’t care enough about their children. When children are not loved and cared for properly, most cannot articulate their needs. Instead, they “act out” – sometimes violently. Under the influence of drugs and other imbalances, this can be deadly. Perhaps we can be grateful for these incidents of violence that appear on the evening news. They may point us in a direction to love our children even more.

Source: Delinquency - L.D. Wilson Consultants, Inc. References 1. Breggin, P.R., Talking Back to Prozac, St. Martin’s Paperbacks, New York, NY, 1994. 2. Breggin, P.R., Your Drug May Be Your Problem, Perseus Books, Reading, MA 1999. 3. Breggin, P.R., also Talking Back to Ritalin and Toxic Psychiatry. 4. Dishinger, R.C., Bad Behavior and Illness are Caused by Biochemical Imbalances, available free at www.biochemimbal-bahavior.com or call 502-684-9233. 5. Doctor Visits by Youngsters with ADHD, Arch. of Ped. and Adolescent Med., Dec. 1999;153,1257-1263,1220-1221. 6. Drug Company Advertising to Doctors, J. of the AMA,2000;373-380 and 391-393. 7. Eck, P. and Wilson, L., Toxic Metals in Human Health and Disease, Eck Institute of Applied Nutrition, Phoenix, AZ, 1989. 8. Greeley, R.E., Thomas Jefferson’s Freethought Legacy, Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 1995. 9. Hoffer, A, Dr. Hoffer’s ABC of Natural Nutrition for Children, Quarry Press, Inc., Ontario, Canada 1999. 10. Johnson, J.A. et al., Drug-related Morbidity and Mortality, A Cost-of-Illness Model, Arch. Intern. Med., Oct. 9, 1995;155(18)1949-1956. 11.Olarsch, I.G., and Stockton, S., Why are Kids Killing…The Nutrition-Mind Connection, Townsend Letter for Doctors, April 2000;201,108-111. 12.O’Meara, K.P., Doping Kids, Insight Magazine, June 28, 1999, available at www.freerepublic.com Prozac Survivor’s Support Group, at www.pssg.org 13. Rapp, D., Is This Your Child?, Quill William Morrow, New York, 1991. 14. Rappaport, John, Why Did They Do It? An Inquiry Into The School Shootings in America, (available at www.truthseeker.com) 15. Schauss, A., Diet, Crime and Delinquency, Parker House Press, Berkeley, CA, 1980. 16. Thiel, R.J, Nutrition-based Interventions for ADD and ADHD, Amer. Naturo. Med. Assoc. Monitor, 1999, or at www.healthresearch.com. 17. Tracy, A.B., Prozac: Panacea or Pandora?, Cassia Publications, West Jordan, UT, 1994. 18. Tracy, Ann Black, International Coalition for Drug Awareness, www.drugawareness.org 19. Wiley, H., The History of the Crime Against the Food Law, available from the national Health Federation, Monrovia, CA. 20. Williams, D.G., Teach Your Children Well, Alternatives For the Health Conscious Individual, September 1999, 800-219-8591.