Health Essay

If the world had a better understanding of nutrition there would be less violence, fewer diseases and fewer mental disorders. Violence is an emotion that creates an unjust or unwarranted exertion of force or power, as against rights or laws (Dictionary.com, 2012). Some diseases can be caused with a lack of nutrition, but other diseases can be treated, or cured with a good nutrition. Attention deficit disorder and bipolar disorders are disorders that mostly come from a chemical imbalance in the brain. A better understanding of nutrition can help the fight in violence, decrease the risk of some diseases, and help many mental disorders.

There are multiple ways that nutrition can help in our day to day lives but there are also many ways that not having the right nutrition can harm your body. Violence is quite prevalent in prison so this is why Bernard Gesch and researchers at the University of Oxford decided to do their study at the maximum security institution in Buckinghamshire (Food Matters, 2010). After improving diets of young offenders at the maximum security institution offenses were cut by 25%. Now the study has evolved to the population in general to see if nutrition can really help the control of violence. In this study Bernard Gesch and the researchers at the University of Oxford enrolled 230 young offenders from HM Prison of Young Offenders Institution of Aylesbury. In this study half of the young offenders received pills containing vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, the other half received placebos. For nine months the young offenders were recorded for each offense prior to the pills and for nine months while they were taking the pills. The researchers found that within the offenders that had received the pills containing vitamins, fatty acids, and minerals there were 25% fewer offenses compared to those who had been given the placebo. The greatest reduction was for serious offenses, including violence which fell by 40%, there was no reduction for those on the placebos (Food Matters, 2010).

Some diseases can be caused with a lack of nutrition, but other diseases can be treated, or cured with a good nutrition. Some diseases that are caused by a lack of nutrition are high blood pressure, and obesity. Some diseases that can be cured with a good nutrition include Type 2 diabetes and strangely obesity. Blood pressure is a measure of the force of blood produced by the heart as well as the condition of the arteries. When people eat foods that are rich in saturated fats and sodium it can lead to high blood pressure (Braverman J, 2011 ). A diet that can help treat high blood pressure needs to be high in fiber, low in salt, and low in fat (Go For Your Life, 2010). So what is Type 2 diabetes? Type 2 diabetes is where your pancreas either does not produce enough insulin or it does not produce any at all to compensate for what you eat. Type 2 diabetes is adult onset, it is a disorder where you have high blood glucose. Type 2 diabetes is mostly from being overweight or obese and in many cases if you eat healthy and exercise to lose weight it will go away. Type 2 diabetes is sometimes described as a 'lifestyle disease' because it is more common in people who do insufficient physical activity and are overweight or obese. Unhealthy eating habits, such as regularly choosing high fat, high sugar, and high salt or low fiber foods raise the risk for Type 2 Diabetes (Go For Your Life, 2011). In the way the world is today obesity is quite common. It is common in children and adults. Obesity is in increase that is quite a bit over what your average weight should be. Obesity is due to poor diet and inactivity; it can be due to health issues also.

Attention deficit disorder and bipolar disorders are disorders that mostly come from a chemical imbalance in the brain. Attention deficit disorder is characterized by inability to concentrate, restlessness, and impulsiveness. The standard traditional treatment is prescription of Ritalin, Concerta, or similar psychotropic drugs to help control the symptoms.