What? Vitamins for felons?
Fifteen years ago, the BBC reported that a double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that adding vitamins to the diets of inmates at a maximum-security institution cut offenses by 25 percent. The greatest reduction was for serious offenses, including violence, which fell by 40 percent. There was no such reduction for those on placebos. The study’s researchers claim that improving diets could be a cost-effective way of reducing crime in communities and also reducing the prison population. To quote lead study author Bernard Gesch, "The improvement was huge."
I do not know of any prison that gives daily multivitamin supplements to inmates. Yet look at how much money we spend on our penal system:
• Average cost to keep one inmate locked up for a year in the U.S.: $31,000
• Cost to keep one inmate locked up for a year in New York City: $167,000
The cost of three multivitamins per day for one inmate for a year would be $55. That step has not been taken. Not at all. Not anywhere.
If you feel that you've not gotten your tax dollars' worth, it's because you haven't.
Andrew W. Saul, a nutritionist, is the editor of Orthomolecular Medicine News Service.
