IGF and Nutrition in Health and Disease

From birth to death, the insulin-like growth factors (IGF) -a system of proteins, binding proteins, and cell receptors that are widely expressed in all tissues-plays critical roles in metabolism, normal growth and development, and numerous acute and chronic diseases. The IGF system is fundamentally related to growth hormone and insulin, but also nutritional state. In IGF and Nutrition in Health and Disease, leading researchers and physicians from diverse disciplines comprehensively review for the first time how specific nutrients or adverse nutritional states impact gene expression, circulating concentrations, and bioactivity of the IGF proteins. The authors describe the fundamentals of the IGF system, explain its basic mechanisms of action, and examine the interactions between IGF and nutritional status from the molecular to the population levels. Their discussion of the essential interrelationships between IGF and nutrition, including specific nutrients, in physical development across the life span illuminates the balance between normal growth and development and abnormal cellular growth resulting in tumor formation. They also fully examine the clinical aspects of nutrition and IGF, from pre- and postnatal development through old age, in the maintenance of normal metabolism, bone and muscle health, and their role in pathological states. Special attention is given to critical illness, diabetes, gastrointestinal diseases, kidney failure, endocrine dysfunctions, cardiovascular disease, neurological disorders, and cancer, as well as to their potential for IGF therapy. Comprehensive and authoritative, IGF and Nutrition in Health and Disease is a benchmark review of nutrition and the IGF system in human health and disease, providing a clear understanding of the critical importance of the IGF system and nutritional state to human growth, metabolism, disease development, and therapy.