HEALTH

ALBANY, Ore. — In response to a Food and Drug Administration warning letter, Tec Labs announced on Thursday that the company plans to work with the agency regarding its StaphAseptic first-aid antiseptic and pain-relieving gel.

The FDA on Wednesday issued a total of four warning letters, including the one to Tec Labs, to companies that manufacture and market products claiming to prevent infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, or MRSA.

NEW YORK — An investigational antifibrotic and anti-inflammatory drug could help treat a common complication of diabetes.

Researchers at the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and the Mayo Clinic found that pirfenidone potentially could treat diabetic nephropathy, a leading cause of end-stage kidney disease.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — FiberChoice is encouraging Americans to make healthy decisions and lifestyle changes with a new Twitter campaign.

Now through May 19, the brand is asking consumers to tweet their healthy choices — as it relates to nutrition, fitness or overall lifestyle — by using the #MYCHOICE hashtag and @reply FiberChoice. FiberChoice said it will sponsor one healthy choice each day through its sweepstakes and at the end of the campaign, award a grand-prize spa vacation.

WASHINGTON — Two associations representing dietary supplement companies criticized a British Medical Journal meta-analysis published April 20 that concluded calcium and vitamin D supplementation may increase risk of heart attack and stroke.

NEW YORK — The link between diet soda and diabetes may not be as strong as previously thought, according to a study by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Between 1986 and 2006, more than 40,000 men filled out regular questionnaires about health and diets, which the Harvard team, led by nutrition and epidemiology professor Frank Hu, then collected.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Just in time for Earth Day, Fresh & Easy has introduced its private-label household cleaning and paper products.

The retailer's Green Things line, which now is available in stores, features household cleaners that are made with plant-based formulas, are biodegradable and pH-neutral, and also are made without such chemicals as 1,4-dioxane, phosphates, dyes or perfumes.

ATLANTA — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday announced its CDC Flu App Challenge to identify innovative and creative uses of technology that would help raise awareness of influenza and/or educate consumers on ways to prevent and treat the flu. All told, the challenge will award up to $42,500 in prizes.

The submission period runs through May 27; winners will be announced June 8.

NEW YORK — Many children with Type 1 diabetes have other autoimmune disorders as well, according to published reports.

Citing findings in a recent study of nearly 500 children published in the journal Diabetes Care, Reuters reported that one-third of children with the disease — an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks the cells of the pancreas — also have such disorders as celiac disease, autoimmune thyroid disease and a disorder of the adrenal glands called Addison’s disease.