In lay terms, what this means is that cartilage apparently reduces the creation of a network of blood vessels around a tumor, and therefore prevents it from growing or spreading. Potential consumers, however, should be aware that the effectiveness of shark cartilage has not been demonstrated scientifically. Also, he was a vice-president at W.R. Grace, which is an important defendant in many asbestos cancer lawsuits. The FDA sought to stop them from marketing shark cartilage with claims that it is an effective cancer therapy.
Cartilage is a type of tissue found in the skeleton.
Interestingly, the skeletons of sharks are almost entirely cartiliginous and, as far as we know, the cancer rate in sharks for certain types of tumors appears to be low. Shark and bovine cartilage, and possibly other types, contain angiogenic inhibitors - compounds that halt the creation of blood vessels. This combination of facts means that shark and other types of cartilage are of considerable interest to medical researchers. However there is, at this time, no clinical evidence that swallowing powdered shark cartilage is an effective cancer treatment or that it inhibits angiogenesis. Although there are several antiangiogenesis clinical trials in progress they are all in very early stages of testing.