Health Highlights: April 9, 2015

'Health Highlights: April 9, 2015'

Vitamin Shoppe Pulls Dietary Supplements Containing Speed-Like DrugNinth Minnesota Turkey Farm Hit by Bird FluVeterans Still Face Long Waits at VA FacilitiesGay ‘Conversion’ Therapy Should be Banned: ObamaLawsuit Alleges HIV/AIDS Foundation Cheated MedicareSabra Hummus Products Recalled

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

Vitamin Shoppe Pulls Dietary Supplements Containing Speed-Like Drug

Dietary supplements with a speed-like substance have been pulled from its shelves, Vitamin Shoppe said Wednesday.

The national vitamin store chain took the action after a new study found that the supplements labeled as containing a shrub called Acacia rigidula actually contained a compound called BMPEA, ABC News reported.

BMPEA — stimulant originally created in the 1930s as a replacement for amphetamines — is not a regulated drug and has never been studied in humans.

The study published in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis found that 11 of 21 dietary supplement brands labeled as containing Acacia rigidula actually contained BMPEA. The supplements claimed to help with weight loss, cognitive function and athletic performance, ABC News reported.

“If these findings are confirmed by the FDA, these products should not be sold as dietary supplements,” Vitamin Shoppe said in a news release.

“There’s an unbelievably potent stimulant, a close relative, a brother of amphetamines — that’s found in multiple different brands of supplements,” study author Dr. Pieter Cohen, a professor at Harvard Medical School, told ABC News.

“But much more alarming than this is that even though the FDA has known about this for the last two years, they have done absolutely nothing to remove these supplements from the market,” he added.

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Ninth Minnesota Turkey Farm Hit by Bird Flu

A form of bird flu that’s deadly to poultry has struck a ninth Minnesota turkey farm.

Tests confirmed the presence of the H5N2 strain of bird flu on the Jennie-O-Turkey Store facility that has 310,000 turkeys, company and federal officials said Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

It’s the same strain that has infected eight other turkey farms in Minnesota, which is the top turkey-producing state in the country. About 373,000 turkeys on those farms either died from the disease or were killed to prevent the virus from spreading.

Officials say there is no danger to the food supply and the risk to the public is low, the AP reported.