Humana IGF and Nutrition in Health and Disease

A benchmark review on how specific nutrients or adverse nutritional states impact the components of the IGF (Insulin-like Growth Factor) system and affect human health and disease. The authors describe the fundamentals of the IGF system, explain its basic mechanisms of action, illuminate its essential role in physical development across the life span, and highlight the link between normal 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. Review From the reviews: "This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the IGF system with respect to its role in nutritional health, development, and certain disease states...a comprehensive text that can be used by both the clinical and basic research community, and it emphasizes the IGF system with regard to overall nutritional health." - Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal "This is a collection of 18 chapters on the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system and nutrition, each worthy of attention. The book is thoughtfully organized into five major sections. … In summary, this is a significant book that carefully explores and shapes a better understanding of nutrition in health and disease. It is an excellent resource, deserving of a place at all reference libraries and for everyone involved with nutrition care and research." (James C. M. Chan, Pediatric Nephrology, April, 2006) From the Back Cover 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.