IGF-1, Milk and Cancer

Horizon Organic Milk newsletters and other marketing materials urge parents to purchase higher-priced organic milk to protect the health of their children. Horizon claims that “several countries have banned the use of these hormones because of concern about a possible link between cows treated with rBGH and a higher production of insulin growth factor-1, a protein that is believed to be linked to higher instances of certain cancers.” Yet the study Horizon cites linking IGF-1 to cancer has nothing to do with IGF-1 and milk – in fact, the study author Dr. Herbert Yu of Yale University of Medicine publicly states that his research does not even mention milk or dairy products and that Horizon’s use in their marketing is “improper.”