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“Men die with prostate cancer, not of it” was an
old medical axiom. Men live longer now, mainly owing to improvements
in diet, nutrition, exercise, lifestyle, surgery and medication,
so the slowly-developing and spreading cancer of the prostate
has risen in importance as a terminal disease. A brisk interest
has arisen in precursors, markers, and corollaries of the
malignancy such as benign hypertrophy and prostate specific
antigen (PSA), and of harm to kidney and bladder function.
The glandular disturbances of body-builders and extreme athletes
seem to invite trouble. For women a parallel is glimpsed in
the precancerous overgrowths of fibroids.
A study associated with Cancer Research’s European Prospective
Investigation into Cancer (EPIC) now finds that levels of
insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) in serum were 9% lower
in strictly vegetarian men than in meat-eaters and lacto-ovo-vegetarian
males; moreover, the full-blooded veggies had higher levels
of testosterone than the others, but this difference was set
off by higher concentrations of sex-hormone binding globulin;
there were no differences among the diet groups in free testosterone,
androstanediol glucuronide, or luteinizing hormone (British
Journal of Cancer 2000, 83 (1), 95 to 97).
The results suggest that strict veggies, with their relatively
low IGF1 levels might enjoy a reduced risk of cancer of the
prostate. Earlier surveys have descried no significantly lowered
mortality rates due to prostatics cancer in “vegetarians”
against non-vegetarians, but these subjects were mainly lacto-ovos,
which in many respects differ little from omnivores, and we
are only just beginning to tease out the differences between
true human veggies and the demis and semis and cheesytarians.
In April this year - Bowel Cancer Awareness Month - the British
Journal of Cancer published a review by Professor Carlo La
Vecchia from the Institute of Pharmocological Research in
Milan that indicated that taking the oral contraceptive pill
(in versions in use between 1960 and 1980) could lower the
risk for women of cancer of the bowel by as much as 18%. Bowel
cancer kills 46 people every day in the UK. It seems possible
that the estrogen acts by lowering levels of IGF1.
The dairy industry has striven to extricate the fats in cow
milk and its derivatives from human health. However, milk
is more water than fat and this part of the milk contains
proteins of biochemical significance, particularly for a fast-growing
animal such as a calf, but probably too powerful for a human
baby. The calf is delivered ready to stand; that feat takes
the baby many months. These proteins include IGF1, factors
in casein and allergens with likely adverse factors for babies,
especially if they penetrate the immature or inflamed gut.
As the dairy industry’s troubles mount and as stimulants
such as the recombinant bovine somatotropin (BST) are resorted
to, the biochemistry of these factors in full milk, cheese,
whey, cream, butter, and buttermilk, with a range of properties
will engage more attention. For grownups who are not actually
wasting an excess of growth factors may increase the risk
of malignant proliferation.
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