In our previous Column, we presented the ground breaking work of Colin T. Campbell Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Nutrition Chemistry at Cornell University in New York, USA, whose scientific research proved that animal-based diets promote cancer. 

Gaining international recognition, he was next invited to head a collaborative study between Cornell University, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Oxford University. 

In the so-called ‘China Study’, they compared diet and lifestyle with incidence of cancer and non-communicable diseases in 65 Chinese counties (130 villages) covering 6500 persons. The study confirmed the direct relationship between the amount of animal protein consumed and the incidence of cancer. Scientists then doubled down to find out what the mechanism is that makes an animal-based diet promote cancer. More than 20 years ago that mechanism was identified: the culprit is a growth hormone that our body makes, going by the long name of Insulin-like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1).

IGF-1 is one of the body’s most important growth promoters during infancy and childhood, but later in life, elevated IGF-1 levels accelerate the aging process, promoting dementia and the growth and spread of cancer cells. It so happens that when we eat animal-based foods the blood levels of IGF-1 increase. 

They found, for example, that people with higher than normal IGF-1 blood levels had more than 5 times the risk of advanced-stage prostate cancer. Under normal conditions, this hormone regulates the way cells reproduce themselves and are programmed for eventual death and removal. Maintaining the normal level of IGF-1 is so critical that the body has a back-up system to keep this growth hormone within normal limits: the liver produces an ‘IGF-1 binding protein’ that latches onto the IGF-1 molecule and makes it inactive. 

However, under unhealthy conditions, when people consume animal products regularly, IGF-1 levels increase, which leads to an increasing birth and growth of new cells, while simultaneously inhibiting the removal of old cells: both of which favour the development of cancer. 

Researchers then followed volunteers, who were fed an animal-based diet and then switched to a plant-based diet. When they measured the blood levels of IGF-1 before and after 11 days on a plant-based diet with exercise, these levels significantly dropped. 

Simultaneously, the IGF-1 binding protein levels significantly rose. That’s one way our body tries to protect itself from cancer—from excessive growth—by releasing a binding protein into the bloodstream to tie up excessive IGF-1. 

A simple dietary change like switching from an animal-based diet to a plant-based one makes one’s bloodstream so inhospitable to cancer, in a matter of days: it takes ‘the wind out of the sails’ of the cancer and stops its progress.  

Exercise alone can drop IGF-1 levels, but you need the plant-based diet to get the IGF-1 levels back to normal. And so, with that combination, about 20 per cent less IGF-1, and 50 per cent more IGF binding protein in the bloodstream – a dramatic cancer cell die-off can be observed after just a few days on a plant-based diet.  

In an earlier Column, I had explained how 11 years ago, when I was diagnosed with cancer of the prostate, I was authoritatively advised that I should have a radical prostatectomy. When I told my urologist that instead I would follow a plant-based diet, I was welcomed with a disapproving look.

Based on what we have explained above; I intuitively did make the right decision! Further, just a few days ago, according to data presented at the recently held American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in California, ‘Plant-based diets reduce prostate cancer progression and the risk for recurrence. 

Men who closely followed a plant-based diet lowered their risk for progression and recurrence of cancer by 52 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively, when compared to those who did not closely followed a plant-based diet. Men over the age of 65 also reduced their risk for prostate cancer recurrence, particularly those who combined healthy diet with exercise’. 

We invite you to visit METI’s Healthy Living Clinic at House No. 51 at Motootua (across from the Kokobanana Restaurant) to become acquainted with METI’s whole food plant based diet and Lifestyle Change program and reap its benefits if you suffer from cancer or a chronic disease. You can also purchase METI’s WFPB Cookbook with 50 recipes written in English and Samoan. You can contact us at 30550.