HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – The Food and Drug Administration recently issued new guidance urging food manufacturers and restaurants to voluntarily reduce the amount of sodium in processed, packaged and prepared foods by 12% over the next two and a half years.
The voluntary guidance comes on the heels of a study showing that despite educational efforts on diet and nutrition, Americans have been consuming more ultra-processed foods over the past two decades.
“Processed foods, even though we think a lot of people are aware of what are whole foods, they don’t. They’re really confused. They don’t know what is a processed food. They think ‘yeah I know soda is processed, I know cookies and chips are processed but what about my deli meats, is that processed food? What about certain cheeses?’ So there’s a lot of information that’s still lacking out there to educate the public,” said nutritionist Miram Amselem.
Amselem said the sodium lurking in processed foods leads to weight gain, and well as long-term health risks such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease and kidney disease.
Booster shots for patients with blood cancer
A recent study finds that COVID booster shots are vital for some patients with a rare blood cancer.
Researchers found that a subset of patients with multiple myeloma not only didn’t produce the necessary antibodies to ward off infection, their T-cell response was also low.
T-cells are important white blood cells that play a central role in supporting the body’s immune response.
Fortunately, the results from booster shots have been encouraging, with 90% of patients showing a strong immune response, including two-thirds of those who had no response from the initial series of shots.
Researchers said the findings emphasize the need for blood tests following vaccination in this high-risk population to make sure these patients are adequately protected against COVID.