Health Highlights: Dec. 18, 2014

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

Former NFL Players’ Lawsuit Over Painkillers Dismissed by Judge

A lawsuit by former NFL players who said they were subjected to improper care and misuse of painkillers was dismissed Wednesday by a federal judge.

The lawsuit by the 1,300 retired players claimed the league and its teams, doctors and trainers withheld information about injuries and dispensed painkillers to mask pain and minimize lost playing time, the Associated Press reported.

One of the specific allegations was that prescriptions were filled out in players’ names without their knowledge.

In his ruling, Judge William Alsup of the U.S. Northern District in California wrote that the lawsuit was pre-empted by the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the players’ association, the AP reported.

No court has ruled that a professional sports league must supervise its teams on health and safety issues, Alsup wrote.

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No Evidence Paleo Diet Matches Early Human Eating Habits: Study

There’s no proof that the popular paleo (Paleolithic) diet actually matches what early humans ate, a new study says.

The diet — heavy in meat, fish and vegetables and light in grain products and processed food — is supposed to be similar to how humans’ ancestors ate between 10,000 and 2.5 million years ago, ABC News reported.

But there is little evidence that early humans consumed a specialized diet or regarded any one food group as especially important, according to study author Ken Sayers, an anthropologist at Georgia State University.

“Whatever angle you chose to look at the diets of our early ancestors, it’s hard to pinpoint any one particular feeding strategy,” he told ABC News.

In fact, it’s more likely they were opportunistic feeders, Sayers said.

The study was published in the Quarterly Review of Biology.

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