Cancer risk, shorter life span may follow high protein diets.

[DeerDeer]

I wish I had more info on what they meant by HIGH protein as well as types/sources of protein they made the correlation with.

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Cancer risk, shorter life span may follow high protein diets. HealthDay, (12/7, Reinberg) reports that the risk of cancer is increased by high-protein diets, while low-protein diets have the opposite effect. The study, published in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, shows that "lean people on a long-term, low-protein, low-calorie diet or who participate in regular endurance exercise training have lower levels of plasma growth factors and certain hormones such as insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). These substances have been linked to an increased cancer risk, especially premenopausal breast cancer, prostate cancer and certain types of colon cancer." The lead author of the study, Dr. Luigi Fontana, an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, said, "There are certain cancers that are linked with levels of IGF-1, which is an important growth factor that stimulates the proliferation of cells." Fontana believes "that if people ate more whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables and far fewer animal products, they would be healthier. He recommends fish, low-fat dairy products and, occasionally, some red meat. This type of diet reduces total calories and the amount of protein consumed, and it also might result in lower levels of IGF-1."
Medpage Today (12/7, Phend) also reports on the study, cautioning "patients that a low-protein diet may not be right for everyone, particularly since it may reduce bone mass and strength in older individuals with already low serum IGF-1 concentrations."

 

[not_big_enuf]

Ridiculous. We have been largely meat eaters since the beginning of time. Look back in the 50s, 60s, etc, meat was a staple in every meal. Early hunter/gatherers survived on meat they hunted. I guess they were dying of cancer back then...

Cancer has been on the rise since we've started using a plethora of pesticides, and growth factors on our crops, animals, and whatever we put into our body. Factor in the synthetic crap we put into our bodies and these are the real factors for higher cancer rates.

B
U
N
K

 

[concretetofists]

its only 10:30am and ive already consumed 60 grams of protein! OH NOES!!!!!!!!

 

[not_big_enuf]

its only 10:30am and ive already consumed 60 grams of protein! OH NOES!!!!!!!!

You might as well find the nearest bathtub, fill it up with water, grab a toaster, plug it in, and jump in... you're doomed!

 

[concretetofists]

You might as well find the nearest bathtub, fill it up with water, grab a toaster, plug it in, and jump in... you're doomed!

that sucks.

 

[bioman]

I agree, mostly bunk. The study generalizes waaaay too many things.

First of all, it's already known that low-calorie diets in general promote longer lifespans due to the fact that hypocaloric conditions promote the production of certain enzymes that enhance insulin sensitivity which has a huge array of benefits. Recent work on Resveratrol shows that this compount can mimic these same conditions and spur the production of these same enzymes without living like a starving hippy. (as I like to say..are you really living longer, or does it just SEEM longer, lol)

We see again and again and again researchers trying to make the correlation between HGH, IGF-1 and cancer and this is terribly misleading IMO. These endogenous hormones do not cause cancer. They do not cause cells to mutate. They will feed the growth of certain types of cancer once you get them..but that's not IGF-1's fault, it's the fault of all the other junk you put into your body over your entire life.

One can still moderate spikes in Insulin, IGF and HGH by simply avoiding all high GI carbs...and that's ideally what most BBers do. It would be interesting to see what the rates of cancer are in the BB and elite athelete population. Probably pretty low because they mostly die of HCM, lol.