Originally discovered in 1922, shark liver oil extract contains compounds called alkylglycerols, which have also been found in breast milk and in bone marrow. The main source for these compounds is found in sharks around the deep, cold waters of Greenland. When cervical cancer was studied in 1986 there was a 29 percent regression in tumor growth in those patients taking 250 milligrams of alkylglycerols a day. In 1977, Astrid Brohult published a study in Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica reporting how 250 milligrams per day of shark oil given one week prior to radiation therapy for cervical cancer reduced tissue injury, and another study in 1986 reported reduced mortality rates and improved immune response. Alkylglycerols have also been studied as a treatment for childhood leukemia. In the Proceedings of the American Meeting of Cancer Research in 1992 it was reported that leukemia prevents the immune system from properly forming white blood cells, but with this oil they seem to "mature" to a proper form more easily. In a study that I directed working with tumor cultures taken from 9 patients, we tested the sensitivity of tumor cells to the effect of alkylglycerols by themselves and in conjunction with chemotherapeutic agents. We found that in all of the patient cultures tested, alkylglycerols enhanced the effect of chemotherapy. In six patients the cancer cell counts dropped dramatically, with over 90 percent of the tumor eradicated; three others showed increases in sensitivity to the chemotherapy.

Alexander.P., et al. "Reduction of radiation induced shortening of lifespan by a diet augmented with alkoxyglycerol esters and essential fatty acids." Gerontologia (1959)

Brohult, A., et al. "Reduced mortality in cancer patients after administration of alkoxyglycerols." Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand (1986)

Firshein, R., et al. "The Effects of Alkylglycerols on Cellular Growth and Sensitivity to Chemotherapeutic Agents in Tumor Cultures." (Meeting abstract) Proceed Am Soc Clin Oncology (1999)

For more information on nutraceuticals that prevent and reverse disease read "The Nutraceutical Revolution" by Dr. Richard Firshein.

by Dr. Richard Firshein