Research Article
Protective Effects of Vegetarian Diet on Aggressiveness in School Going Children
Kumar G1*, Prajna SC2 amd Jain V3
1Research Scholar, Asha Foundation for Wellness, Gurugram, Hariyana, India
2Department of Religious Studies, Florida International University Miami, USA
3Emeritus Professors, Department of Yoga and Science of Living, Jain Vishva Bharti Institute, Ladnun, Rajasthan, India
*Corresponding author: Kumar G, Research Scholar, Asha Foundation for Wellness, Gurugram, Hariyana, India, Phone: +91
9818186570; E-mail: gkgautam081@gmail.com
Article Information: Submission: 25/02/2022; Accepted: 29/03/2022; Published: 31/03/2022
Copyright: © 2022 Kumar G, et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Nutrition quality and dietary patterns affect health, cognition, emotions and behavior. Aggressive and anti-social behaviors by adolescents
and youth have been increasing world-wide. Measurements of correlations between vegetarian and omnivorous dietary patterns and aggressiveness in
children are of interest for developing cost-effective strategies to reduce anti-social behaviors.
Objectives: To assess the effects of Indian dietary patterns on aggressiveness in school-going children.
Methodology: Cross-sectional study with students studying in III –V classes in private co-educational schools in New Delhi. Demographic characteristics
of the study sample, including the socio-economic status were recorded after obtaining informed consent of parents. Aggressiveness and dietary patterns were
determined from self-report questionnaires. Data were analyzed statistically using Chi-Square test. Relationships between dietary patterns and aggressiveness
were compared between genders, socio-economic status by effect-sizes (Cohen’s d).
Results: Average scores of overall-aggressiveness as well as reactive- and pro-active aggressiveness were observed to be lower in lacto-vegetarians as
compared to omnivores both in boys and girls. The effect sizes of the lacto-vegetarian dietary pattern were, small (-0.12 to -0.20) and statistically insignificant.
Interestingly, the protective effects of lacto-vegetarian diet were less in lower socio-economic status and in females.
Discussion: Small intake of eggs and meat (once or twice / week) by the omnivore children and consumption of junk-foods may explain the small effectsizes.
Diversity of gut-micro-biota resulting from the presence of fibers, anti-oxidants and poly-phenols in the vegetarian diets could underlie the physiological
mechanisms.
Conclusions: Limited but consistent data in the present study, support the hypothesis that lacto-vegetarian Indian diets can reduce aggressiveness,
violence and anti-social behaviors. Implications of vegetarian and vegan foods for academic performance, social wellness and environmental protection
warrant comprehensive studies on large samples in diverse geographical and cultural environments.