Whether it's a one-a-day or a Fred Flinstone, it's crucial that you take your vitamins daily.
If not, your IQ could drop severely.
According to CNN, the brainpower of entire nations has shrunk because of a shortage of the right vitamins. Researchers have discovered that deficiencies in iodine, iron and folic acid - just to name a few - are having drastic effects in developing countries, even those where people generally have enough to eat.
The United Nations Children's Fund looked at 80 countries representing 80 percent of the world's population and here's what they learned:
Ronald Waldman, a professor of clinical health at Columbia University, believes this is a real problem. He says vitamin deficiency is a disease, and when people have this disease they don't reach their full mental potential.
So to help fight this, the United Nations is shipping a whole slew of artificially fortified foods to these countries, such as soy sauce laced with zinc and salt spiked with iron--And not only is it crucial to their health, but it's important for the economy, too. In one study, tea-leaf pickers in India increased their production by 20 percent after iron was added to their diet.
Most Western countries - like ours - add vitamins and nutrients to packaged foods. But still, experts say to maintain your IQ, you need to make sure you get the recommended daily allowance of everything.
According to CNN, the brainpower of entire nations has shrunk because of a shortage of the right vitamins. Researchers have discovered that deficiencies in iodine, iron and folic acid - just to name a few - are having drastic effects in developing countries, even those where people generally have enough to eat.
The United Nations Children's Fund looked at 80 countries representing 80 percent of the world's population and here's what they learned:
- Iodine deficiency has lowered the intellectual capacity of almost all of the nations by 10 to 15 percent. And it causes 18 million children a year to be born mentally impaired.
- Iron deficiency in adults is so widespread that it lowers the productivity of work forces around the world by 2 percent because of mental fatigue.
Ronald Waldman, a professor of clinical health at Columbia University, believes this is a real problem. He says vitamin deficiency is a disease, and when people have this disease they don't reach their full mental potential.
So to help fight this, the United Nations is shipping a whole slew of artificially fortified foods to these countries, such as soy sauce laced with zinc and salt spiked with iron--And not only is it crucial to their health, but it's important for the economy, too. In one study, tea-leaf pickers in India increased their production by 20 percent after iron was added to their diet.
Most Western countries - like ours - add vitamins and nutrients to packaged foods. But still, experts say to maintain your IQ, you need to make sure you get the recommended daily allowance of everything.
