A University of Pennsylvania professor who studies psychopaths has found hope for improving human behavior in a surprising place: fish oil.
A new study led by Adrian Raine, a psychologist in Penn’s criminology department, found giving children a fruit drink mixed with omega-3 fatty acids – a key ingredient in fish oil – improved their behavior.
Strangely, the behavior of parents also improved, even though they weren’t taking the supplements. More on that later.
Raine’s ultimate goal is ambitious: to reduce crime. He has a long-standing interest in antisocial people – those who lack normal empathy and guilt. It is clear, he said, that their brains look and function differently. The question is whether interventions in childhood can get people on a better track.