Health Highlights: June 30, 2015

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

USDA Sets Out Healthier Food Options for Day Care Providers

Concerned about the obesity epidemic among America’s children, a major government program that helps feed kids at the nation’s day care centers is in for an overhaul.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees the Child and Adult Care Food Program, which each day helps feed more than 3.8 million young children, the Associated Press reported.

Much of its funding goes to help day care providers. Even ones that aren’t funded by the program feel its influence, because many states require day care providers to follow the program’s nutritional guidelines to be certified, the AP noted.

Now, for the first time almost 50 years, the program will be revamped to put more emphasis on vegetables and to lower sugar content in meal offerings, the news agency said. Grain-based desserts treats like cookies and cakes would no longer be covered by the program, although that childhood favorite, chicken nuggets, would still be reimbursed.

The new rules have not been finalized, the AP said, although some of the changes mentioned are already showing up in handbooks that the USDA is distributing to day care providers.

The proposed changes should “serve as a step towards more nutritious meals that improve the dietary habits of participants in day care,” the USDA states.

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Calif. Legislature Sends Tough Vaccination Bill to Governor

A highly controversial bill that would mandate vaccinations for nearly all children in California public schools was passed on Monday by the state’s Senate. It now only requires the signature of Governor Jerry Brown to become law.

The bill would eliminate “personal belief” exemptions currently in place in California that allow parents to exclude their children from routine vaccinations. Under the proposed law, only children with serious medical conditions could get an exemption, and any other unvaccinated child would have to be homeschooled, according to the Associated Press.

Many parents and experts support the bill as a way to protect all children from infectious disease, pointing to an outbreak of measles in December that originated at Disneyland and affected more than 100 people in the United States and Mexico.

But others have vigorously protested the measure, massing in the thousands at the state’s Capitol in the past weeks. Many say it infringes on parental rights and issues of informed consent.

Should Bill Sb277 become law, California would join Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states in the nation that mandate vaccination for nearly all children in public schools, the AP said.

The bill still requires the signature of Gov. Brown. But Brown, a Democrat, has not signaled whether he would sign the bill.

“The governor believes that vaccinations are profoundly important and a major public health benefit and any bill that reaches his desk will be closely considered,” Brown’s spokesman Evan Westrup told the AP.

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