Dr. Steve: Thursday

Do you have a question for Dr. Steve, CLICK HERE

7:00am Segment Info:
Since they have the potential to develop into any cell in the body, stem cells hold promise for millions of people who suffer from disease. Scientists believe one day they can help replace damaged brain cells, nerve cells, even grow organs for transplantation, but the science remains controversial because the stem cells with the greatest potential come from embryos. Now scientists say that human egg cells can give rise to stem cells, and they act just like embryonic stem cells - a discovery that could potentially end the need for embryonic stem cells.

So these are unfertilized eggs?

That's right, scientists in California have figured out a way to trick to eggs into developing without actually being fertilized by sperm. The researchers say they can match the stem cells to a particular individual in very much the same way that a tissue match is made when someone has a bone marrow transplant. This way the stem cells won't be rejected by the person's immune system.

In other news, there's new research about green tea. Tell us about that.

We've all heard about the antioxidant properties of green tea.. How it can fight diseases and even cancer. Now a new study from japan finds drinking several cups of green tea every day may help keep prostate cancer from spreading. This study involved nearly 50,000 japanese men aged 40-69 found that those who drank five or more cups of green tea a day reduced their risk of having progressive prostate cancer by half.
This is the first study to show that green tea may actually help prevent prostate cancer from spreading.

5 or more cups of tea a day is a lot.

5 cups is a lot. And it implies that you have to really incorporate green tea into your life if you're going to reap any benefit. In fact, most studies that involve green tea require that you drink a lot of it. It's not clear if taking a supplement would have the same effect. Researchers believe Catechin, which is found in green tea, may inhibit cancerous cell growth or lowered testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer cells.

8:00am Segment Info:
Scientists say they may have found a new type of cancer biomarker in the cells surrounding breast tumors.

Researchers say they initially thought these surrounding cells were harmless, but there are genetic changes present in them that could help predict if the cancer will spread. The finding may one day eliminate the need to do lymphnode dissection and provide a new target treatment for breast cancer.

Was this found in other cancers as well?

Another study that looked at survival rates after squamous cell cancer of the head and neck also found the same genetic mutations in surrounding cells. So this may be true for other cancers as well. The hope is that this discovery can lead to treatments that will help contain a cancer and prevent it from spreading.

In other news, there's a study linking dairy to colon cancer.

A new study finds children who eat a lot of dairy products may have a greater risk of colon cancer when they become adults.

This study of about 5000 people lasted for about 65 years and found those who grew up in families where they consumed nearly 2 cups a day had close to three-times the risk of colorectal cancer compared with those from families reporting the lowest intake. But don't think about cutting milk out of your kids' diet just yet. The researchers say there a lot of confounding factors involved here and more needs to be done before you can draw any definitive conclusions.

Everyone's talking about Jamie Lynn Spears being pregnant at 16. Does sex education help?

It's a very touchy subject. Lots of people feel very strongly about this issue.

A new study finds that teenagers that have formal sex education are more likely to put off having sex. According to the report, teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71 percent less likely to have intercourse before age 15, and teen girls who had sex education were 59 percent less likely to have sex before age 15. Sex education also increased the likelihood that teen boys used contraception the first time they had sex.

Weren't there studies that showed sex education doesn't help?

That's true. In fact, earlier studies, which relied on data from the 1970s through the 1990s, suggested sex education didn't do much. When I was a kid we had sex education in high school. Now not only is sex education more common. It's being taught at an earlier age.