Shark Cartilage Information

Shark Cartilage Label Warning: Seagate Shark Cartilage labels include a paragraph stating, “If you are pregnant, nursing a baby, recovering from recent surgery, or have a heart or circulatory condition, seek the advice of a health care professional before using this product.” This warning really is only applicable for a few people. However, we prefer to err on the side of safety.

Shark Cartilage Label Warning Explanation – Seagate Shark Cartilage labels include a paragraph stating, “If you are pregnant, nursing a baby, recovering from recent surgery, or have a heart or circulatory condition, seek the advice of a health care professional before using this product.” The reason that we place this warning is the result Folkman’s study that indicated the possible retardation of blood vessel growth from shark cartilage. However, it is important to note that this effect occurred in the surrounding tissues that were directly injected with a shark cartilage solution. In actual practice, no one is actually injecting shark cartilage into their body, but rather is taking this product orally. By “recent surgery”, we refer to the period of approx. one month following a major surgery, when blood vessels are typically still undergoing repair. By “heart or circulatory condition”, we do not refer to hemorrhoids, varicose veins, or even high blood pressure, but rather serious conditions involving the repair of blood vessels. We are being perhaps overly conservative in even mentioning this, because in all the years we have been processing and selling this product, we have never seen nor heard of a single case in the industry where shark cartilage interfered with the growth or regeneration of blood vessels. However, good manufacturing practices dictate that we still maintain this warning in the possible though unlikely event that such a side effect is possible.

Shark Cartilage Use: We suggest taking 3 capsules 3 times per day during the first 10-14 days of use. This usage level can then be varied as required after the initial 2-week period. Normally, our customers are able to go off this product after 5 to 6 months. Shark cartilage can be taken with or between meals.

SHARK CARTILAGE RESEARCH – In 1980, a study1 was published by several doctors, including Judah Folkman and Robert Langer from Harvard Medical School and other Boston hospitals, which indicated the anti-angiogenesis effect of using shark cartilage on tumors in different animals. Angiogenesis is the term which describes the rapid proliferation of blood vessels in the area surrounding a tumor, induced by hormone secretions from the tumor into the surrounding tissue area. This rapid growth of blood vessels is necessary to sustain the tumor’s growth with an ever-increasing supply of food, water and oxygen from the blood. The doctors injected shark cartilage along with other substances into cancerous tumors, in their effort to discover a cure for cancer. What they found was that the tumor itself didn’t die, but the blood vessels surrounding the tumor were shrinking. In a later publication2, Dr. Langer continued to look for this mysterious “factor” contained in shark cartilage which was contributing to the inhibition of blood vessel growth near solid tumors.

An even more interesting application is derived from the research of Dr. Salvatore Albani3, at U.C.S.D. Medical School, who has been searching for a cure to rheumatoid arthritis. His theory is that rheumatoid arthritis is the result of an auto-immune malfunction in the body. As a result of the irritation of a joint by arthritis, the cells in that joint secrete a peptide, a simple protein, into the surrounding tissue area. This peptide happens to be almost identical in structure to the E. Coli bacteria, also a simple protein. In people predisposed to having rheumatoid arthritis, the body mistakenly perceives that this peptide is an E. Coli infection. Reacting to this “perceived” bacteria, the body produces a set of T-cells or antibodies in the thymus gland which proceed to the site where this “infection” is taking place – the area in and surrounding the irritated joint, the area of greatest concentration of this peptide. However, these T-cells attack not only this peptide, but also attack the cells in the joint, further irritating and breaking down the cells in the joint. This creates an ever-worsening spiral of joint irritation and the mistaken auto-immune response, leading to the slow destruction of the joint by the body’s own immune system. The research at U.C.S.D. has been looking for a naturally occurring protein in a food product, which after digestion (which reduces the protein into its component peptides), would be similar in structure to the peptide secreted by the irritated joint. It is believed that shark cartilage might yield this specific peptide. The effect that they are looking for is to have such peptides enter the blood stream as a food, and circulate throughout the body, effectively diverting this auto-immune response away from the affected joint, thereby interrupting this cycle.

1Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol 77, No. 7 pp 4331-35.
2Science . Vol 221, pp. 1185-87.
3Lecture Series sponsored by San Diego Arthritis Foundation; 1995-96

Enjoy Michelle's Flowers and Landscape Art

Production and animation of Seagate's television commercials

9484 Chesapeake Dr. Suite 802 San Diego, CA 92123