Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:
McDonald's to Offer Healthier Menu Fare
McDonald's Corp., attempting to fend off lawsuits and criticism that its food helps contribute to the nation's obesity epidemic, announced Thursday that its menu will have leaner, healthier items.
The food giant launched what it calls an adult-version "Go Active" Happy Meal, which includes a "premium" salad, bottled water, and a brochure to promote walking as a healthy lifestyle. The company is even throwing in a pedometer.
Also, McDonald's is changing what's available on Happy Meals for kids, and offering "mix and match" items. Among them are fresh, peeled apple slices served with a low-fat caramel dipping sauce, 1 percent milk and chocolate milk, and 100 percent apple juice.
Hamburgers and other sandwiches can now be ordered low-carbohydrate style -- meaning no bun.
To boot, the company announced that it will work with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to promote good health and better disseminate nutritional information. "This announcement by McDonald's is a positive step toward helping Americans make healthier choices," HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement.
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EPA Finds Dirty Air in 31 States
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday told 31 governors that parts of their states do not meet new health standards for ground-level ozone.
According to the EPA, 474 counties across the nation -- home to a total of 159 million people -- failed the standard.
EPA Administrator Mike Leavitt said, however, that inability to meet the new regulations does not represent failure per se. "This isn't about the air getting dirtier," he said in a statement. "The air is getting cleaner. These new rules are about our new understanding of health threats, about our standards getting tougher and our national resolve to meet them."
Most of the counties not in compliance were in Northeastern states and California, especially southern California. The EPA found no violations at all in 18 states, mostly in the Plains and the Northwest.
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Pesticide Industry Stalled Rat-Poison Rules: Report
Over the past six years, the U.S. pesticide industry has thwarted initiatives designed to protect children and wildlife from becoming unintended victims of rat poison, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
In the meantime, 15,000 children under age 6 accidentally ingested rat poison last year, according to the nation's poison control centers. The pesticide also threatens wildlife that often ingest supplies used to protect crops, the newspaper said.
The proposed child-safety rules were all but abandoned after a five-year effort by the Environmental Protection Agency, which gave the industry the unusual power to revise regulatory language after the regulations had been in near-final form, the Post reported.
The EPA and the industry both reject the insinuation that the industry was able to exercise undue influence, noting that the proposed regulations would have significantly reduced rat poison's ability to prevent the spread of rat-borne disease, the newspaper reported. The EPA finally accepted rules that required stronger labeling warnings.
The initial regulations would have called for adding an agent that would have made the poison taste more bitter, and a dye that would make it apparent if a child had swallowed the poison, the Post reported.
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Fewer Americans Swallow Low-Carb
Diets
Americans may be losing their appetite for low-carbohydrate diets, according to a survey released Wednesday.
It found that an estimated 11 percent of Americans were on the Atkins, South Beach, or some other low-carb diet in March, compared to about 13 percent in January, the Associated Press reported.
But even after they've gone off a low-carb diet, many people continue to monitor their intake of carbohydrates, the Morgan Stanley survey found. And having been on a low-carb diet seems to change many people's awareness of nutrition issues, taste preferences, and eating self-discipline.
That means that the low-carb trend could have lasting implications for the food and beverage industry, the Morgan Stanley analysts concluded.
The survey of 2,500 adults was conducted in late March.
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Dick Clark Discloses Decade-Old Diabetes Diagnosis
Dick Clark has had type 2 diabetes for the past decade, but had kept it a secret from all but his closest family members and friends, according to the Associated Press.
Dubbed "America's oldest teenager," the former long-time host of "American Bandstand" and the "$10,000 Pyramid" game show, now 74, has accepted a new role as a spokesman for the American Association of Diabetes Educators, the AP reported.
Type 2 diabetes, once referred to as the "adult-onset" form of the disease, occurs when cells in the muscles, liver, and fat do not make proper use of insulin, the hormone that processes dietary sugars. As a result, the amount of glucose in the blood can increase to dangerous levels, leading to complications such as heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease, and nerve problems.
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R.I. Medical Board Gets Lowest Doctor Discipline Ranking
Rhode Island's state medical board scored lowest and Kentucky's board scored highest in a new report that ranks state medical boards on the rate of serious disciplinary action taken against doctors in 2003.
The nonprofit advocacy group Public Citizen used information from the
Federation of State Medical Boards to rate the performance of the 50 state medical boards and the District of Columbia.
Across the United States, state medical boards took 2,992 serious actions against doctors. These actions included license revocations, surrenders, suspensions, and probations/restrictions for doctor offenses such as negligence, incompetence, sexual misconduct, and breaking criminal laws.
The 10 worst-performing medical boards were Rhode Island, Wisconsin,
Minnesota, Delaware, Michigan, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Arkansas, and Maryland.
The 10 best-performing boards were Kentucky, Wyoming, North Dakota, Arizona, Oklahoma, Vermont, Montana, Alaska, West Virginia, and Ohio.
The Public Citizen report noted that people living in states that do a poor job of disciplining doctors may be more likely to suffer harm.
