Treatment with a shark cartilage product does not prolong life in patients with advanced cancer, nor does it improve quality of life, U.S. researchers reported in the journal Cancer.

Shark cartilage has become a popular alternative medicine for people with advanced cancer. Its use is based on the belief that the reason sharks rarely develop cancer is because of their high cartilage content. Previous reports examining the benefits of shark cartilage as an anti-cancer therapy, however, have yielded mixed results.

In one of the few randomized trials to evaluate this treatment, Dr. Charles L. Loprinzi, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and colleagues compared the outcomes of 89 patients with incurable breast or Colon cancer who were treated with shark cartilage or placebo in addition to standard care and treatment with chemotherapy if appropriate.

The shark cartilage and placebo were supplied as a powder, mixed with water or juice, and consumed three to four times per day.

There was no difference in overall survival between subjects drinking shark cartilage and those drinking placebo, the researchers report in the journal Cancer.

Moreover, there was no evidence that cartilage-treated patients experienced a better quality of life than placebo-treated patients. And only cartilage-treated subjects reported diarrhea, breathing difficulties, low white blood cell count and bone pain.

“There is no evidence to suggest a survival benefit from shark cartilage based on our data,” the investigators conclude. However, it is possible that in the future there may be a drug derived from shark cartilage that has a role in cancer therapy, they add.

SOURCE: Cancer July 1, 2005.