Health Highlights: June 19, 2009

• Cookie Dough Linked to E. Coli Cases
• Bayer Threatened With Lawsuit Over Men's Vitamin Claims
• Trainers Urge Halt to Two-a-Day Football Practices in August
• Food Safety Bill Clears House Committee

Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Cookie Dough Linked to E. Coli Cases

Refrigerated cookie dough that's the suspected cause of 66 cases of E. coli in 28 states is being recalled by Nestle USA's baking unit.

E. coli is a bacteria that causes food-borne illness.

The outbreak linked to Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products is being investigated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Associated Press reported.

The voluntary recall includes refrigerated cookie bar dough, cookie dough tubes, cookie dough tubs, seasonal cookie dough, limited edition cookie dough items and Ultimates cookie bar dough. No other Toll House products are included in the recall.

Nestle said that consumers should not eat raw cookie dough and that a warning to that effect is printed on the product packaging, the AP reported.

People who have these products should throw them away and not bake the dough, the FDA says, to avoid spreading bacteria onto cooking surfaces and their hands.

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Bayer Threatened With Lawsuit Over Men's Vitamin Claims

A U.S. consumer advocacy group says that Bayer Healthcare must stop claiming that its One-A-Day vitamins for men reduce the risk of prostate cancer or face legal action.

There's no evidence to support claims in TV and radio ads that selenium, an ingredient in One-A-Day Men's Health Formula and 50+ Advantage, helps prevent cancer, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the Associated Press reported.

"The largest prostate cancer prevention trial has found that selenium is no more effective than a placebo," the center's senior nutritionist, David Schardt, said Thursday. "Bayer is ripping people off when it suggests otherwise in these dishonest ads."

But the company said the claims on its vitamins have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"We stand behind all claims made in support of our products," Bayer spokeswoman Trisch McKernan told the AP.

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Trainers Urge Halt to Two-a-Day Football Practices in August

High school football teams should stop holding two practices a day during the first week of August to prevent heat-related illnesses or death, says a new report from the National Association of Athletic Trainers.

Strenuous two-a-day drills are an annual tradition for thousands of high school football teams across the United States, the Associated Press reported.

But the trainers' report says the cutback the group is recommending would match what's being done at the college level. It made special mention of a 15-year-old football player in Kentucky who collapsed during practice last August and later died. His coach was charged with reckless homicide.

Since 1995, at least 39 football players of all ages have died from heat-related causes, and most of the incidents occurred in August, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Injury Research, the AP reported.

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Food Safety Bill Clears House Committee

Legislation to increase the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's funding and powers to regulate food safety was approved Wednesday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Under the bill, the agency would be given the authority to order food recalls, impose new civil penalties and make food companies adhere to food safety standards. In addition, the bill would oblige the FDA to inspect high-risk food facilities at least once a year and would require food makers to keep detailed records to enable quicker tracking of tainted foods, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Funding for the measure would come from an annual $500 registration fee paid by about 378,000 domestic and foreign food facilities. Farms that raise meat and poultry and other facilities regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture would be exempt.

A House vote on the legislation has not been scheduled. A food safety bill has been introduced in the Senate, but it's not clear when lawmakers will begin discussing it, the Wall Street Journal reported.