DoctorOz: Deli Meat Guide & Meatless-Meat Fast Food Craze | S11 Ep 1

An Oz food investigation. We're going beyond the impossible. Gaining exclusive access to two plant-based burger factories. I cannot believe this is not me. And we have a first look at the next big food craze. Wow. Plus, breaking news in a polio-like illness. The doctor said she probably wouldn't survive the car ride home. Zeroing in on a cause and getting closer to a vaccine. Coming up next. It is the biggest change to come to fast food since, well, ever. I mean, you've seen the headlines. The rise of meatless meat. From the impossible Whopper at Burger King to the beyond sausage breakfast sandwich at Dunkin' Donuts. Plant-based alternatives that claim to recreate the juicy taste of meat are now hitting fast food restaurants around the country. And they're causing a consumer frenzy. But here's a question. Are they really better for you? And what are they even made of? Well, we've got the answers. We've gained exclusive access into the labs where these foods are created to bring you the behind-the-scenes secrets and uncover latest innovations that no one knows about. Well, until now. Investigative reporter Marsh Gavacampo has the story. At fast food restaurants across the country, something once thought impossible is happening. Meatless meat. Little do they know their Whopper patty was actually made from plants. You see that? That's beef. We swear it's not beef. The impossible Whopper. That's right. Meat made from plants. That looks, cooks, and tastes just like real meat. But that's created inside a lab. It's showing up on fast food menus everywhere. The juicy charbroiled burger with a patty made from plants? Carl's Jr., where the food is the star. These new meat substitutes are made with a combination of plant proteins, oils, starches, and juices. So they actually bleed like real meat. This isn't real meat. That's wild. This is so good. Manufacturers say meatless meat is good for your health, too, lowering cholesterol, and better for the environment. The animals in the food system are incredibly damaging. They take too much water, too much land. They add too much to the carbon footprint. Even Wall Street is going crazy over meatless meat. But of course, not all nutritionists are on board with plant-based burgers. In some cases, they are quite processed. They can have added sodium and other additives that might not be great for your health on a regular and consistent basis. What is clear? Meatless meat is not just a fast food fad. Last month, the FDA approved a key ingredient in a major manufacturer's meatless meat. And every other week, another fast food brand seems to be joining the meatless stampede. So far, no complaints from the cows. Boris joining us in studio. So the meatless meat fad. You guys are not even a fad anymore. And the fast food industry, it's a natural marriage in some ways. Yeah, it makes so much sense. Because if you think about it, this is a really convenient way to allow people to try these new products. Fast food restaurants are everywhere. They've already done the cooking for you. And then you get it in something you're already familiar with, like a burger or a breakfast sandwich. When you add on to that the fact that they're pretty much the same price and a little bit healthier, it makes it easy for people to try. So settle a family dispute. We had a big battle last night getting ready for the show about whether these are designed for vegetarians or designed for meat eaters. Who are they actually targeting? Are you ready for this, Dr. Oz? 93% of the consumers of these products are not vegetarians. They're not vegans. These are meat lovers who love meat. They just want to lower their consumption a little bit. I thought that because if you're already a vegetarian, you have techniques you can use. But knowing what I know about these meats, they just work so well for the meat lovers out there. How many of you are meat lovers? Hands up. That's the reality, right? A lot of folks like their meat. So how are they different from the veggie burgers of past bygone eras? Well, that's what's unique about these products. These companies have set out to recreate the entire experience of eating meat, from the juiciness to the taste to the texture, even the way they smell when they're cooking. Right. So Mara did something pretty impossible. She actually took us inside the Impossible Meats research lab in Redwood City. This is where the first meatless burger was created, actually, in California. And what she discovered and what she uncovered might just surprise you. Hi, welcome to Impossible Foods. How can I help you? Hi, it's Mara from The Dr. Oz Show. We went through high security. Cameras were everywhere, all to give you a look inside where the fast food meatless burger was born. So what exactly makes meat taste like meat? Well, that's the question consuming the folks here at Impossible Foods, a company making meat from plants. The reality is that people want a variety of things. They want choice, but they also want something that's healthy. David Lippman is Impossible Foods' chief science officer. Why come up with a meatless burger? Look, our goal is to replace animals, really make them totally no longer essential in the food system. And because it's possible now. We have the science that allows us to actually make delicious plant-based meats. Demand for plant-based burgers is so huge that Impossible Foods recently quadrupled production. We're going to put some lab coats on. To see exactly what goes into an Impossible Burger, I got an exclusive tour into their test kitchen with food scientist Celeste Holt-Schiedinger. Impossible ground beef is made from soybeans, potato protein. We have sunflower oil, coconut oil, and heme. Heme has been described as the magic ingredient of the Impossible Burger. What is heme? So what it is, is heme is a molecule that binds iron. It's essential in all forms of life. It allows for us to breathe. It's what makes a steak bright red in color. I'm actually very curious to taste. Can I put my finger in this? Oh yes. It's not going to be good though, right? It's going to taste like blood. It always reminds me of having like a soccer ball hit your face. It does taste like blood. To meet the demand for all the bloody tasting heme, Impossible Foods created an entire lab to produce and perfect it. Heme is genetically modified, and a lot of people are uncomfortable with genetically modified ingredients. How would you respond to someone who says, I don't want something that's genetically modified? Using genetic engineering to produce certain proteins and so forth, that's been used for decades already. Almost every store you go into if you're going to buy cheese that has a protein that's produced in the exact same way really that we use for meat. So to a mom who wants to give their family the best, as we all do, and is concerned that this is a processed food, what do you say? Well, you know, apple pie is a processed food, right? And so that's how I would respond to that. Finally, the moment of truth. Taste testing the Impossible Slider. I'm not just saying this because I'm at Impossible and you just cooked these. I cannot believe this is not me. That's the goal. You really seem to like the burger. Describe the texture and how does it compare to a meat patty? I found it to be indistinguishable. I would not know the difference if you swapped it out for a meat patty. All right, so let's look at the nutrition. That's what I'm caring about as a physician. So let's compare the Impossible Fast Food Burger to the Beef Fast Food Burger. Head to head. We created a scorecard to see how they do in this competition. So first a little protein, right? It's a little bit less than beef, but not a big difference. And saturated fat, well, actually, you know, sort of the same, which surprised me. Cholesterol and carbs, here you have a little bit of a difference, right? The carbs are a little bit more for the Impossible Burger, but the cholesterol, look at this, much, much less, right? And then the calories, slightly less than beef, right? Sort of close. So I'm circling my hands around here because this is the only place I see a meaningful difference, but so many people are still wondering, what about the taste? Can you really get a lab-made meat to taste like the regular beef? Well, I know you're all watching right now, and all of you are taste experts, so I enlisted some of you at home to help me with this one. We asked viewers to shoot some sneaky taste tests on their phones, seeing if someone they love could tell the difference between meatless fast food and the original. Take a look at the footage that LaToya got when she switched out her husband's Whopper with an Impossible Whopper to see if he could tell the difference. It is priceless. Okay, so my husband is, like, crazy hungry. He just called me. He hates eating healthy, like, he hates healthy food, so I'm going to try to trick him and give him this Impossible Whopper, okay? So he don't know, he thinks it's the regular Whopper. You got the stuff? Yeah. Hey. The usual. How's your burger? Good, good. I got something to tell you. What? It's not a Whopper. It's not beef. It's plant. What? Lettuce is plant? No. The burger, it's not made out of bees. It tastes like your regular Whopper that you normally eat. You're going to trick me? I got you, babe. I got you. Well, it's good. It's Impossible. Told you it was funny. LaToya and her husband, Corey, are here with us. First of all, the lettuce I knew was a vegetable. You probably knew that as well. Is that all you realized was truly vegetarian about that burger? No. I mean, I was surprised, but, you know, it smelled like a Whopper. It looked like a Whopper. It tastes like a Whopper. I mean, and I was hungry. You were hungry. LaToya, I am very proud of you. Thank you so much. You're doing the right thing. Whatever it took, you made it happen. All right. Thank you so much. I love this video so much. I know you all do, too, that I want you all sitting at home right now to capture the meat lover in your life trying out one of these new meatless burgers. You can catch it on the video and then post it on the Dr. Oz Show Facebook group page so all your friends can see it as well. Up next, we're going beyond just meatless burgers into the factory that's making fast food meatless breakfast sausages. You've got to taste one of these, Corey. These are interesting. Maybe we'll bring a daytime exclusive. Looking at the next big thing in plant-based proteins is also coming up, foods that only our team was able to uncover. Stick around. We got blindfolded, and she led us to a secret location. A former recruiter for Nexium reveals all. She jumped off the table like she was being electrocuted. The call that almost destroyed her. If you're branded, then you're a slave. Yes. Plus, how the power of one woman. You went out there and did something so remarkable, but you took skill skills that we all have. Helped identify victims found in barrels dead for decades. All new Oz. That's coming up tomorrow. We're back uncovering the new wave of plant-based protein meals showing up in fast food restaurants all across the country. Now, they look like meat, and they cook like meat, but what are you really getting at the drive-thru? Today, we're giving you a behind-the-scenes access into the food labs and factories that are creating the meatless meat showing up in fast food restaurants all across the country. And in just a few moments, we're giving you the daytime exclusive first look on the latest meal hitting fast food restaurants this month. You're going to love this. But first, it's not just burgers anymore. Beyond Meat just came out with a meatless sausage breakfast sandwich, and it's just the beginning. Inside this state-of-the-art test kitchen in L.A., the sizzling sound of Beyond Meat's plant-based sausage, a sausage that made headlines this summer when fast food giants Tim Hortons and Dunkin' Donuts added it to their menus. It is probably our best product, in my view. Ethan Brown is the founder of Beyond Meat. I love eating meat. Okay, see, that surprises me. You like meat. Oh, yeah, I love eating meat. But then, as humans do, and particularly Americans, let's go ahead and think about how we make something that's good even better. Beyond's sausage with benefits is a product of science, meat made in a lab, but that starts with a plant. It starts with a plant in the field. The plant is harvested, right? The protein's separated from the rest of the fiber, and peas is an example. And it's run through our system of heating, cooling, and pressure, and then we add in the flavor system, which are all natural ingredients. I was Beyond excited to get a tour of Beyond's research kitchen. Wow, this looks delicious. It's great. So what's here is our sausage line, and one of the most exciting products that we have is the breakfast sausage. All of this is plant-based? It's all plant-based. It's meat that's been made directly from plants. We're always trying to improve upon what's good in meat. So protein, for example. So in the breakfast sausage, having breakfast, you have four different types of protein. You have sunflower seed protein, mung bean protein, brown rice protein, and pea protein. When you add all this together, it has more protein in it than pork. The sausage recipe seems to be a hit with consumers. Yeah, it's really, really good. I'm gonna have this all the time now. But are there reasons to be concerned about plant-based meat? What about the idea that this is still a processed food? If I eat a cow, that's one ingredient. This is made in a lab. It's processed. It gets back to this. It's a tale of two processes. If I walked you through the process that was required to get that piece of beef to your plate, it's a process, and it's a significant one. It has to do with antibiotics and all kinds of things that consumers probably aren't comfortable with. I would invite anyone who wants to come to our facility to come see how we make our products. We're very proud of it. Tamara, thank you for going out there. After you made that visit and really investigated the lab, what impressed you the most? You know, what really surprised me the most is that the founder, Ethan, says that he loves meat. I didn't expect that from the CEO of this company. Now, he is plant-based now, but he really wanted to make a product for people who love meat. That's their goal. I want to applaud you for your self-restraint. Thank you. She was not allowed to taste the Beyond Beef Burger or the Beyond Sausage or any of the products. We're going to have to do it here live. I'm going to talk a little bit about the fast food. Thank you. It was very difficult to hold back. I'm going to talk about how healthy these are. I want to be honest with everybody about what we're really getting. Meanwhile, you take your time. Taste these. I've got two options. One of them is the Beyond Sausage, and the other one is a regular sausage. You're going to taste and let us know, honestly, as you always do. Let's take a look at the numbers comparing a regular fast food sausage to this fast food plant-based version. First off, protein amount. Well, slightly more protein, but not a big difference. Saturated fat, is there any difference there? The Beyond Sausage has less. That's a meaningful difference. Cholesterol, well, it's less also, not by as big a difference. The total fat content, a little bit less as well. These are also checking in favor of Beyond Sausage. Total calories, well, it's a little bit less here too. It all adds up to a pretty appealing picture. Not a huge difference, but it tilts a little bit towards the Beyond Sausage version. What I love about this is you move towards a plant-based sausage, and I hope one day a plant-based bacon, is you can avoid the nitrates. If we can get rid of all those nitrates, we're definitely in better shape. If it doesn't taste good, it doesn't matter. Exactly. Have you tasted the bone? I've tasted the bone. Do I have food all over my face? It looks good on you. Only you can carry off food on your lips. Thank you. All right, I will tell you the truth. I am not certain. Inside the sandwich, I could not tell the difference. So I actually picked off a little piece by itself. I think B is the animal sausage pork, and A is Beyond. But I'm not sure. I wouldn't bet any money on this. You're right. Okay. B is the pork. It's good you can tell your meats apart. But the fact there's that much of a question in your mind is a great sign. And I tell you, when you do these taste tests with audiences, a lot of people can't tell at all. Especially if you're not doing it all the time. But if you're a meat lover, you'll like this. So before we go, I want you to see something that only will be available to see here on The Dr. Oz Show. We were given a daytime exclusive first look at the next big fast food plant-based innovation. Guys, this is really big. So pay attention to this little package. So speaking of the future, I keep hearing these rumblings of like a Project Sandy. What is that? Project Sandy refers to Colonel Sanders. Colonel Sanders behind Kentucky Fried Chicken. So I'm thrilled to be able to announce that we've launched Kentucky Fried Chicken. So it's chicken? It's Beyond Fried Chicken. Beyond Fried Chicken. Can I try it? Let's do it. Alright. I'm excited. Alright. It tastes like chicken. It's good, right? Mara's investigation took everything from health and the latest trending diets to viral food news. Check out her YouTube channel, which is wonderful. It's called Trends by Mara. We'll be right back. Ordering at the deli counter can be confusing, but all that stops today. Because coming up, we have the deli meat buyer's guide that will help cut through all the baloney. Number 11, next. Oh, it's me, 11. Alright. I love that. I don't know if you guys can see, but it's dropping. You've seen the videos. You've heard the headlines. Plastic in rice. Metal in baby food. That looks like lead. Cheese that won't melt. Are you not going to melt? The big bacon cover-up. But is it true? All season long, the Dr. Oz show is food fact-checking, unleashing the power of truth to find out what's really on your plate. We're in the midst of a deli meat boom that has reached an estimate of close to $10 billion in sales. With protein-hungry consumers looking for quick and cheap meals, sandwich meat isn't just for lunch anymore. And customers feel good when they see labels like these. But experts are now calling baloney on some of these hefty claims, arguing these labels are misleading and might not be as healthy as you think. And Pilar from New York is worried that she's getting duped in the deli aisle. Take a look. Hi, Dr. Oz. It's Pilar. And I need a food fact-check. I saw on my Facebook feed that my son's all-time go-to favorite nitrate-free salami actually might contain nitrates in it. I'm a little bit confused, and I could really use your help on this one. All right. We'll get you an answer. But no matter what the result, we also have practical solutions to help you enjoy your deli meat guilt-free, because I know you're going to eat it anyway. So with that in mind, here to help food fact-check is family health expert Dr. Jennifer Carl. Why is this food fact-check so important to you? You know, I mean, food fact-checks when it comes to nitrates and nitrites is so important. We know that processed foods are often cured with nitrates and nitrites. And the thing about them is we also know that nitrates and nitrites can lead to the formation of potentially cancer-causing chemicals. This is a big deal. The stakes are very high. And not only that, but the World Health Organization came out saying that processed meats are carcinogenic when it comes to colon cancer. That's caught on. Let's explain what nitrates are. I don't want to panic you guys. Let's cut through the confusion with a little food science. Make sense, everybody? That way we know what we're dealing with. Okay. So nitrates and nitrites are actually naturally occurring chemicals. 80% of nitrates come from the vegetables. My favorite, broccoli. They make nitrates and nitrites, right? And then your body sort of swirls them into our stomach, right? And it actually lowers your blood pressure. That's why vegetables are good for you, in part, because our mouth converts these to exactly the form they need to be. So what's the problem, right? Here's the issue. When you add lots of these nitrates and nitrates to processed meat, they can convert to nitrosamine, right? Nitrosamine is different, right? All these little buggers, right, go down into your stomach, and that's the same stuff that's in the tobacco smoke, the carcinogen in tobacco smoke. So you don't want to have a lot of that hanging around in your stomach, right? Now, this is the issue that's gotten everyone worked up. That's caught on. Explain how these get into your deli meat and why they're there. Right. So when it comes to deli meat and processed meats like bacon and things like that, nitrates and nitrates, and this I really need to stress, they're added for a reason many times. To prevent bacterial growth, that's one thing. So to preserve the foods. But the other thing, as we mentioned before, is it sort of helps preserve and actually gives some of the meats flavor and their coloring as well. But consumers, they're well aware of some of the risks of these additives that you just talked about. So what's happened is a lot of manufacturers have actually started using naturally occurring nitrates and nitrites instead of the synthetic ones. And they're also labeling their products nitrate-free or no nitrates added. But the thing is, Dr. Oz. You've all seen this, right? How many of you think that's better? About two-thirds of the audience. All right, good. It says turkey, no nitrates, and uncured. Right. That's what it says. Right. No nitrates. But. We've got to read the small print. That fine print is really where we have to hone in. If we take a look at this fine print, it says no nitrates except those naturally occurring in celery powder. So even though it said before no nitrates added, it then says, but wait, except those naturally occurring. And that's what's happening. So this is what we have to pay attention to. So does it matter if the nitrate source is a natural one like celery powder or if it's from a chemical source? So that's the million dollar question. When it comes to processed meats and things like this, you know, many scientists think no. We often think that the naturally occurring nitrates and nitrates are not much different than the synthetic ones. And that the risk to our bodies could be the same. So this is why, like when it comes to labeling of these products and things like that, transparency is so important. And we've got to pay attention. So for this food fact check, we reached out to the North American Meat Institute to get their take. I want to hear from all sides. And here's what they said in part. Nitrates and nitrites provide a critical food safety function by helping to prevent botulism and other foodborne illnesses. The National Toxicology Program examined the concerns surrounding nitrates and nitrates and found them safe to consume as did the Food and Drug Administration. So they're highlighting what you said, right? However, what are we going to do? What's the consumer going to make as a decision? To learn more about what these labels really mean, we decided to go straight to the source. Here from Consumer Reports is Charlotte Valais, the Senior Policy Analyst in Food and Nutrition. They have been working to actually test what's really in our deli meat. Explain the process that you used to figure out how much of these nitrates and nitrites are in our deli meats. Sure. So at Consumer Reports, we tested 31 different deli meats, both store brand and brand names from nine different companies. All different types, chicken, salami, roast beef. And we specifically looked at the ones that say nothing on the label and then the ones that have that no nitrates or nitrites added claim to compare. So in the ones that don't have any kind of claim, 12 micrograms of nitrites per gram of meat. And the ones that are uncured, which means that it wrote no nitrates. Exactly. So this means on the label it said no nitrates or nitrites added, nine micrograms of nitrites per gram of meat. These seem very similar to me. They are. They're essentially the same. I would think this would have been zero, right? Because it says it's uncured. So does it matter what kind of meat you tested? No. Roast beef, salami, turkey, chicken, it really didn't matter. So every one of these favorite brands, whether it said uncured, cured, no nitrates, with nitrates, it doesn't matter. All of them. That's right. So we reached out to the USDA, and essentially they told us that it's actually true, what you just revealed to us, that the no nitrates label is on there, even though they're nitrates. And I learned something else, that it is required by law, by law, to write that, when natural sources of nitrates are used. That's weird, isn't it? Yes. The law tells them to tell us something that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Right. Essentially the labeling rules just haven't caught up with what's happening with the meat industry. We need a petition for that to happen, for the labels to be accurate. So the group went on to say that they're going to consider the petition by Consumer Reports, your group, and CSPI, once the petition process is complete. I think these labels are confusing. You guys hopefully agree with me. And if you want to sign the petition, go to DrOz.com. Let's all make some noise here, so at least the labels tell us what we need to know. The bottom line is, what do we do the next time we reach for jelly meat at the supermarket? I promised you, as part of this series, I would not take away all your favorite foods. I don't want to be a buzzkill and ruin your afternoon. So we had a very simple little practical change. Are you ready for this? You're going to love this. They did a study showing that if you gargled twice a day, they were able to kill off enough bacteria in your mouth that you wouldn't make a lot of that nitrosamine that I showed you earlier in that animation. So if you're going to have cold cuts, moderation, and you might think about gargling. There are numerous benefits for that, by the way. All right, coming up. We're cutting through the jelly meat confusion once and for all. I don't want you to feel like you can't eat the cold cuts anymore. So up next, we'll give you the ultimate buyer's guide to jelly meat. Who wants some mouthwash? Mouthwash. No matter how you slice it, buying jelly meat can be confusing. From misleading labels to a variety of options, how do you know what to buy? Today, the ultimate jelly meat buyer's guide to give you the answers that you've been craving once and for all. And back to help break it all down is Dr. Jennifer Cottle. So with the rise of keto and these other high-protein-based diets, people are buying more of the jelly meats, but they have concerns. What are the big ones? Yeah, you know, my patients, many of my patients, for example, they're trying to be healthy, which I love, and they also want to eat healthy. But some of their concerns with jelly meats is the sodium content. They're worried about how much salt is in them. But they're also worried about other things like saturated fat and cholesterol. But sodium, that takes the cake. All right, so let's get to the jelly meat buyer's guide that everyone can find on DrRoz.com. First is you've got to buy reduced or low-sodium. You mentioned it's a problem, but it's a huge difference in these choices when you come to jelly meats. You know, I always say that every, you know, each jelly meat is created differently. Every jelly brand is created differently. You've really got to read nutritional labels because the salt content can vary widely. And as you mentioned, you want to go for that low-sodium or reduced-sodium jelly meat. Super important there. So give me an example. If I, you know, a typical serving of jelly meat that I might put in a sandwich, how much? Well, that's actually a really good point because we actually did some research here. We found that at one particular brand, six slices of jelly meat had 740 milligrams of sodium. But wait a minute. Put that in context, okay? Let me give you some context. For a heart-healthy diet, we want less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day. For some people, that's got to be less than 1,500 milligrams. So if you're taking in six slices of jelly meat and getting over 700 milligrams, that's potentially over half of your daily amount of sodium in six slices of jelly meat. That's a lot. Guys, reward the folks who are making products that are a little healthier for you. You can nudge yourself towards less salt. Why not do it? Okay, next up. When it's possible to order from a deli counter versus buying prepackaged, should you do it? That's the question. Joining us now is Matthew, the butcher, from Butcher Bar, and Nidia is here. Nidia, what is your go-to deli meat? My go-to deli meat is roast beef. Roast beef? Yes. It's a little pricey, but it's really filling. It's hearty, and it's just a little treat that I give myself. So, Matthew, everyone's got to buy this. Right. Give us the behind-the-counter advice here. What do people need to know about that they don't? What are your secrets? Well, my secrets are the thinner the slice, the tastier the bite. So if you're trying to cut down on that sodium, just go a little thinner on the slice and pack a little bit less in the sandwich, and it'll actually taste better because of all the products combining in your mouth. So that's my little secret. And walk us through these. Which ones do you like? My personal favorite has got to be turkey, especially when I make it. So the easiest thing, if you want to make some of your own healthy cold cuts, just take a turkey, roast it up, and put your favorite ingredients in it, some cracked pepper, red pepper, whatever you'd like, and then, again, cut it thin, and it'll be great in any sandwich. So I can actually recognize this came off of a slice of something, right? There's the chicken and turkey. The turkey's over here, the roast beef, as opposed to the ham and the salami. No animal looks like that, right? There's no salami animal. No, no salami. So cut the middle man out. Cut him thin, like you mentioned, and ask the Matthews. They did a nice choice, by the way. Thank you all for your advice. You can find the full Deli Meat Fires Guide on DrRoz.com. I'll be right back. It's a medical mystery baffling the CDC and leaving some children paralyzed, seemingly out of the blue. But today, a break in the case. You'll hear it here for the first time. Stay with us. Today, we are making medical history. You're about to hear about one of the biggest breakthroughs in modern medicine with the people that made it possible. It is breaking news about acute flaccid myelitis. That's the rare polio-like disease that has baffled doctors. You've all heard about it. Left the CDC searching for answers and left children fighting for their lives. Now scientists have identified a possible culprit and are a step closer to a much-awaited vaccine. And we're watching it all in real time. You're witnessing history. Let's go back, actually, speaking of history. Back to the 1950s. A lot of you remember Dr. Jonas Salk. He discovered the vaccine for polio. And that changed the world forever. The disease that left the nation's longest-serving president, Roosevelt, paralyzed in a wheelchair, became a thing of the past because of science. Kids could go swimming again, right? They could go outside again. Moms slept comfortably knowing their kids could go out and play. And it fills me with pride for the American medical community's accomplishments. We've done incredible things. We don't give it enough credit. Curing polio was sentinel. For a whole generation of people like me, it made us want to become doctors. We're about to do it again. No one knows how important solving medical mysteries are more than the families who have been affected by the disease. So I've asked Jamie and her son Austin to join us, along with Valerie and her daughter Emma. Emma and Austin were two of the earliest to contract AFM. So Emma and Austin, how are you guys feeling? Good. Austin, you good? Yes. So, Jamie, take me back to the first moment you realized there was an issue with your son, that something wasn't right with Austin. It was September 26, 2018. He was diagnosed with strep throat. He had gone to the doctor, gotten treatment for it, seemed to get better. But two days later, he started having respiratory problems. So we had gone to the emergency room, and we were admitted. By the time we had gotten there, it was afternoon, so it was kind of busy. And we waited a while to be seen. But he had lost all movement in his left leg. It started with his foot, and it spread up through his left leg. Over the course of one day? Within hours. So just to recap, let's start off with a strep throat diagnosis. Yeah. Which every mom who can hear my voice often will think is the diagnosis for their child, and often is. Yeah. But turned out to be, I guess, incorrect. As you point out, within hours led to paralysis. Correct, within hours. And Valerie, what did doctors tell you about Emma's diagnosis? It was pretty much very similar to Jamie's story. We were in Pennsylvania for a one-day vacation, and she was tripping and fumbling. Her leg started to look funny. It was hanging. So the next morning before we went home, we went to a local hospital, and they did some tests. I'm sorry. The doctor said if I didn't airlift her to a specialized hospital, she probably wouldn't survive the car ride home. So at that point, we realized, okay, this is really serious, and they airlifted her to a children's hospital. And over the course of the day, the paralyzation went from her left leg to her right leg to her arms up to her neck, where she couldn't hold her head up. And same thing, she was diagnosed with AFM, and that's where we were. What does it mean to you to recognize that medicine has advanced so quickly that within a year, really, of your episodes, you at least know what's causing the illness? It's incredible because if they can figure out what causes this, then hopefully they can figure out how to treat it and then even further how to prevent it to keep other families from having to go through this. So I know, Jamie, that Austin has started to sit up and start riding a tricycle, which is nice. And Valerie, this is a picture of Emma walking just last week. I'm very proud of you. I admire your strength, and mom's especially your power. Keep pushing and shoving for the right things to happen to your kids. All right, so now let's talk about this medical mission because it's getting closer to being solved. You're about to hear firsthand from Columbia University's virus hunter. His name is Dr. Ian Lipkin. He's in the front lines of this breaking news. I got to brag on Ian. When you watch movies about scientists finding cures to pandemic viruses, they're talking about him. And within our institution, we're all very proud of what you've been able to accomplish, working with the CDC and other collaborators, taking gargantuan steps. To be clear about this illness, which seems like it's polio to the layperson, right? It took decades to cure polio, decades. And AFM vaccines could come to a market in a fraction of the time because we know what they're aimed for, in part through your work. So what was the biggest challenge when it came to studying AFM and trying to help these beautiful young children and their parents? The biggest challenge, I think, is that we weren't actually able to find the infectious agent in the spinal fluid at the time that children present or adults present with AFM. Normally, with infectious diseases, we can do this, but this wasn't the case. So if you can't find the agent itself, you have to use a different strategy. So the strategy which we took was to try to look for antibodies. And I guess that's what we're going to talk about next. Let's just show everybody. We made a little animation for everybody to understand how this actually works. So we built your human body. Dr. Lipkin, if you could stand right over there. And AFM, again, is marked by weakness in the arms and the legs. We just saw that in the kids. And you can see the legs and the arms are being shown to be weak in this. But the clue that gives us is that this is mostly involving the spinal cord because that's what would affect the legs and the arms. So researchers began looking at the spinal fluid which surrounds the spinal cord to try to find the virus. Except in almost all the cases, they couldn't find the virus in the spinal fluid. That's what Dr. Lipkin was saying. So how do you find something that doesn't exist? Right in front of you. Well, they decided to look for some evidence that the virus had been there. Sort of like when a detective begins looking for fingerprints in a crime scene. So the best fingerprint that the virus was present was actually the antibodies against that virus. Antibodies, again, are something our immune system naturally makes to fight off an infection. They're actually very specifically designed so they only stick to specific viruses. But since our bodies are filled with all kinds of antibodies, Dr. Lipkin and his team had to develop a special technique that could sort quickly through all the antibodies and find the ones most likely leading to AFM. In doing that, they found the prime suspect. And that was all done on a little slide that Dr. Lipkin actually brought with him. This is actually the real slide, not a prop. This is how they figured out what was hurting these children. And as soon as you figured out what to put on that slide, you were able to pick out the culprit. Yeah, so this slide, which really doesn't look like much to the naked eye, contains millions of targets for antibodies that represent hundreds of different viruses. So this slide, as Dr. Raz has told you, is one of the slides that we actually used to do this work that demonstrated the link to enterovirus D68. So kudos for doing this. We're in touch with the NIH, and as soon as a vaccine is available, we're going to bring that information directly to you. Up next, four things that you need to do right now to protect your family from this illness. Stay with us. Today, a break and a medical mystery stumping doctors and paralyzing children. It is called acute flaccid myelitis, a rare but devastating polio-like illness that starts out like a simple cold, but it can become deadly. Virus hunter Dr. Ian Lipkin has been working around the clock on this case. The number one thing parents are asking about, this is how to spot the symptoms. So the four most common symptoms of AFM are. So the first problem we see is children have difficulty moving their eyes. They may have drooping eyelids. They can have a facial droop, which simply means that the face looks asymmetric, and it just doesn't move on one side, sometimes both. They may have problems with respiratory weakness, shortness of breath, and then they have sudden arm or leg weakness, where sometimes it can be both. There's no time when your child should have difficulty moving their arms or their legs. That's an immediate reason to not take no for an answer. Absolutely. All right, we're going to post a symptoms chart on our Facebook page. Go ahead and share that with all your friends. Repost it to your family. This is all the stuff people should be looking out for. Remember, the power of one, it starts with each and every one of you. Now, until there's a vaccine, what can people do to protect themselves? What we can really do at this point is very simple things. Wash your hands frequently with soap and water, particularly during that season when you have a lot of respiratory viruses circulating, like fall, winter, and spring. Avoid touching your face with your hands unless you know that your hands are clean. And if you can't wash your hands, we like to recommend that people use hand sanitizer. And the last thing, of course, is to avoid people who are clearly sick. So if they're coughing, sneezing, anything that might lead to transmission of this virus. I want to applaud you for the tireless work you do. You represent the best of American medicine. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you. I promise to continue to follow this case and bring you the latest information to prevent just one more child being diagnosed with this devastating illness. We'll be right back. When I saw this photo posted online the other day, it reminded me that the power of one can start even at an early age. Now, let me explain this. Connor, who is autistic, was headed to school for the first time by himself. And you know what? He was upset. He's crying, and he didn't want to go inside. That's when Christian walked over, extended his hand, and brought his new friend inside. Isn't that beautiful? This sweet photo was snapped by one of their moms, and it was shared around the world for good reason. Joining us now via Zoom are Christian, who comforted Connor on the first day of school, as well as their very proud mothers, Courtney and April. Guys, thanks for being here. Thank you. Christian and Connor, how is second grade going? Good. Good. They were coached to say that. No second grader says that. So, Christian, you saw Connor upset on the first day of school. How did you know to go over to him? I love that he trusts you. Did it make you happy to take him by the hand? It did make you happy. Yes. And Connor, were you happy Christian grabbed you by the hand to go to school? Yes, yes. So, Courtney, what was it like to see the impact of your son's kindness? It has been overwhelming. I've been filled with so much joy just to see, you know, my son doing something very compassionate. It just made me a very proud mom. And Christian and Connor, are you guys playing together now? Yes, we're playing. We're playing. I play soccer. You play soccer. You're going to do a lot of things in your life, Christian. I'm very proud of you. Christian and Connor, your friendship makes us all smile. It's a good reminder that we all have an action and impact on each other. Thank you. And remember, the power of change lies in the power of you. Just one person with one voice speaking the truth. You're all speaking the truth. Goodbye, everybody.