By David Liu, PHD

Sunday Aug 12, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- Gun violence victimizes 477,000 people in the United States each year and kills about 11,000 of them, according to National Institute of Justice.  Gun violence, most dangerous  type of violence, has something to do with criminals' mental disorders, and use of drugs and even foods/dietary supplements such as vitamins and mineral supplementation.

M.G.  Tayel of Harvard Medical School and colleagues reported a case in Journal of Forensic Science that a dementia patient who had vitamin B12 deficiency, which worsens his mental conditions and syphilis, killed his wife with a gun.

The researchers said the occurrence of aggression and violence  is not uncommon in patients with dementia and other important factors that promote the violent behaviors like gun violence and homicide are infectious disease or drugs indicated to treat the diseases, and nutritional deficiency.

D. Benton of University of Wales Swansea, Wales, UK reported in Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Review that 

a person's diet plays a role in his anti-social behaviors as trials had demonstrated. He said certain diets high in high polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased violence significantly even though they do not seem to reduce hyperactivity.

Benton's report citeds studies as finding that vitamin and mineral supplementation reduced anti-social behaviour as well and people with low blood glucose in their blood were less likely to be aggressive too.

In the case of dementia patients, Rayel and colleagues suggested that the elderly should be offered neuropsychiatric assessment, and gun access should be limited, and if necessary, weapon possession in the elderly, who are more likely to suffer dementia like Alzheimer's disease, should be inquired.

Use of illicit drugs or even prescription medications has been associated with gun violence.  All medications indicated to treat mental disorders are dangerous and can to lead gun violence and violence of other types or suicides.

In a report published in European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, N. Rouve of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse in Toulouse, France and colleagues said dopaminergic agonists, benzodiazepines and serotoninergic antidepressants are the main drugs that are able to induce aggression.  These drugs were responsbible for 64 percent of violence cases.

Violence-inducing drugs include  dopaminergic agonists (pergolide, pramipexole, bromocriptine, piribedil), benzodiazepines (alprazolam, bromazepam) and serotoninergic antidepressants, varenicline, isotretinoin, interferon alpha-2b, rimonabant, benfluorex, topiramate and antiviral drugs (ribavirin, efavirenz).

But the authors did not associate antipsychotics or antiepileptics with violence.  It remains unknown where the data they used for their study came from.   

It was observed that in the United States, gun violence to say the least has been associated with antipsychotics .  According to naturalnews.com, psychiatric medications are causing gun violence or violent shooting sprees in America, Germany and elsewhere.