The Lo-Crime, Hi-Learn Diet
C. Peter W. Bennett DipCrim, BA(Hons), MA(Oxon), MBA(Aston), MPhil(Exeter) Restorative Health Company Ltd

Ten years ago, as superintendent of police for Shipley and Bingley in West Yorkshire, together with the National Society for Research into Allergy and two allergy doctors, I ran a project with a group of children who were responsible for a sizeable proportion of my Division's crime and mayhem. They were also in trouble at school, being variously excluded, statemented for special educational needs or just truanting with passive acceptance from their schools. This project was remarkable for many things, not least of which was the total rejection of participation by the other statutory agencies and their dismissiveness of the results. The BBC broadcast a 'QED' film showing explicitly how the children's behaviour had changed radically for the better. That programme, called 'Little Monsters', was repeated around the world. Yet, the Shipley Project has never been replicated. Why? Because it was cheap, effective and preventive. It actually did what is claimed to be the mission of police and education. It prevented crime and criminality. It enabled children to learn in schools. But it carried no glory or achievement for professionals who are more interested in the easy way of detection, detention and exclusion. It threatened their jobs, as some admitted but they said it wasn't scientific. That is, we did not experiment on the kids with placebos and unrealistic controls. The success was just because we took an interest in them, they said, admitting the corollary that they did not take an interest in the problem children. We demonstrated that success could be achieved by partnering and supporting the parents and the kids themselves in their own homes. The Shipley crime rate went down whereas in neighbouring and comparable divisions it went up.

I retired after being told to stop doing such work by the chief constable who said it was not a police responsibility. I continued with research into nutritional, biochemical and dietary approaches to improving behavioural health funded out of my pension. I was invited to give a lecture tour around New Zealand and met government Ministers and their Shadows. Each one was accompanied by a civil servant who dampened the ministerial interest and enthusiasm by instructing me to do 'proper' scientific research (at my expense of course). I have now assessed a large number of offenders in prisons, secure units and in the community. Many of them have been treated with dietary intervention and nutritional supplementation with positive results to varying degrees. Some courts have accepted my evidence and given dietary deferred sentences before discharging them without penalty, even where probation officers wanted them put into prison.

The same applied to schools and exclusions. I 'lost' several appeals against exclusion from school because of the tendency of school governors and LEA panels to rubber-stamp the head teacher's decisions irrespective of the law. Then, recently, I 'won' one for a 7-year-old boy who had been legally drugged with methylphenidate that worsened his condition. His health had not been considered. His eyesight or dyslexic possibility had not been checked. His IQ had not been measured. He had been institutionally bullied because he was difficult to manage with incessant talking and inattention. I found he had a range of nutritional and biochemical deficiencies and intolerance to several foods and chemicals. He was gentle and loving but would violently react in fear when provoked. He had been let down and abandoned as a vulnerable or 'at risk' child just like many who are treated as persistent criminals such as 'Rat Boy'. You may remember this chronically malnourished and under-developed boy whom his parents, police and social services could not control. The official 'spin' was that he committed crime to feed his drug habit. In fact, Rat Boy was taken to his doctor with hyperactivity. The doctor prescribed Valium to control his hyperactivity and he became hooked. He was institutionally turned into a junkie.

In the rapidly rising statistics of behaviourally disturbed children spawning a mass of new psycho labels and psycho babble, there are many who have been damaged by professionals who are paid handsomely to care and help. These professionals blame parents. So do politicians. But many of the blamed parents sensed something wrong and seek real help that is simply not forthcoming. We now provide that real help to worried parents and their children. Sometimes the problems are evident from the womb and from birth. Sometimes problems develop at growth milestones and vaccination times. Before any resort is made to administering drugs, there should be a holistic assessment of individual, environmental and social factors with special attention to physical health, nutrition and biochemistry. A balanced diet is not suitable for every child. Each child is unique with a unique metabolism as well as unique fingerprints. The Lo-Crime and Hi-Learn diet is one that fits the individual.