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Gupta Answers Questions on Sweeteners; Larry Snelling is Interviewed about Safety for DNC; Taylor Swift Tour Resumes; Officer Chuck Cobb is Interviewed About Rescuing a Mom that Crashed. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired August 15, 2024 - 09:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[09:30:00]

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Basically found with that group of people was that over that long term, they actually had more of this visceral fat during that time. Not -- not less. The WHO has basically come out and released a statement, a consensus statement, saying, if you are using these low-calorie sweeteners to lose weight, don't do that because it's not very effective at that.

Now, it's interesting because this could be really useful for diabetics, people who don't want to spike their bloodshed sugar. But when you're eating these low calorie sweeteners, there's something to keep in mind, they are very, very sweet. And take a look at this graphic here. If you look at something like stevia, for example, it can be up to 400 times as sweet as sugar. I don't know if people realize that. So, they 're really sweet. And what that does is it sort of tricks the brain. The brain's thinking, hey, I just got this sweet taste, so now I'm expecting all the calories and energy that comes with that sweet taste but I don't get it. And as a result, the body may go out and forage for actual calories later on. So, people drinking diet cokes all day long, and then they go eat ice cream at night. That seems to be part of the pattern.

It's a lot of what you're doing the rest of the time, which is why the calorie council had this to say specifically. They wanted to make sure we mentioned that for certain people this can be really effective. Low and no calorie sweeteners do provide an effective and safe option to reduce sugar and calories overall. They're a critical tool that can help people manage their weight and reduce the risk of certain diseases.

You know, it has to do with what you're doing when you're not eating or drinking these no or low-calorie products. That's the key here.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, Sanjay, you preach moderation in just about everything, except smiles. You are, you know, smiles in in excess. But Martha from Colorado writes that she uses approximately 10 packets of sweetener a day, and she asks, "is that considered excessive?"

GUPTA: You know what they say, John, everything in moderation except moderation, right? Right. So, you've got to just make it an adjunct in your life. So, we looked into this, Martha. So, if you're looking at some of

these sweeteners, there's acceptable safe limits when it comes to these sweeteners. So, if you look at the -- what the FDA says specifically about I think the sweetener that you're taking, we looked this up, you could possibly be eating up to 23 packets a day of that and still be considered within the safe limit.

But what I will say is that we're starting to learn more, just even over the past several months and weeks. Erythritol, for example, something that made a lot of headlines this past week, what they found in a very small study was that people who were taking erythritol, 30 grams of that, could actually double their risk of clotting over the short term. So, people would actually eat the 30 grams of erythritol compared to 30 grams of glucose and their clotting risk would go up with the erythritol.

So, I think what we're learning here is that just because it is low or no calorie doesn't mean you can have as much as you want. People generally have sort of understood that. But I think the data is making that more and more clear.

So, you can use those again if you don't want to spike your blood sugar, but be careful, especially if you're doing it in excess.

BERMAN: Such great advice, as always. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you very much. Great to see you.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Expectations of potentially big protests in Chicago. New details on the security training and preparations that are underway right now ahead of the DNC.

Plus, Taylor Swift takes the stage in London tonight for the first time since authorities foiled a terror plot targeting her concert in Vienna.

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[09:38:21]

BERMAN: This morning we are just days away from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Law enforcement working overtime to ensure a safe event. They say they are prepared for every scenario.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling is with us now.

Thank you so much for being with us.

What are you anticipating in terms of number of protesters in Chicago?

SUPT. LARRY SNELLING, Chicago POLICE DEPARTMENT: First of all, good morning, and thank you for having me.

You know, it's hard to predict the number of people or the number of protesters who may show up. We do expect a large group of people to converge upon the city and -- be it just a visit, to participate in the Democratic National Convention, or to come here and exercise their First Amendment rights.

So, we've been preparing for over a year for this. And we're prepared for whatever number of people decided to show up here in the city of Chicago.

BERMAN: You mentioned exercising their First Amendment rights. How will you distinguish between protests, people exercising their First Amendment rights, and what may be a riot, for instance?

SNELLING: Well, there is a distinct difference between a riot and a peaceful protest, or people who are simply exercising their First Amendment rights. And, look, the First Amendment protections does not include rioting. It doesn't include criminal acts. It doesn't include breaking the law. It doesn't include violence, vandalism, those things that we are not going to tolerate in our city.

[09:40:00]

But if people are showing up here to exercise their First Amendment rights, they're doing it peacefully, lawfully, we're going to protect their rights to do that.

BERMAN: How has your security posture changed since the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, which was just a few weeks ago really?

SNELLING: Well, it really has not. You know, in Chicago we've been preparing for everything. We're looking at all possibilities. We've worked very well with our federal partners. Also our state and local partners, our county partners. And we've had great collaboration around these types of things. And we want to make sure that whatever happens, we're prepared for any possibility.

However, it did heighten our awareness here of those possibilities.

BERMAN: So even though 1996 in Chicago, the Democratic Convention there, went on really without a hitch, when you say Democratic Convention in Chicago, everyone thinks about 1968 and thinks about what happened there. How much of a stigma is that? How much does that hang over your heads as you plan for this?

SNELLING: You know, 1968 was 1968. And, you know, we've -- we've done our history. You know, in 2012, when we had the NATO summit here, we looked at the history of everything. We planned around it. We looked at areas where we made mistakes. We looked across the country. We looked at those mistakes. And we've taken corrective action on those past mistakes.

One of the things that happened in 1968 is, you know, preparation for something like this takes time. And when you have a department as large as the Chicago Police Department, we have to make sure that all of our offices have the appropriate amount of training and effective training that's going to help us respond to incidents like this better. So, the difference between 1968 and now is that the department has

evolved, the city has evolved. And during that evolution, we've gotten a lot better at dealing with these types of large scale events.

BERMAN: Superintendent Larry Snelling, great to have you on. Good luck next week. Thank you so much.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hundreds of thousands of Taylor Swift fans are ready to celebrate in London. In just two hours, Taylor Swift will be back on stage for her first show since the authorities in Austria had thwarted that very scary terror plot targeting Swift's concerts there. London's mayor says the city is prepared.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is on the ground where all the Swift fans are headed.

What do you see? What are they saying? What are you hearing from them, Salma?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you just mentioned, there are, of course, very tight security measures in place. Among those measures there's no tailgating, no congregating outside the stadium.

So, what are the Swifties doing? Well, they're gathering in venues just like this one. And I got to show you the outfits, Kate, because they are amazing. Starting with this peripheral glitter (ph). We have lavender haze over here. And, I mean, the outfits that you're seeing here, some of them, Kate, people have spent so much time and energy and money on them. So, they're absolutely so excited.

May I show that glitter, because that's absolutely gorgeous. We have more outfits here. Matching couples. Look at that. That's absolutely great.

And you're going to see families everywhere bringing young children to these types of venues, Kate, because of these extra security measures.

I actually want to show you one of the youngest fans I've met this morning in her little gold dress, five-years-old, and she's here, of course, with her relative.

What does it mean to have your family here today? Were you worried after what happened in Vienna?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we thought that after what happened to Vienna, and we're really sad for all the fans there, but I think we felt that actually with the heightened security it was probably going to be one of the safest shows to go to. So --

ABDELAZIZ: That makes sense. So you feel because of those security measures it was even safer to bring your family to be here to celebrate this.

And this is going to be the final leg in her European tour, Kate. She is performing five sold out concerts at Wembley Stadium. Then she makes her way to North America. You can expect fans are going to greet Taylor Swift with love and compassion. That's what we saw in Vienna. And there will be lots of exchanging friendship bracelets tonight.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. It's so great to see them back at it. Also great to hear about the security measures in place. And that was one cute Swiftie. Thank you for introducing us to her, Salma. Thanks so much.

Sara.

SIDNER: Kate, I know you and the girls have Swiftie outfits, don't you?

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SIDNER: OK.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SIDNER: I can't wait to see them. Maybe we'll get Saelma out there and show you --

BOLDUAN: You're not even allowed to be a cool mom, which maybe I'm clearly not, unless you can pull off a Swiftie outfit with your girls. OK.

SIDNER: Oh, you're cool.

All right, coming up, an incredible rescue. You have got to see this. A little boy soaked after escaping a submerged car, cries out for an officer, finds him on the street, to try to save his mother, who suffered a medical condition as she was driving.

[09:45:09]

The police officers who rushed to save her is going to join us and tell us all about this, coming up next.

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SIDNER: The president of Columbia University is stepping down months after protests over the Israel-Hamas war gripped the campus. In a letter Minouche Shafik said, quote, "it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community." Shafik faced criticism over her handling of the protests this spring after talks broke down between the university and demonstrators over an encampment on campus.

[09:50:09]

Protesters barricaded themselves then inside an academic building at one point, prompting Shafik to call in the NYPD to remove them. At least 100 people were arrested in that part of the protest. The head of Columbia University's medical center, Katrina Armstrong, will serve as interim president.

All right, this is something you've got to see this morning. A dramatic rescue caught on police body camera.

You see a panicked 12-year-old boy flagging down a police officer to help his mother after she had a medical emergency while driving.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to save her, in the car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's going on?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had an (INAUDIBLE). She sunk. She's in the water. Help her. Help her. Help her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Hop in and I'll bring you over there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Hop in. Shove that over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Wow. Veteran Officer Chuck Cobb, you see him there, he followed the little boy to the pond and eventually pulls out his mother. And you can see him there in the distance administering chest compressions until paramedics arrived. She, by the way, is now on the road to recovery in the hospital.

Officer Cobb, we are lucky to have you, join us this morning to share more about this rescue.

First of all, did you get a call from dispatch this was happening, or did you just happen to be driving down that street when you saw this sweet little boy, all soaked, running up to your car?

OFFICER CHUCK COBB, WEST ORANGE, TEXAS POLICE DEPARTMENT: No, it wasn't a call. I was actually parked on the side of the road and saw him running down the inside lane of a seven lane highway. So, I pulled down there to see what was going on.

SIDNER: That is truly amazing. Had it not been for you recognizing that something was wrong, this could have changed completely the outcome of what happened.

Can you give us some sense of what you ended up having to do to save Jonquetta Winbush, who was in that car, the mother of that sweet little boy, that was almost, when you got to it, almost completely submerged.

COBB: Yes, it was still in the process of slowly sinking when I got there. We wound up having to bust out all the windows and two citizens that stopped and got in the water with me, we were able to bust of windows out and finally get her out of the vehicle and start CPR.

SIDNER: You -- you mentioned there were two other people. How did they get involved? Did they just do the same thing you did and saw what was going on and just jumped into help?

COBB: Yes, ma'am. They -- they saw my police car with the lights on and I guess saw what was going on. When I ran back to my patrol unit to grab my wonder punch, that's when Mr. Majiah (ph) had jumped in and started trying to help. And then Mr. Bull (ph) pulled up and got in the water. And we were able to get her out.

SIDNER: This is just like a community coming together for this family. When you were able to finally use that punch to get through that window and pull her out, did she have a pulse? How was she at that point?

COBB: No, she was completely unresponsive. She didn't have a pulse, wasn't breathing, no nothing. That's why I immediately started CPR.

SIDNER: You started CPR. And what happened? Did she ever gain consciousness while you were there with her?

COBB: It took almost a full three minutes of chest compressions before she finally took a gasp on her own. We got her breathing before the ambulance got there. And she -- she wasn't conscious, but we got her breathing and the ambulance was able to take over and rush her to the hospital.

SIDNER: Wow. Can you just tell me what this felt like to you as you, you know, entered the scene, having no idea, no call from dispatch, you just noticed this going on?

COBB: It's -- it's one of those situations. A lot of times we encounter -- you just roll up on something and immediate action had to be taken or she wasn't going to make it. So, entered the water and do what we can.

SIDNER: Have you had any chance to speak with the family? I know that she ended up in the hospital. That her family is reporting that she is now breathing on her own. Have you had any chance to speak with any of the members of the family? And just curious, were there other children there? Were there other people in the car besides her 12-year-old and herself?

COBB: It was just her 12-year-old and her 16-year-old daughter. Her 16-year-old daughter wasn't in the car when it went into the water.

[09:55:03]

She had got out of the vehicle when Jonquetta started the seizure. And then the car took off with the twelve-year-old in the backseat.

I do -- I've been speaking with Mrs. Holman (ph), who is Jonquetta's mother. I speak with her every few days, getting updates, and she is actually doing real well. They got her off the vent. She's breathing on her own. And maybe today she may get moved out of ICU.

SIDNER: Wow, that is such good news.

Thank you so much for doing what you did and for those Samaritans. If not for you all, this may have ended in such a tragedy.

Officer Chuck Cobb, thank you so much for joining us this morning as well. Appreciate you.

BERMAN: All right, very quickly, just in, J.D. Vance has agreed to a debate with Governor Tim Walz. That will be October 1st. Governor Walz, yesterday, announced that he would do the debate. Now J.D. Vance says he will. So, game on for the presidential debate and the vice presidential debate.

BOLDUAN: Game on, friends. That's how we're going to end it today.

Thank you all so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "CNN NEWSROOM" is up next.

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