#常观世音微语录#
“Animal Protein Compared to Cigarette”
In 1993, a major breakthrough in longevity research was published: a single genetic mutation that doubled the lifespan of a tiny roundworm. It’s been called the Grim Reaper gene. It’s the worm equivalent of the human IGF-1 receptor.
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.
Dr. Dean Ornish and colleagues appeared to be able to reverse the progression of prostate cancer without chemo, surgery, or radiation—just a plant-based diet, and other healthy lifestyle changes.
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. 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.
“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.
It wasn’t just more deaths from cancer, middle-aged people who eat lots of protein 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.
“动物蛋白与吸烟的对比”
研究人员在1993年发表了一项关于长寿研究的重大突破：一个使蛔虫寿命延长了一倍的基因突变。这个基因被称为“死神基因”。这条蠕虫就相当于人类体内的IGF-1受体。
那么，我们所遗传到的基因是好是坏，是不是就像抽签一样靠运气呢？不，我们可以通过我们所摄入的食物，来开启或关闭这些基因表达。三年前，我简述了一系列很棒的关于IGF-1(胰岛素样生长因子1)的实验。IGF-1是一种促癌生长激素，当我们摄入动物蛋白的时候，我们的肝脏会释放出过量的IGF-1。因此，不吃肉、蛋清或乳蛋白的男性和女性，他们体内的循环IGF-1水平明显较低。
仅仅让人们转成全素饮食11天，就可以大幅降低他们体内的IGF-1水平，显著提高女性血液抑制乳腺癌生长的能力，进而杀死乳腺癌细胞。同样，吃全素以后的男性血清，抑制前列腺癌细胞生长方面的能力提高了8倍左右。
Dean Ornish博士和他的同事们似乎能够在无需化疗、手术或放疗的情况下，逆转前列腺癌的进一步发展——只需将饮食方式变为全素，并做一些生活方式上的健康改变。
“几乎每个人在某个时候，身体里都会有癌细胞或癌前细胞。问题是：这个癌细胞或者癌前细胞会进一步发展吗？” 其中一位首席研究员说到。那可能取决于我们所吃的食物了。
大多数的恶性肿瘤都布满了IGF-1受体。但是如果肿瘤的周围没有IGF-1的话，那肿瘤可能就不能生长和扩散了。对中年人来说，吃富含动物蛋白膳食而死于癌症的可能性，是吃低蛋白膳食者的4倍——这个死亡风险因素与吸烟不相上下。
总的来说，摄入大量动物蛋白的中年人并不仅仅更容易患癌症，而且更容易早逝。关键是，如果他们摄取的是诸如豆类的植物性蛋白话，那结果就不会如此了。人类死因的罪魁祸首似乎不是饱和脂肪，而是动物蛋白。