 Research on the health benefits of shark cartilage* is both voluminous and conclusive: Shark cartilage can be helpful in the treatment of many chronic and life-threatening disorders. These disorders - cancer, osteo and rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, lupus, eczema, enteritis, and others - have been shown to respond dramatically to orally-administered shark cartilage.
Shark Cartilage and Cancer
Sharks are unique among animals and fish in that "they almost never get cancer1". According to Dr. Carl Luer of Mote Marine Laboramries, one part of the shark's anatomy, its all-cartilage skeleton, appears to be a reason for this near immunity to cancer. A protein in the cartilaginous skeleton has been shown to inhibit the ability of a tumor to generate blood vessels needed to feed it.
Probably the first place to start with this link between sharks and cancer immunity is the work of Dr. Judah Folkman of Children's Hospital of Boston and Harvard University. Dr. Folkman is considered the pioneer in the study of angiogenesis inhibition and its impact on cancer treatment and other manifestations dependent upon new vascularization.
Angiogenesis inhibition can be best defined by dissecting the phrase to its Greek roots: Angio and genesis. Angio is Greek for "blood or lymph vessel" and genesis is Greek for "to originate or create". By adding the word inhibition, we have a descriptive phrase for a compound which prevents or reduces the growth of new blood vessels. As children, angiogenesis is a normal process. In adults, however, with a fully developed set of blood vessels, reactivated angiogenesis can have ominous consequences.
Dr. Folkman has shown that if a tumor mass cannot establish its own blood vessel network, "it stopped growing at a small size of 1 to 2 cubic mm, but resumed rapid growth when vascularization [angiogenesis] was permitted.2" Essentially, if you can prevent angiogenesis, the tumors never get established because they do not receive oxygen or nutrients and cannot allow for the removal of waste product. So, tumors never develop.
 The first real breakthrough in angiogenesis inhibition came through the work of another member of Dr. Folkman's team, Dr. Robert Langer, Ph.D. In an article published in the Journal Science, Dr. Langer, of MIT, found that "shark cartilage contains a substance that strongly inhibits the growth of new blood vessels toward solid tumors, thereby restricting tumor growth3". Dr Langer used tiny pellets of a shark cartilage extract placed next to grafts of tumors in the corneas of rabbits to see whether the growth of blood vessels would be restricted (Figure 1). The blood vessel development in the control (untreated) group is many times higher than in the treated group.
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