How Not to Age: The Scientific Approach to Getting Healthier as You Get Older

by Michael Greger

Those with a tendency to have lower IGF-1 levels are less likely to get cancer in the first place,878 and cancer survivors with lower levels are more likely to survive longer.879 It’s not the original tumor that tends to kill you; it’s the metastases.880 As a growth factor, IGF-1 doesn’t just make tumors grow;881 it helps cancer cells separate from the main tumor, infiltrate surrounding tissues, and invade the bloodstream.882 IGF-1 is what helps breast cancer get into the bone,883 liver, lung, brain, and lymph nodes.884 It’s involved every step of the way, facilitating the transformation of normal cells into cancer cells to begin with, then nurturing them to survive, proliferate, self-renew, grow, migrate, invade, and, finally, stabilize into new tumors. It even helps new tumors hook up their blood supply.885 Centenarians, however, seem to be endowed with a peculiar resistance to cancer.