IGF-1 is a growth hormone found naturally in your blood. When you have high levels, you risk developing cancer. At the other extreme, people with Laron syndrome are unable to produce IGF-1 and are therefore very short, but they rarely have cancer.
Every day, your body creates and destroys about 50 billion cells. Sometimes you need to grow, as when you’re a baby or during puberty. At those times, your body creates more cells than it destroys.
Once you’ve gone through puberty, you still need for your cells to grow and divide, but you certainly don’t want to create extra cells, because extra cell growth can mean the development of tumors.
Protein raises the level of IGF-1. This seems to be especially important to coaches and trainers who want their players and athletes to get bigger and stronger. Unfortunately, IGF-1 accelerates not only the growth of normal tissues and bone, but of diseased tissues and cancer as well.
Did you know that you can still grow and get strong on a plant-based diet, yet not raise your IGF-1 levels?
In many experiments, it has been found that mice with lower levels of IGF-1, live 40 percent longer than mice with normal levels. Those mice also look younger and resist diseases.
What causes your IGF-1 levels to rise? All animal foods, especially cow’s milk, raise IGF-1 levels in humans. As you probably know, the purpose of cow’s milk is to help a baby calf grow from 60 pounds to about 600 pounds.
Animal protein stimulates IGF-1 production. By reducing the amount of animal protein (meat, chicken, fish, bacon, ham, eggs, cheese, and milk) you eat, you can reduce your levels of IGF-1.
Vegetarians who include eggs and dairy in their diets don’t achieve a significant reduction in IGF-1.
A plant-based diet is a heart-healthy diet as well as a breast-healthy diet as well as a prostate-healthy diet. In other words, it is a body-healthy diet.
