I have received a bunch of emails asking about shark cartilage in the prevention of cancer.  In all honesty, before receiving your emails, I had never even heard of this!  Apparently, the popular theory is that sharks don’t get cancer, so eating shark and taking supplements must prevent/cure cancer.  That is the theory, and it has been tested numerous times with pretty poor results.

It has been shown, in a couple of small studies that shark cartilage inhibits angiogenesis, in that it prohibits the formation of new blood vessels that tumors need to grow.  All of the studies that were double blinded (people didn’t know if they were getting shark cartilage or placebo and the scientists leading the tests didn’t know either until after the study was finished) showed basically NO difference in the progression of cancer or patients outcomes.  They studied the effects on all various types of cancer, lung, liver, breast, testicular, etc.  Actually, due to the high amount of calcium in the cartilage, people had really high calcium levels (like to a bad point), abdominal cramping, nausea, diarrhea, bloating, constipation, and exceptional weakness when they took these supplements.

So, whilst I appreciate that people are trying to “think outside the box” in the prevention and treatment of cancer, this is one theory that, ironically, doesn’t hold much water!  Keep living healthy, and science will find a way to kick cancers butt….it just unfortunately is taking more time than we would hope!

Yours in Good Health
B