Shark Cartilage 750mg

With shark cartilage, the first question our naturopaths ask in store isn't what it'll do for you. It's whether you're in one of the groups the label warns about.

A good fit if

• You're an adult, you're not pregnant or breastfeeding, and you've had no recent heart attack, surgery or major accident
• You've read the label warning and you're comfortable with it
• You know there's no joint trial behind it, and you're choosing it anyway with that in mind

Check with us first if

• You have surgery or a procedure coming up. The warning names recent surgery, and the human study showed it slowed blood vessel growth into a healing wound.
• You're being treated for a serious illness. A review of side effects from health foods in seriously ill patients named raised blood calcium from shark cartilage products.
• You already take calcium or vitamin D, for the same reason.
• You have a sensitive stomach. Nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, wind and constipation were the most common side effects in trials.
• You take any regular medicine. We found no interaction data for shark cartilage, which isn't the same as there being no interactions.
• If you take prescription medicine, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before you start.

• Whole dried shark cartilage (capsules, tablets, powder). Best known for: The retail product, and what this page is about. Absorption: Not measured for joints. No joint trial exists in our evidence. Typical use: Sold for joints. Carries the mandatory warning and has no daily dose cap.
• Liquid shark cartilage extract. Best known for: The form used in the human blood vessel study. Absorption: Something in it is active by mouth: it slowed new blood vessel growth into a wound sponge in 29 healthy men. Typical use: Shows why the warning exists, rather than a reason to take it.
• AE-941 (Neovastat), a standardised extract. Best known for: The pharmaceutical-grade version, and the best-tested. Absorption: Tested at 30 to 240 mL a day in trials. Typical use: A phase III trial in 379 people found no survival difference (P = 0.73). Not a retail product.
• Shark chondroitin sulfate. Best known for: A purified part of cartilage, not whole cartilage. Absorption: Has its own research, covered on our chondroitin page. Typical use: Joint formulas. The shark cartilage warning doesn't attach to it.
• Chicken sternum cartilage powder. Best known for: The non-shark whole cartilage option. Absorption: Not assessed here. Typical use: Capped at 40 mg a day, oral only, and labelled Adults only.
• Shark liver oil. Best known for: Not cartilage at all. A vitamin A and D oil. Absorption: Not assessed here. Typical use: Carries its own vitamin A caps and birth-defect warning.

Reference values. There aren't any. Shark cartilage isn't a nutrient, so there's no Australian reference value, no deficiency and no daily target.

Typical supplemental range. There's no evidence-based joint dose, because there's no joint trial to take one from. Follow the directions on your product's label. The research doses were far higher than any capsule: one early trial used 1 g per kilo of body weight a day, about 70 g for a 70 kg adult, and 5 of 47 people stopped because they couldn't tolerate it.

Upper level. None is set. Australia's permitted ingredients list (Schedule 1, item 4513) has no maximum daily dose and no limit on how shark cartilage is taken. Instead, it carries a required warning. Chicken sternum cartilage powder, by comparison, is capped at 40 mg a day, for adults only.

Worth knowing. Taking more doesn't make up for missing evidence, and stomach upset increased in the trials that used large amounts. What you need depends on your age, diet and health, so talk to one of our naturopaths.

Food first, where the diet allows it.

• Shark meat and cartilage as food: blue shark is mainly sold in Asian countries as food and as traditional Chinese medicine. No amount of cartilage per serve is recorded
• Calcium, chondroitin and protein content: we couldn't find a source that measures any of them in shark cartilage, so no figure appears here

This list is the part of the page we will not shorten. If any of it applies to you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before starting.

• Children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, and anyone recently through a heart attack, surgery or major accident: mandatory Schedule 1 warning, item 4513.
• Anyone healing a wound or facing surgery: oral extract slowed wound blood vessel growth in healthy men, P < 0.01.
• Seriously ill patients, and anyone already taking calcium or vitamin D: raised blood calcium named in a systematic review of adverse events.
• People with sensitive digestion: GI adverse events in 12 of 49 in one trial; 5 of 47 stopped for GI intolerance in another.
• Anyone on regular medicine: no interaction data located. Refer to a pharmacist.
• If you take prescription medicines, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before starting.