Using tests to monitor cancer
If you take your prostate health seriously and have been told that you have a normal PSA then I would insist your doctor order the IGF-1 test.
Unfortunately, most men are under the assumption that a PSA of 4 dl/ml gives them a green light of being free of prostate cancer.
It is a fact 15% or over one in six men with a PSA of less than 4 already have prostate cancer.
If your PSA is between 4 and 10 dl/ml, you have a 25% or one in four chance of having prostate cancer.
There are over 1/2 a million new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed every year in Europe. The UK has the 17th highest occurrence. Worldwide, more than 1.11 million men were estimated to have been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, with incidence rates varying across the world. Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in U.K. men.
As I mentioned before don't settle on the false assumption that you are safe just because your doctor has told you that your PSA is within the normal range.
Studies through Harvard, Johns Hopkins and UCLA have shown that Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) is a peptide that controls the action of growth hormones in the body.
If IGF-1 is elevated, men were four times as likely to develop prostate cancer.
Somatomedin C (IGF1) is a hormone which regulates cellular growth and reproduction. In children this high levels are a good thing but in adults it is not so positive. High IGF1 is associates with a greater cancer risk and a more rapid aging process.
By doing an IGF1 test (LINK) you can access and evaluate growth abnormalities in the body. By lowering your IGF1 levels you can actually slow down the aging process!
And this test is so powerful that when the men developed prostate cancers seven years later, the PSA had just started to turn positive.
So this test, IGF-1, can give you advance warning 7 years earlier than the relied on PSA.
Lycopene is one of the most powerful inhibitors of the IGF-1
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So you now may be asking what can you do if your IGF-1 is elevated?
The answer is begin taking the nutritional supplement, lycopene and or eating a lot of cooked tomatoes.
Lycopene is one of the most powerful inhibitors of the IGF-1.
This potent nutrient not only effectively controls IGF-1 but has been shown to protect and secure the normal communication between cells which may have been damaged by environmental chemicals like pesticides. When this communication is effected, the cells have the potential to grow out of control leading to an increase risk of cancer.
So the take away for today's short message is to request that your doctor order an IGF-1 in the event your PSA comes back normal. If you Doctor wont process the test then please contact me in clinic and we can process these bloods in clinic.
Again don't have the false confidence everything is ok with your prostate just because you have a normal PSA.
Paul Foley Nutritional Therapist Dip Nut CNM, mBANT, mCNH
Phone; 0759 793 6899 Email; paul@pfoleyclinic.com Web; www.pfoleyclinic.com
This was adapted and edited with compliments from Functional Medicine University www.FunctionalMedicineUniversity.com. Paul is currently sudying functional medicine with the university.
References:
Savvani A, Petraki C, Msaouel P, Diamanti E, Xoxakos I, Koutsilieris M.,IGF-IEc Expression Is Associated with Advanced Clinical and Pathological Stage of Prostate Cancer., Anticancer Res. 2013 Jun;33(6):2441-5. Wolk A, Mantzoros CS, Andersson SO, Bergström R, Signorello LB, Lagiou P, Adami HO, Trichopoulos D., Insulin-like growth factor 1 and prostate cancer risk: a population-based, case-control study. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1998 Jun 17;90(12):911-5. Woodson K, Tangrea JA, Pollak M, Copeland TD, Taylor PR, Virtamo J, Albanes D. Serum insulin-like growth factor I: tumor marker or etiologic factor? A prospective study of prostate cancer among Finnish men. Cancer Res. 2003 Jul 15;63(14):3991-4. Walfisch S, Walfisch Y, Kirilov E, Linde N, Mnitentag H, Agbaria R, Sharoni Y, Levy J. Tomato lycopene extract supplementation decreases insulin-like growth factor-I levels in colon cancer patients. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2007 Aug;16(4):298-303. Levy J, et al, Lycopene is a more potent inhibitor of human cancer cell proliferation that either a-carotene or b-carotene, Nutr Cancer, 24:257-66, 1995 Karas M, Amir H, Fishman D, Danilenko M, Segal S, Nahum A, Koifmann A, Giat Y, Levy J, Sharoni Y. Lycopene interferes with cell cycle progression and insulin-like growth factor I signaling in mammary cancer cells. Nutr Cancer. 2000;36(1):101-11.