Word: acident
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...play a vital role in helping regulate the chemical reactions that protect cells and convert food into energy and living tissue. Some vitamins are produced within the body. Vitamin D, for example, is manufactured in the skin during exposure to sunlight, and three other vitamins (K, biotin and pantothenic acid) are made inside the human gut by resident bacteria. But most vitamins must be ingested...
...cancer and heart disease. Researchers then turned to examining the data nutrient by nutrient, looking at minerals as well as vitamins, to see which are tied most closely with specific ailments. Low vitamin C intake appears to be associated with a higher risk of cancer, low levels of folic acid with a greater chance of birth defects, and high calcium consumption with a decreased danger of osteoporosis...
...vitamin attracting attention is folic acid, also known as folate, which was first isolated from spinach. This B vitamin appears to guard against two of the most common and devastating neurological defects afflicting newborns in the U.S.: spina bifida, in which there is incomplete closure of the spine, and anencephaly, in which the brain fails to develop fully. British researchers found that when women who had already given birth to a malformed child received folic acid supplements during a subsequent pregnancy, the chances of a second tragic birth fell sharply...
Another enticing finding reported last January established a link between folic acid and prevention of cervical cancer. According to a study at the University of Alabama's medical school, women who have been exposed to a virus that causes this cancer are five times as likely to develop precancerous lesions if they have low blood levels of folic acid. The discovery may help explain why cervical cancer is more common among the poor. Indigent women usually eat few vegetables and fruits, which are prime sources of folate. Says Butterworth, head of the research team: "It looks like many cases...
Last February the FDA rejected as premature applications by vitamin makers to promote folic acid as a means of preventing neural-tube birth defects, antioxidants as a hedge against cancer, and zinc as a booster of aging immune systems. Both federal and state regulatory agencies have been cracking down on nutrient health claims. The FDA says it will hold label claims to standards similar to those applied to drugs. Advises Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health: "At this time I say don't take megadoses, but I'm not ruling out that in two or three...