• CAM-summaries
  • Alternative medical systems
  • Biologically-based practices
    • Boswellia
    • Cannabinoids
    • Essiac
    • Galavit
    • Laetrile
    • Shark cartilage
      • What is shark cartilage?
      • How well does shark cartilage work?
      • Is shark cartilage safe?
      • Shark cartilage conclusions
    • Ukrain
    • Black cohosh
  • Diet & nutrition
  • Energy medicine
  • Manipulative & body-based practices
  • Mind-body medicine
• CAM systematic reviews
• CAM and the law
• Prevalence of CAM use

Shark cartilage

Shark cartilage is a popular anti-cancer remedy, which is obtained from the cartilage of mainly two shark species. Even though some basic research suggests that shark cartilage has anti-angiogenic effects, there is no evidence to show that it is helpful in the treatment of cancer. Eight uncontrolled and three controlled studies were identified from the literature (one of which does not include cancer patients but healthy participants). Final results are still outstanding from four of the trials. Records of adverse effects exist for the oral supplementation of shark cartilage as well as the injection or enema procedure.

This is a summary for shark cartilage. It will provide a definition of the intervention, discuss its proposed mechanism of action, the current evidence regarding its efficacy and safety, the prevalence of its use as well as some of the legal issues regarding the preparation.