Cartilage

Cartilage is elastic, translucent connective tissue in people and animals. Most cartilage turns into bone as animals mature, but some remains in its original form in places such as the nose, ears, knees, and other joints. Two kinds of cartilage are used as nutritional supplements. Bovine cartilage (also called cow cartilage) comes from cattle, and shark cartilage comes from sharks. (Interestingly, sharks do not have any bones in their bodies, only cartilage.) Cartilage supplements started to be used to treat cancerous tumors when researchers observed that a protein in shark cartilage stopped the growth of new blood vessels. Since tumors get their nourishment from blood, they need to make new networks of blood vessels in order to grow. If shark cartilage could stop the blood vessels from being developed, researchers reasoned, then the cancer couldn't grow and might even shrink. However, studies to prove that the process works in humans have not yet been published. Bovine cartilage has been shown to speed up wound healing and reduce inflammation.

Uses

Here is a partial list of the health problems cartilage helps to relieve.

• Cancer (including melanoma, lung cancers, and prostate, breast, and other cancers)
• Macular degeneration, a disease in which too many blood vessels grow in the eye or grow in the wrong places, eventually resulting in blindness
• Psoriasis, a skin disease that is also worsened by overgrowth of blood vessels
• Bone diseases, such as osteoporosis
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Osteoarthritis
• Inflammation and pain, especially in joints
• Intestinal inflammation

Dietary Sources

Not available; use commercially prepared cartilage for safety.

Other Forms

Cartilage is sold in powdered form or in capsules that contain the powder.

New anticancer drugs are being developed to take advantage of the effective elements in cartilage supplements.

How to Take It

When using shark or bovine cartilage as a dietary supplement, 3 to 4,750 mg capsules per day.

When using shark or bovine cartilage to treat cancer, the normal supplement dose may increase by 3 fold, by mouth before meals. If the unpleasant taste causes nausea or stomach upset, you can take the same amount by enema.

Precautions

• Whether you're using shark or bovine cartilage, buy from reputable manufacturers.
• Check labels carefully and choose only supplements that contain 100 percent pure shark cartilage.
• Check the color of the cartilage supplements before you take them. Any color other than white means the product is not pure and you should not consume it.
• Never give cartilage supplements to children.
• Pregnant women should not take cartilage.
• People who recently had surgery or recently survived a heart attack should not take cartilage supplements.

Cartilage can be used in addition to conventional treatments for cancer and arthritis, but it should not be a substitute for conventional treatments. Check with your health care provider, and if you're taking cartilage on your own, be sure to let your health care provider know what type and how much you're taking.

Cartilage supplements are expensive. Bovine cartilage costs about $160 for a month's supply, while shark cartilage is about $700 for a month's supply.

Possible Interactions

No harmful drug interactions have been reported.

Supporting Research

Balch J, Balch P. Prescription for Nutritional Healing. 2nd ed. Garden City Park, NY: Avery Publishing Group; 1997.

Burton Goldberg Group. Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide. Puyallup, Wash: Future Medicine Publishing, Inc; 1994.

Cassileth BR. The Alternative Medicine Handbook. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company; 1998.

Dupont E, Savard PE, Jourdain C, et al. Antiangiogenic properties of a novel shark cartilage extract: potential role in the treatment of psoriasis. J Cutan Med Surg. 1998;2:146–152.

Horsman MR, Alsner J, Overgaard J. The effect of shark cartilage extracts on the growth and metastatic spread of the SCCVII carcinoma. Acta Oncol. 1998;37:441–445.

Kriegal H, John Prudden and Bovine Tracheal Cartilage Research. Alternative & Complementary Therapies. April/May 1995.

Miller DR, Anderson GT, Stark JJ, Granick JL, Richardson D. Phase I/II trial of the safety and efficacy of shark cartilage in the treatment of advanced cancer. J Clin Oncol. 1998;16:3649–3655.

Moss R. Cancer Therapy. Brooklyn, NY: Equinox Press Inc; 1992.

Murray M. Encyclopedia of Nutritional Supplements. Rocklin, Calif: Prima Publishing; 1996.

Prudden JF. The treatment of human cancer with agents prepared from bovine cartilage. Biol Response Mod. 1985;4:551–584.

Romano CF, Lipton A, Harvey HA, Simmonds MA, Romano PJ, Imboden SL. A phase II study of Catrix-S in solid tumors. J Biol Response Mod. 1985;4:585–589.

Sheu JR, Fu CC, Tsai Ml, Chung WJ. Effect of U-995, a potent shark cartilage-derived angiogenesis inhibitor, on anti-angiogenesis and anti-tumor activities. Anticancer Res. 1998;18:4435–4441.

Copyright © 2000 Integrative Medicine Communications

The publisher does not accept any responsibility for the accuracy of the information or the consequences arising from the application, use, or misuse of any of the information contained herein, including any injury and/or damage to any person or property as a matter of product liability, negligence, or otherwise. No warranty, expressed or implied, is made in regard to the contents of this material. No claims or endorsements are made for any drugs or compounds currently marketed or in investigative use. This material is not intended as a guide to self-medication. The reader is advised to discuss the information provided here with a doctor, pharmacist, nurse, or other authorized healthcare practitioner and to check product information (including package inserts) regarding dosage, precautions, warnings, interactions, and contraindications before administering any drug, herb, or supplement discussed herein.