IGF-1 | Health Topics | NutritionFacts.org

Topic summary contributed by volunteer(s): Dan

Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) is a natural human growth hormone that assists the body’s transition from childhood into healthy adulthood. Once the body completes this natural growth period, high levels of IGF-1 are no longer necessary and over-production may become detrimental to health. Uncontrolled cellular growth and proliferation (which may be the result of too much IGF-1) may lead to cancer growth. Having low levels of IGF-1 as an adult may improve the chances of a cancer-free life.

Animal protein consumption appears toincrease IGF-1 levels. Plant protein consumption in general may not have the same effect.

Dairy products and excess soy may also result in similar IGF-1 results. A plant-based diet and a regular exercise routine may reduce our IGF-1 levels in less than two weeks. Lowered IGF-1 levels don’t appear to have any effect on muscular strength.

For substantiation of any statements of fact from the peer-reviewed medical literature, please see the associated videos below.

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IGF-1

43 videos

All Videos for IGF-1

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DHEA: What Is It and What Are Its Benefits?

DHEA levels naturally decline with age. Does replenishing youthful levels have restorative effects?

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How Not To Age – Live Presentation

In this live lecture, Dr. Greger offers a sneak peek into his latest book, How Not to Age, a New York Times Best Seller.

Photo of Dr. Greger against blue background with words “New Book How Not to Age”

Book Trailer for How Not to Age

Learn about my newest book, How Not to Age, a New York Times Best Seller.

Person with a head wrap staring off into a beautiful distance

Spontaneous Regression of Cancer with Fasting

How can we naturally increase the activity of our cancer-fighting natural killer cells?

Fasting-Mimicking Diet Before and After Chemotherapy

How might we replicate the protective effects of fasting with food?

a bowl filled with grains and beans

Animal Protein vs. Plant-Based Protein

I discuss a public health case for modernizing the definition of protein quality.

flatlay image of assorted cheese and milk

Breast Cancer and the Bovine Leukemia Virus in Meat and Dairy

Exposure to the bovine leukemia virus from meat and dairy (or a blood transfusion from those who eat meat or dairy) is a risk factor for cancer.

milk containers with bovine farm in the background

Bovine Leukemia Virus as a Cause of Breast Cancer

As many as 37 percent of breast cancer cases may be attributable to exposure to bovine leukemia virus.

Does Heme Iron Cause Cancer?

Does Heme Iron Cause Cancer?

Laboratory models suggest that extreme doses of heme iron may be detrimental, but what about the effects of nutritional doses in humans? A look at heme’s carcinogenic effects.

Plant-Based Protein: Are Pea and Soy Isolates Harmful?

Plant-Based Protein: Are Pea and Soy Protein Isolates Harmful?

What are the different impacts of plant protein versus animal protein, and do the benefits of plant proteins translate to plant protein isolates?

Do Vitamin B12 Supplements Cause Acne?

Do Vitamin B12 Supplements Cause Acne?

Acne can be triggered in one in ten people who get vitamin B12 injections.

Vegetarians and Stroke Risk Factors—Animal Protein?

Vegetarians and Stroke Risk Factors—Animal Protein?

Might animal protein-induced increases in the cancer-promoting grown hormone IGF-1 help promote brain artery integrity?

The 5-2 Diet and the Fasting-Mimicking Diet Put to the Test

The 5:2 Diet and the Fasting-Mimicking Diet Put to the Test

The effects of eating only 5 days a week or a fasting-mimicking diet 5 days a month.

Dairy and Cancer

Dairy and Cancer

How do we explain the increased risk of prostate cancer but the decreased risk of colon cancer associated with dairy consumption?

Dietary Cure for Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Dietary Cure for Hidradenitis Suppurativa

What is the role of dairy- and yeast-exclusion diets on arresting and reversing an inflammatory autoimmune disease?

The Role of Burger Viruses in Cancer

The Role of Burger Viruses in Cancer

Polyomaviruses discovered in meat can survive cooking and pasteurization.

raw meat on table

The Effect of Animal Protein on Stress Hormones, Testosterone, and Pregnancy

What happened to women who were randomized to eat more meat and dairy during pregnancy? What effect does animal protein consumption have on cortisol and testosterone levels in men?

meat being grilled

Animal Protein, Pregnancy, and Childhood Obesity

What pregnant women eat may affect even the health of their grandchildren.

How Not To Die from – Cancer

How Not to Die from Cancer

What happens when we put cancer on a plant-based diet?

Animal Protein Compared to Cigarette Smoking

Animal Protein Compared to Cigarette Smoking

Only about 1 in 10,000 people live to be 100 years old. What’s their secret?

HOW NOT TO DIE: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, & Reversing Our Top 15 Killers

In this “best-of” compilation of his last four year-in-review presentations, Dr. Greger explains what we can do about the #1 cause of death and disability: our diet.

Curing Painful Diabetic Neuropathy

Curing Painful Diabetic Neuropathy

Diabetics suffering from nerve pain for years are cured within days with a plant-based diet.

Why is Meat a Risk Factor for Diabetes?

Why Is Meat a Risk Factor for Diabetes?

Potential culprits include the trans fat in meat, the saturated fat, cholesterol, heme iron, advanced glycation end products (glycotoxins), animal protein (especially leucine), zoonotic viruses, and industrial pollutants that accumulate up the food chain.

Food as Medicine

Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet

Dr. Greger has scoured the world’s scholarly literature on clinical nutrition and developed this new presentation based on the latest in cutting edge research exploring the role diet may play in preventing, arresting, and even reversing some of our most feared causes of death and disability.

milk and butter on a blue background

Why Do Vegan Women Have 5x Fewer Twins?

The hormones naturally found in foods of animal origin may help explain why women who eat conventional diets are five times more likely to give birth to twins than those eating plant-based diets.

Coffee and Artery Function

Coffee and Artery Function

The new dietary guidelines for beverages recommend tea and coffee second only to water in healthfulness, but what about concerns they might impair the function of our endothelium?

Caloric Restriction vs. Plant-Based Diets

Caloric Restriction vs. Plant-Based Diets

What is the best strategy to lower the level of the cancer-promoting growth hormone IGF-1?

Alpha Gal and the Lone Star Tick

Alpha-Gal and the Lone Star Tick

Our immune response against a foreign molecule present in animal products may play a role in some allergic, autoimmune, and inflammatory disorders. This reaction is thought to underlie tick bite-triggered meat allergies.

Caloric Restriction vs. Animal Protein Restriction

Caloric Restriction vs. Animal-Protein Restriction

The lifespan extension associated with dietary restriction may be due less to a reduction in calories, and more to a reduction in animal protein (particularly the amino acid leucine, which may accelerate aging via the enzyme TOR).

Protein, Puberty, and Pollutants

The early onset of puberty in girls associated with animal protein consumption may be due to endocrine-disrupting chemical pollutants in the meat supply.

Clonal Deletion Theory of Immunity

Plant-based diets may be protective against multiple sclerosis because IGF-1 can prevent our immune system from eliminating autoimmune cells.

Changing Protein Recommendations?

A research group is suggesting that human protein requirements may have been underestimated.

Plant-based Bodybuilding

Plant-Based Bodybuilding

Lower levels of the cancer-promoting growth hormone IGF-1 in those eating vegan is not expected to affect their accumulation of muscle mass.

How Much Soy Is Too Much?

To maintain the low IGF-1 levels associated with a plant-based diet, one should probably eat no more than 3-5 servings of soy foods a day.

Too Much Soy May Neutralize Benefits

Vegans consuming 7 to 18 servings of soy foods a day may end up with circulating IGF-1 levels comparable to those who eat meat.

Animalistic Plant Proteins

Animalistic Plant Proteins

While animal proteins increase levels of the cancer-promoting growth hormone IGF-1, and most plant proteins bring levels down, “high quality” plant proteins, such as soy, may not significantly affect levels in either direction. This, however, may depend on the quantity consumed.

Higher Quality May Mean Higher Risk

The reason animal proteins trigger the release of the cancer-promoting growth hormone IGF-1 more than plant proteins may be because the relative ratios of amino acids in animal proteins more closely resembles our own.

Protein Inatke and IGF-1 Production

Protein Intake and IGF-1 Production

Animal protein consumption triggers the release of the cancer-promoting growth hormone IGF-1.

variety of fruits and vegetables

How Plant-Based to Lower IGF-1?

Those eating vegan had significantly lower IGF-1 levels and higher IGF-binding proteins than those just eating vegetarian, suggesting that the more plant-based one’s diet becomes, the lower one’s risk of fueling growth hormone-dependent cancer growth.

The Answer to the Pritikin Puzzle

The Answer to the Pritikin Puzzle

Lower cancer rates among those eating a plant-based diet may be a result of reduced blood levels of IGF-1, and enhanced production of IGF-1 binding protein.

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