The Daily News – February 24, 2025

Coming up in our program today, we’ll be discussing a hidden cause of fatigue and brain fog. Next, the panic over black plastic kitchenware, a simple math error unveiled. And lastly, this balance test could reveal your biological age. Welcome to the daily. So for our first story, we’re uncovering a hidden health issue that could be affecting millions without their knowledge, and that’s vitamin B12 deficiency. For years, Katrina B, a solicitor in the UK battled debilitating fatigue and brain fog, fearing she had dementia or a brain tumor. Her story highlights how overlooked this essential nutrient can be and the serious consequences of a deficiency B’S symptoms started early as a teenager. She experienced extreme fatigue and gastric issues, which doctors dismissed as irritable bowel syndrome. Despite persistently low B12 levels in her blood work, her symptoms were repeatedly brushed off as stress motherhood, or simply getting older. Her turning point came in 2018, after yet another episode of confusion, this time boarding the wrong train three nights in a row, a train driver recognizing her distress, urged her to demand answers from her doctor shortly after she was finally diagnosed with pernicious anemia. An autoimmune condition that interferes with B12 absorption. B12 is crucial for brain function, metabolism, and nerve health. But symptoms of deficiency often mimic other conditions leading to misdiagnosis, left untreated. It can cause nerve damage, fatigue, and cognitive issues for virtual, the diagnosis came after decades of medical gaslighting where her concerns were dismissed even after starting treatment. She struggled with nerve damage, incontinence, and anxiety caused by years of untreated deficiency. Her story isn’t unique. As Chief Executive of the Pernicious Anemia Society, virtual now hears from countless others facing similar challenges. She says, a lack of education among healthcare professionals is part of the problem. B12 deficiency isn’t on the curriculum for gps. They don’t look holistically at a patient’s overall nutrition or family history. Instead, they focus on one symptom at a time. She believes better awareness and earlier intervention could prevent life altering complications she endured. For Canadians, this story serves as a reminder to advocate for your health. Symptoms like persistent fatigue, brain fog, or tingling in the hands and feet shouldn’t be ignored. Ask your doctor about testing for B12 levels, especially if you follow a plant-based diet or have conditions like Crohn’s disease, which can affect absorption if caught early. B12 deficiency is treatable often with supplements or injections. As B says, raising awareness could save others from years of unnecessary suffering. Next up, we are revisiting a story that caused quite a stir about something most of us have in our kitchens, black plastic utensils. But as it turns out, a simple math error may have caused people to panic. The scare started with a study published in the Journal Chemos Sphere. It claimed that black plastic kitchen utensils, such as spatulas might leach toxic chemicals known as brominated flame retardants into our food. These chemicals are often recycled from old electronics and can potentially disrupt hormones or even cause cancer. The study estimated that these utensils could lead to a daily exposure of 34,700 nanograms of a particular flame retardant close to what the US Environmental Protection Agency considers the safe limit. This claim grabbed headlines worldwide with stories urging readers to toss their favorite black spatulas. But here’s the twist. A director at McGill University spotted in error. The researchers had calculated the EPAs reference dose for a 60 kilogram adult as 42,000 nanograms per day, the real number 420,000. That means the estimated exposure is less than 10% of the EPAs safe limit. The director at McGill reminds us, you have to make sure your numbers are correct before you scare the pants off people. The study’s lead author has since acknowledged the mistake, calling it a typo and a correction is on the way she added. However, it is important to note that this does not impact our results. The levels of flame retardants that we found in black plastic household items are still of high concern, and our recommendations remain the same. The article says it’s important to keep things in perspective while the study’s core finding that black plastic from recycled electronics is making its way into kitchen utensils appears valid. The actual risk to consumers is far lower than initially reported. So should you toss your black plastic spatulas well, if eliminating even trace amounts of these chemicals matters to you, you might still make that choice. Now, last up. A simple balance test might reveal more about your age than even your birth certificate. According to research from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, how long you can balance on one leg could be a reliable measure of how fast your body is aging. One, aging and exercise expert in Pennsylvania State University said Balancing on one leg requires multiple components of physiological function that each typically declines with age. The test evaluates your neuromuscular sensory system, the network of nerves, connecting muscles to the brain and spinal cord. As we age, this system naturally declines leading to slower movements, reduced balance, and an increased risk of falls. In the study, researchers asked participants age 50 to 80 to balance on one leg for 30 seconds with their eyes open and closed. They found that participants balancing ability decreased with every decade of life, swaying increased by over 6% with eyes open and by 10% with eyes closed. Additionally, balance time dropped by about two seconds per decade on the non-dominant leg. As the article explained, balancing on one leg requires strength, coordination, and sensory reflexes functions that decline with age. Addressing this decline can make the difference between maintaining independence and needing assisted care. The good news is that activities like Pilates, swimming, running, cycling, or even just practicing standing on one leg can help keep your neuromuscular system sharp. For older adults, maintaining balance is about more than avoiding falls. It’s a marker of overall health and independence. Those were our top stories for today. As always, thank you so much for joining us on the Daily News.