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Infant Malnutrition Tied to Future Aggression

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Malnutrition early in life predisposes infants to aggression and antisocial behavior as they are growing up, USC researchers reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Psychologist Adrian Raine and his colleagues studied more than 1,000 children living in Mauritius.

They found that those who suffered from malnutrition in the early postnatal years, when compared with those who were adequately fed, showed a 41% increase in aggression at age 8, and a 51% increase in violent and antisocial behavior at age 17.

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