"Animal Protein Compared to Cigarette Smoking"
Only about 1 in 10,000 people
make it to be a 100 years old.
What’s their secret?
Well, in 1993 a major breakthrough
in longevity research was published;
a single genetic mutation
that double the lifespan of a tiny roundworm.
Instead of all being dead by 30 days,
the mutants lived 60 days or longer.
This lifespan extension was the largest
yet reported in any organism.
This Methuselah worm medical marvel
is the equivalent of producing a healthy 200-year-old human,
all because of a single mutation?
That shouldn’t happen -
I mean presumably aging is caused by multiple processes, many genes—
how could just knocking out one gene double the lifespan?
What is this aging gene, anyway?
This gene that so speeds up aging
that if it’s knocked out the animals live twice as long?
It’s been called the Grim Reaper gene.
What is it?
It’s the worm equivalent of the human IGF-1 receptor.
And mutations of that same receptor in humans
may help explain why some people
live to be a hundred and other people don’t.
So is it just the luck of the draw
whether we got good genes or bad?
No, we can turn on and off the expression of these genes
depending on what we eat.
Three years ago, I profiled a remarkable series of experiments
about IGF-1, insulin-like growth factor 1,
this cancer-promoting growth hormone
released in excess amounts by our liver
when we eat animal protein.
So men and women who don’t eat meat, egg whites, or dairy proteins
have significantly lower levels
circulating within their bodies.
Switching people to a plant-based diet
can significantly lower IGF-1 levels within just 11 days,
markedly improving the ability of women’s bloodstreams
to suppress breast cancer growth
and then kill breast cancer cells off.
Similarly the blood serum of men on plant-based diets
suppresses prostate cancer cell growth
about eight times better
than before they changed their diet.
This dramatic improvement in cancer defenses
is, however, abolished if you add back just
the amount IGF-1 banished from their systems
because they are eating and living healthier.
This is one way to explain the low rates of cancer
among plant-based populations:
the drop in animal protein intake
leads to a drop in IGF-1,
which leads to a drop in cancer growth,
an effect so powerful
Dr. Ornish and colleagues appeared to able to reverse the progression
of early stage prostate cancer without chemo, surgery, or radiation;
just a plant-based diet and other healthy lifestyle changes.
Now when we’re kids we need growth hormones to grow.
There’s a rare genetic defect
that causes severe IGF-1 deficiency,
leading to a type of dwarfism,
but also apparently makes you effectively cancer proof.
Not a single death from cancer
in about 100 individuals with IGF-1 deficiency.
How about 200 individuals?
None developed cancer.
See most malignant tumors are covered in IGF-1 receptors,
but if there’s no IGF-1 around,
then they may not be able to grow and spread.
This may help explain why those eating low carb diets
appear to cut their lives short,
but not just any low carb diets—
specifically those based on animal sources,
whereas vegetable based low carb diets
were associated with a lower risk of death.
But look, low carb diets are high in animal fat
as well as animal protein.
So how do we know it wasn’t the saturated animal fat
that was killing people off
and had nothing to do with the protein?
What we need is a study that just follows a few thousand people
and their protein intakes for 20 years or so
and just see who lives longest, who gets cancer, who doesn’t.
But there’s never been a study like that…
until now.
6,000 men and women over age 50 from across the U.S.
were followed for 18 years
and those under age 65 with high protein intakes
had a 75% increase in overall mortality
and a 4-fold increase in the risk of dying from cancer.
But not all proteins.
These associations were either abolished or attenuated
if the proteins were plant derived,
which all make sense given the higher IGF-1 levels
among those eating lots of protein.
The sponsoring university sent out a press release
with a memorable opening line “That chicken wing you’re eating
could be as deadly as a cigarette,”
explaining that eating a diet rich in animal proteins
during middle age makes you four times more likely
to die from cancer than someone with a low-protein diet —
a mortality risk factor comparable to smoking cigarettes.
And when they say low protein diet,
what they actually mean is just getting
the recommended amount of protein.
"Almost everyone is going to have a cancer cell
or pre-cancerous cell in them at some point.
The question is: Does it progress?” said one of the lead researchers.
That may depend on what we eat.
The question is not whether a certain diet
allows you to do well in the short term,
one of the researchers noted,
“but can it help you survive to be 100?”
It wasn’t just more deaths from cancer.
Middle-aged people who eat lots of proteins
from animal sources were found to be more susceptible
to early death in general.
Crucially, the same did not apply to plant proteins like beans,
and it wasn’t the fat, but the animal protein
that appeared to be the culprit.
What was the response to the revelation
that diets high in meat, eggs, and dairy
could be harmful to health as smoking?
Well, one nutrition scientist replied that it was potentially dangerous.
It could damage the effectiveness of important public health messages.
Why? Well, a smoker might think “Hey, why bother quitting smoking
if my cheese and ham sandwich is just as bad for me?'"
It reminds me of a famous Phillip Morris cigarette ad
that tried to downplay the risks by saying,
“ Hey, you think second-hand smoke is bad,
increasing the risk of lung cancer 19%,
well hey, drinking one or two glasses of milk everyday
may be three times as bad—
62% higher increase risk of lung cancer.
Or doubling the risk frequently cooking with oil,
or tripling your risk of heart disease eating non-vegetarian,
or multiplying your risk 6-fold eating lots of meat and dairy."
So, they conclude, "let’s keep some perspective here!"
The risk of cancer from second-hand smoke
may be well below that of other everyday activities.
So, breathe deep.
That’s like saying: "Don't worry about getting stabbed
because getting shot is so much worse."
It's like saying, "If you don't wear seatbelts,
might as well have unprotected sex."
If you go bungie jumping, might as well disconnect
your smoke alarms at home.
Two risks don’t make a right.
Of course you'll note Phillip Morris stopped throwing dairy under the bus
once they purchased Kraft Foods.