Sweets for my sweet?

If torturing animals and setting things on fire were the signs you were looking for in your child to predict their potential future as a serial killer, then think again. The humble M&M or Chupa Chup could have devastating consequences for children, according to a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, which was reported in The Independent and then cut and pasted in the Herald. The head of the study, Simon Moore, was quoted as saying "Our favoured explanation is that giving children sweets and chocolate regularly may stop them learning how to wait to obtain something they want. Not being able to defer gratification may push them towards more impulsive behaviour, which is strongly associated with delinquency."

Having a close eye on all things Your Views-related, you begin to wonder whether they deliberately pull stories like these off the wire in order to create ridiculous questions and which will no doubt incite controversy. The question "Does eating too many sweets makes kids violent?" certainly fits the bill. Not to add it has a pretty great typing error which you would have expected someone to have picked up and changed by now, but over 24 hours after the question was posted, the incorrect grammar remains.

Bundi (Te Atatu South)
How Bloody Ridiculous - Where do we find these rocket scientists - who is paying for these pathetic research. Where are the stupid pills because we need to find them and throw them away!
Next we will be getting told that your child will be a violent offender if you made him wear Thomas the Bloody Tank pyjamas - waste of time and money.
My wife loves sweets and has so since she was a child - i am now waiting for her to flip and hunt me down with a knife because that is what these morons are implying.
Good Grief Penthol

Bundi - I'm not too sure they're rocket scientists, I have an inkling that they're psychiatrists as hinted by the journal title the article was published in. Keep an eye on that wife of yours.

WelshJerry (Waiheke Island)
Typical herald reporting - the study shows that violent criminals are sweet eaters - but no-one is suggesting it is because of it.
Parents who feed their children sweets all day are irresponsible, and likely to let their children down in many other ways - which means poorly brought up kids who of course are more likely to be violent crims than well brought up ones.

Another criticism of the Herald gets up on Your Views, the reason as to why moderators let this kind of comment slip past continues to create intrigue. Maybe it's so they appear to be encouraging constructive criticism of their work? Or maybe its because it's not really 'Herald reporting' as the story is sourced from The Independent, so the Herald think the joke's on WelshJerry?

Sirk (Remuera)
I thought that video games was meant to be the reason that kids are violent, also rap music, heavy metal music, certain books, comics, rock and/or roll music, TV shows, satanic ritual child abuse, clergy child abuse etc.
I bet it was pants and shoes that made most of those kids violent along with breathing oxygen. I bet at some point they all wore pants and shoes while breathing an approximately 20% oxygen atmosphere.

Pithy cynicism at its best, Sirk. The only way to protect children from all of society's ills is not to have them at all, surely.