Harvard Health Content API

Adults over 70 might not need to tightly restrict salt, a new study suggests. U.S. guidelines recommend no more than 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium daily for most adults. That’s the amount in a teaspoon of salt. But the American Heart Association says that adults over 50 should aim for less, about 1,500 a day. The average American consumes about 3,400 mg a day. The new study included 2,600 adults, ages 71 to 80. They all filled out diet questionnaires. Researchers kept track of them for the next 10 years. In that time, 881 died, 572 developed heart disease or had a stroke, and 398 developed heart failure. The death rate was lowest, 30.7%, for those who consumed 1,500 to 2.300 mg of salt a day. So people did just as well with a moderate amount of salt as with a stricter limit. With less than 1,500 mg of sodium, the death rate was 33.8%.

Kids eat a lot of pizza. And on the days when they do, chances are they take in more calories, fat and sodium than usual, a new study finds. The study looked at data from a national health and nutrition survey. The numbers used were from 4 surveys, done between 2003 and 2010. They included families of almost 14,000 children and teens. People were asked what their kids had eaten in the last 24 hours. From the first to last surveys, calories from pizza declined somewhat. But on the days children under 12 ate pizza, they took in 84 more calories than usual. They also ate 3 grams more saturated fat and 134 milligrams more sodium. For teens, with their larger size and appetite, pizza days brought 230 extra calories. Saturated fat rose by 5 grams and sodium by 484 milligrams. When kids ate pizza, it provided more than 20% of the day’s calories.

U.S. regulators have approved a device to help control appetite in very obese adults by stimulating a stomach nerve. The device is called the Maestro Rechargeable System. It is made by EnteroMedics Inc. It is implanted in the chest, usually in an outpatient procedure. The device has electrical wires that are placed around the vagus nerve. This nerve helps to control hunger. Signals are sent to the nerve at fixed times to decrease hunger pangs and make the person feel full. The Food and Drug Administration approved the device for use in severely obese adults. They may have a body mass index (BMI) of at least 35, plus at least one medical condition linked with obesity, or at least 40 without another condition. In a study, people with the Maestro implant lost about 8.5% more weight than those with fake implants.

A new test of that gunk you cough up from your lungs may help to tell which lumps found in a lung CT scan are cancerous. Medicare now covers a yearly low-dose CT scan each year for certain long-term, heavy smokers and former smokers. The scans help to find early lung cancers. But sometimes they also find lumps, or nodules, that are not cancers. The new test aims to find out which ones are cancerous, without a biopsy. The test looks for 3 types of genetic material, called microRNA, that are typically found in lung cancers. Researchers first tried the test on 122 people who had a lung nodule shown on a CT scan. The test examines sputum, a mixture of saliva and mucus. It identified 83% of the cancerous nodules. It was able to tell 88% of the time when the nodule was not cancer. Researchers also tried the test in 2 other groups of patients. Results were similar.

Many older diabetics are following “tight control” of blood sugar, though it may do them more harm than good, a study suggests. The study looked at blood sugar control for 1,288 people with diabetes. All were age 65 or older. Information about them came from 5 U.S. health surveys that occurred between 2001 and 2010. About half were classified as relatively healthy despite having diabetes. About 28% had “complex” health, with 3 or more other health conditions, such as heart or kidney disease. About 21% were in poor health. They were on dialysis, had problems with daily living activities or both. About 62% of the entire group had achieved average blood sugar (hemoglobin A1C) of 7% or less. This has been a goal for most diabetics. Average A1C levels did not change much during the study period. They also were similar even for the sickest group of diabetics.