Music soothes the savage beast, poets aver. Some scientists now believe that fish oil can have such an effect too - on youngsters and aggressive young prisoners.

In a study in Singapore, fish oil is being given to children and teenagers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other disruptive behaviour, to test if it improves their conduct.

"This study is the first of its kind in Singapore," principal investigator Daniel Fung said.

The study is led by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), and Dr Fung heads its child and adolescent psychiatry department.

Earlier trials in Britain and Holland found that children with coordination disorders and aggressive young prisoners behaved better after taking the health supplement.

Di Fung's team includes school psychologist and professor Rebecca Ang of Nanyang Technological University, and University of Pennsylvania criminologist Adrian Raine, who is running a similar trial with children in Philadelphia.

They are building on research - such as a study by Oxford University in 2002 of more than 100 pupils with coordination and learning difficulties.

Those who took fish oil became more attentive, less hyperactive and less impulsive, among other behavioural and learning improvements.

The premise of such trials is that fish oil, found in the tissues of oily fish like salmon and sardines, is brain food.

It contains high levels of fatty acids believed to enable the brain to work properly from being attentive to controlling impulsive behaviour.

But the precise process is still being explored.

In a paper published last year, anatomy professor Ong Wei Yi from the National University of Singapore found from tests on rats that anti-depressant drugs caused nerve terminals in the brain to release fatty acids.

These acids changed into compounds that could protect nerve cells in the brain.

The IMH, however, said the use of fish oil is currently not a standard treatment for children with disruptive behaviour disorders.

These include defying parents and teachers, and engaging in fighting,stealing or other anti-social activities.

Such disorders are estimated to affect just below 5 per cent of primary-age children.

The usual prescription is to train parents to manage their children. Those with ADHD also receive medication.

The IMH's fish oil study will involve 600 patients aged nine to 16 who have sought treatment from its Child Guidance Clinic. About 30 have been recruited so far and are undergoing the trial.

To prevent bias in the experiment, researchers do not know which group - experimental or control group the participants belong to. The patients are also not told which group they are in.

Half of the patients are randomly assigned to take capsules with fish oil in the form of Omega 3 fatty acids. They take four capsules a day, for six months.

The other half are given dummy or placebo capsules filled with sunflower oil, plus a tinge of fish oil.

Dr Fung said: "The placebo has to taste like fish so people won't know it s a placebo."

Half of all patients will also receive training in social skills such as empathy and anger management, to see if the combination of fish oil and such training is more effective than either approach alone.

The study which has an $890,000 grant from the National Medical Research Council is scheduled to be completed by the end of next year.

A 2008 study by the Dutch correctional services of 221 young prisoners also found that the number of disciplinary reports for those taking the supplements fell by more than a third compared with previously.
 
Consultant psychiatrist Adrian Wang struck a note of caution about how much fish oils could help suggesting a holistic approach to manage aggressive behaviour, such as examining personality traits mental disorders and addiction to drugs and alcohol.

He said: "That's not saying fish oils don't work. It's just that sometimes they do and sometimes they don't and no one has figured out why yet."

Meanwhile, a larger scale study of more than 900 young male offenders in British prisons is trying to shed more light on the subject.

Results of the use of supplements will come after April, said Oxford University physiology professor John Stein, who leads the study.

He told The Sunday Times in an e-mail last week: "The prisons say things are quieter - less offending in the prisons. Also, a number of prisoners have said they feel much better."

RESEARCH ON YOUNG INMATES
Something fishy is brewing in the prisons here but it's all for a good reason.

The prison authorities plan to get some young inmates here, to take fish oil capsules, to see if aggression and violent behaviour can be reduced.

The Singapore Prison Service issued a tender for a research consultant to design and conduct the study in April, after similar tests in British and Dutch prisons proved effective, said Mr Melvinder Singh, Officer Commanding for research.

The local study's target group are inmates aged below 21. There are about 700 of them among a total of about 12,600 inmates. Mr Singh said no number has been decided yet for the study, scheduled to last about a year.

The inmates' consent will be sought in line with research practices, he added.

Prison violence in this group made the headlines last year after a High Court judge found three inmates in Changi Prison guilty of repeatedly beating a former cellmate, forcing him to perform oral sex on them and eat human faeces. The three inmates were aged from 19 to 20 when they committed the acts in 2008.

While the authorities described the incident as an isolated one, in 2008 there were 35 reported major assaults here for every 10,000 prisoners. Most were one-off, spur-of-the-moment assaults arising from arguments.
 
Currently, young inmates get help to manage violence in a programme that changes their thinking through group-based counselling.

External consultants have given positive reviews of the programme, but the prison service still wants to explore alternatives such as nutrition, said Mr Singh.

Prison meals are already planned by a dietitian, based on a normal person's dietary requirement, typically consisting of rice one meat dish and one vegetable dish.

The impetus to provide supplements comes from a British study of 231 young prisoners, published in 2002, where violent offences among those who took fish oil and other vitamins were cut by more than a third compared with previously when they took no supplements.