Health Highlights: June 20, 2008

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

VA Says It Will Improve Care For Female Veterans

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is working to eliminate disparities in care offered to female and male veterans, VA Secretary James Peake said Friday.

He was responding to last week's disclosure of a VA internal review, which found that about one-third of 139 VA facilities that offer outpatient care don't provide female veterans with the same quality of care as males.

"We are making a full-court press to ensure that women veterans receive the highest quality of care," Peake said at the National Summit on Women Veteran's Issues, theAssociated Pressreported.

In his speech, he said the VA recognizes that 86 percent of female veterans from recent conflicts are younger than age 40 and have health needs related to having children. The agency is spending about $32 million for equipment specific to women's health needs, Peake said.

He noted women make up about 14 percent of the U.S. Armed Forces, theAPreported.

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Blueberries May Lower Cholesterol

Blueberries may significantly lower cholesterol and protect the heart, according to Canadian researchers who conducted tests on pigs fed different kinds of blueberry-supplemented diets.

All of the diets reduced overall cholesterol levels, but some were more effective than others,United Press Internationalreported.

"In feeding trials, we found that blueberry supplementation reduced plasma cholesterol levels more effectively when the animals received a mostly plant-based diet than when they received a less heart-healthy diet," lead scientist Wilhelmina Kalt said in a prepared statement. "The soy, oats and barley contained in these diets may have functioned synergistically with the blueberries to beneficially affect plasma lipids."