Are diet-prostate cancer associations mediated by the IGF axis? A cross-sectional analysis of diet, IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in healthy middle-aged men

Abstract

We examined the association of diet with insulin-like growth factors (IGF) in 344 disease-free men. Raised levels of IGF-1 and/or its molar ratio with IGFBP-3 were associated with higher intakes of milk, dairy products, calcium, carbohydrate and polyunsaturated fat; lower levels with high vegetable consumption, particularly tomatoes. These patterns support the possibility that IGFs may mediate some diet-cancer associations. © 2003 Cancer Research UK.