> So growth hormones designed for babies'
> development cause excess growth in adult tissues, cancer.

" GH [growth hormone] is a unique hormone in that animal forms are inactive
in humans"
www.growth-hormones.net/

However, "drinking milk may raise blood levels of IGF-1 (insulin growth
factor), a cancer-promoting hormone, in women, according to two recent
studies.

The data on more than 1,000 women analyzed in both reports was drawn from
the Nurses' Health Study, the longest national health study conducted in
women. The findings are published in the September 2002 issue of Cancer
Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.

A second study found that IGF-1 levels rose in tandem with women's intake of
protein, especially from milk. There was no association between IGF-1 levels
and vegetable protein intake. Yogurt, cheese, and ice cream also had no
association with the hormone.

"For something like milk intake, it means we have a potential mechanism, but
we do not yet know whether there is a connection between milk intake and
cancer risk" Holmes explained.

OCA note: This article fails to mention that Bovine Growth Hormone, rBGH,
(which is given to US dairy cows to increase their milk production)
substantially raises the levels of IGF-1 in milk. "
www.organicconsumers.org/rbgh/womenigf1.cfm

"Growth hormone--popularized for its anti-aging effects--works by
stimulating IGF-1 production.

Dorman, the co-author of Growth Hormone: Reversing Human Aging Naturally,
also points out that IGF-1 is produced by cells of the immune system, which
may be stimulated in the presence of cancer. "To conclude that IGF-1
stimulates the initiation of prostate cancer goes against everything that we
know about its positive effects on the immune system, which protects against
cancer. To make any substantial conclusions about the effects of these
hormones on prostate cancer, a study should include the use of growth
hormone therapy with prostate cancer patients."

Dr. L. Cass Terry, a long-time researcher of growth hormone notes the
complete lack of cancer incidence in any of his growth hormone treated
patients, "With 800 people over the age of about 40, you would think that
given the normal incidence rate of cancer, some of these people would get
cancer. It could be that there is some sort of protective effect from growth
hormone replacement". Terry and his associate Dr. Edmund Chein report the
results of growth hormone treatment on a man who came to them with prostate
cancer, indicating that without any usual forms of treatment like surgery,
the patients' levels dropped from the 50 to 60 range down to 5 to 7 (men
with prostate cancer usually show levels of PSA in the 10 to 20 range). It
has been hypothesized that these effects come from stimulatory effects on
the immune system that result from growth hormone therapy."
http://hgh.vespro.com/pressrel.html

Rob