Food Intake Assessment, Measurement of Lithium and Magnesium Serum Levels, and Their Correlation with Aggression in the Residents of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences’ Dorms in 2012
Seyed Ahmad Hosseini1*, Masih Namjounia2, Ziba Ghorbanverdi2, Farahnaz Amirlou3, Mohammad Aberoumand4, Mohammad Hossein Haghighizadeh51Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. 2Nutrition Science, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. 3Clinical Psychology, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 4Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. 5Statistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. *Corresponding author E-mail: seyedahmadhosseini@yahoo.com
Abstract:
Thus far, limited investigations have been conducted on the relationship between nutrition and aggressive behavior. The current study aims at determining the correlation between food intake and also the serum level of lithium and magnesium with aggressiveness in selected dormitory students. This analytical-interim investigation was performed on 135 male and female students. The sampling method was random and aggression questionnaire was used to evaluate the level of aggressiveness. Moreover, 5 cc fasting blood samples were taken from these volunteers and the serum lithium and magnesium levels were determined. In order to analyze the food frequency questionnaire, we used IVNutritionist and for the rest of the data SPSS was used. Demographic description of thesamples was conducted by descriptive statistics including average, percentage, and standard deviation. The Chi-Square test was used to analyze the data and the Pearson/Spearman correlation coefficients were employed to analyze the qualitative variables. Finally, student’s t-test was used to analyze thequantitative variables. The significance level was assumed to be P < 0.05. Results from the food frequency questionnaireindicates that among the micronutrients, calcium, iron, and tryptophan have a meaningful inverse relation with aggressiveness. Experimental results confirm the absence of any meaningful relationship between the serum magnesium level and aggressiveness. Nevertheless, there exists a meaningful inverse relation between the serum lithium level and aggressiveness. The aggressiveness does not correlate with serum magnesium level while it correlates inversely with lithium.Furthermore, calcium, iron and tryptophan have inverse relation to aggressiveness.
Keywords: Aggression; lithium; magnesium Back to TOC