Would possibly animal protein-induced will increase within the cancer-promoting development hormone IGF-1 assist promote mind artery integrity?
In 2014, a examine on stroke threat and dietary protein found that larger consumption was related to decrease stroke threat and, additional, that the animal protein appeared significantly protecting. Would possibly that assist clarify why, as proven within the graph beneath and at 0:31 in my video Vegetarians and Stroke Risk Factors: Animal Protein?, vegetarians have been just lately found to have a better stroke fee than meat eaters?
Animal protein consumption increases the degrees of a cancer-promoting development hormone within the physique often called IGF-1, insulin-like development issue 1, which “accelerates the development of precancerous modifications to invasive lesions.” Excessive blood concentrations are related to elevated dangers of breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate cancers, probably explaining the affiliation between dairy milk consumption and prostate most cancers threat, for instance. Nonetheless, there are additionally IGF-1 receptors on blood vessels, so maybe IGF-1 promotes most cancers and mind artery integrity.
Individuals who have strokes seem to have decrease blood ranges of IGF-1, but it surely might simply be a consequence of the stroke relatively than the trigger. There weren’t any potential research over time till 2017 when researchers found that, certainly, increased IGF-1 ranges have been linked to a decrease threat of stroke—however is it trigger and impact? In mice, the reply appears to be sure, and in a petri dish, IGF-1 seems to boost the manufacturing of elastin, a stretchy protein that helps preserve our arteries elastic. As you possibly can see within the graph beneath and at 1:41 in my video, increased IGF-1 ranges are associated with much less artery stiffness, however folks with acromegaly, like Andre the Large, these with extreme ranges of development hormones like IGF-1, don’t appear to have decrease stroke charges, and a more moderen examine of dietary protein consumption and threat of stroke that looked at a dozen research of greater than half 1,000,000 folks (compared to solely seven research with 1 / 4 million within the earlier evaluation), found no affiliation between dietary protein consumption and the chance of stroke. If something, dietary plant protein consumption might lower the chance of stroke.
Nonetheless, these with hypertension who have low IGF-1 ranges do look like at elevated threat of creating atherosclerosis, which is the thickening of the artery partitions main as much as the mind, however no such affiliation was present in folks with regular blood strain. So, there might be “a cautionary lesson for vegans” right here. Sure, a complete meals, plant-based food plan “can down-regulate IGF-1 exercise” and will sluggish the human getting older course of, to not point out scale back the chance of a number of the frequent cancers that plague the Western world. However, “maybe the ‘take-home’ lesson needs to be that individuals who undertake to down-regulate IGF-1 exercise [by cutting down on animal protein intake] as a pro-longevity measure ought to take explicit care to manage their blood strain and protect their cerebrovascular well being [the health of the arteries in their brain] – particularly, they need to preserve salt consumption comparatively low whereas insuring an ample consumption of potassium” to maintain their blood pressures down. So, meaning avoiding processed meals and avoiding added salt, and, by way of potassium-rich meals, eating beans, candy potatoes, and dark-green leafy greens.
Would possibly this clarify the upper stroke threat discovered amongst vegetarians? No—as a result of dairy and egg whites are animal proteins, too. Solely vegans have decrease IGF-1 ranges in each women and men, so low ranges of IGF-1 can’t explain why increased charges of stroke have been present in vegetarians. Then what’s it? I feel the most effective clarification for the thriller is one thing referred to as homocysteine, which I cowl subsequent.
For those who aren’t accustomed to IGF-1, my movies Flashback Friday: Animal Protein Compared to Cigarette Smoking and How Not to Die from Cancer are good primers.
Past consuming a plant-based food plan, how else can we decrease our blood strain? Try the chapter on hypertension in my ebook How Not to Die at your native public library.
That is the eighth video in a 12-part sequence on vegetarians’ stroke threat. For those who missed any of the earlier ones, take a look at the associated posts beneath.
Arising, we flip to what I feel is definitely occurring:
