Sweets make kids violent as adults

Children who eat sweets every day are more likely to be violent as adults, possibly because they want instant gratification, a British psychological study has suggested.

Children who eat sweets every day are more likely to be violent as adults, possibly because they want instant gratification, a British psychological study has suggested.

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The research, by researchers at Cardiff University in Wales, took around 17,000 babies born in 1970 and monitored them at age five, 10, and 34 years old to see if there was a correlation.

It found 69 per cent of those found guilty of offences involving violence reported they had eaten confectionery nearly every day during childhood, compared to 42 per cent of those who were non-violent.

“Our favoured explanation is that giving children sweets and chocolate regularly may stop them learning how to wait to obtain something they want,” researcher Simon Moore said.

“Not being able to defer gratification may push them towards more impulsive behaviour, which is strongly associated with delinquency,” he added in the study, published in the October issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.

But the study was condemned as “utter nonsense” by the Food and Drink Federation, which represents Britain’s food and drink industry.