Health Highlights in 2008

L.A. Liposuction Doc Investigated for Alleged Use of Patients' Fat to Fuel SUV

FDA Says Diet Coke Plus Claims Violate Regulations

Michael Jackson's Publicist Says Illness Rumors False

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

L.A. Liposuction Doc Investigated for Alleged Use of Patients' Fat to Fuel SUV

A Beverly Hills doctor specializing in liposuction is under investigation by California officials who say he converted his patients' unwanted body fat into biodiesel to power his and his girlfriend's SUVs.

Dr. Alan Bittner, who had advertised nationally for patients to travel to Beverly Hills for liposuction, faces an investigation by the state's public health department because of several lawsuits that allege he allowed his assistant and his girlfriend to perform liposuction without a medical license, removing too much fat and leaving patients disfigured, Forbes reported Wednesday. And while it all might seem environmentally friendly, Forbes noted that it is also illegal in California to use human medical waste to power vehicles.

It's unclear when Bittner started and stopped making fat fuel or how he made it, but Forbes reported that the science was valid. Animal or vegetable fat contains triglycerides that can be extracted and turned into diesel. Some poultry companies are looking into powering their trucks on chicken schmaltz, and biofuel start-ups are mixing beef tallow and pig lard with other sources like soybean oil to brew biodiesel, Forbes reported.

For the record, a gallon of grease can be converted into about a gallon of fuel. Drivers get about the same amount of mileage from fat fuel as they do from regular diesel, Jenna Higgins, of the National Biodiesel Board, told Forbes.

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FDA Says Diet Coke Plus Claims Violate Regulations

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned Coca-Cola Co., the world's largest soft-drink maker, that its claims that Diet Coke Plus contains vitamins and minerals violate federal regulations, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

The agency said the company product is misbranded, because it includes the content claim "plus," and it urged Coca-Cola to "take prompt action to correct these violations," according to the FDAs Web site. Coca-Cola disputed the finding, saying the complaint doesn't involve health or safety issues, according to the news agency.  The FDA letter said it was not appropriate to fortify snack foods such as carbonated beverages. Diet Coke Plus has vitamins and minerals, including 10 percent of the recommended daily value for magnesium and 15 percent for vitamin B12.

A company spokesman said the label on Diet Coke Plus complies with FDA policies and regulations and that it plans to reply in detail to the complaint in early January, Bloomberg reported.

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Michael Jackson's Publicist Says Illness Rumors False

Singer Michael Jackson's publicist says reports that the "King of Pop" is seriously ill "are a total fabrication."

"Mr. Jackson is in fine health, and finalizing negotiations with a major entertainment company and television network for both a world tour and a series of specials and appearances," Dr. Tohme Tohme, identified as Jackson's "official and sole spokesperson," told CNN Monday night Tohme was responding to reports Monday in the London's Sun newspaper that quoted writer Ian Halperin, author of an upcoming book on Jackson, as saying the singer was suffering from Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, a potentially fatal disease that required a lung transplant. Major media outlets picked up the story, and the report also spread through Internet message boards, CNN reported.

Halperin originally said that Jackson's illness had robbed him of 95 percent of the vision in one eye and that he needed the lung transplant "but may be too weak to go through with it." A photo earlier this year of Jackson in a wheelchair seemed to bear out the rumors.  Halperin has written previously about Hollywood scandals and the troubled lives of various celebrities, CNN reported.