Free Republic

Eight essential nutrients make up the suite of B vitamins also known as the B complex. Research has revealed that these B vitamins influence a vast spectrum of human health and disease. "It's hard to study the B vitamins in isolation," says gastroenterologist Joel Mason. "Four of these B-vitamins cooperate as co-factors in many critical activities in cells in what we call 'one carbon metabolism.'" One of the most active areas for B vitamin research is cognitive health. By the age of 75–80, 40% of people have a diminished ability to absorb food-bound B12, says Mason. This deficiency leads to...

> Magnesium is a must. The diets of all Americans are likely to be deficient. Even a mild deficiency causes sensitiveness to noise, nervousness, irritability, mental depression, confusion, twitching, trembling, apprehension, insomnia, muscle weakness and cramps in the toes, feet, legs, or fingers. Folic acid deficiency can lead to neural tube closure defects (NTDs) and anemia. Zinc deficiency affects immune function, contributing to as many as 800,000 child deaths per year. Iodine deficiency is the leading preventable cause of brain damage and it can significantly lower the IQ of whole populations. >

JERUSALEM - Israeli soldiers killed six Hezbollah fighters in four skirmishes in Lebanon after the U.N.-imposed cease-fire took effect Monday, the army said. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he took sole responsibility for the offensive, and acknowledged "deficiencies" in the way the war was conducted. The developments came as Lebanese civilians defied an Israeli travel ban and streamed back to their homes in war-ravaged areas. In an address to parliament, Olmert said the cease-fire agreement eliminated the "state within a state" run by Hezbollah and restored Lebanon's sovereignty in the south. And Defense minister Amir Peretz said the...