Question: from Judith,

I have been taking four capsules a day, two in the morning and two at night of Jarrow's hyaluronic acid for arthritis. It seems to help but I also read conflicting information about whether it might promote breast or other cancers. I noted that you thought it ineffective but harmless orally. Please comment as I am confused.

Answer: from Joanna (Medical Nutritionist for Xtend-Life)

I could not find the comment on our site that you reference as to hyaluronic acid being "ineffective but harmless orally". This is not essential, but I wanted to see in what context this previous response was given so that I could comment on it.

There are various tablets on the market that contain hyaluronic acid as it is a cheap ingredient. For joint use there is some evidence of its use and help, although results have varied from person to person.

There is relative insufficient reliable information about the safety or use of oral hyaluronic acid. However, when used topically or parenterally some effect has been seen.

Because of this I would use this as a short-term help only for your condition, and concentrate more on a longer-term formulation - rather than a single ingredient, which is always limited - for more indepth help (such as our Arthrit-Eze protocol, which can be seen under Arthritis on our Health Conditions area, for example).

Regarding cancer promotion. Hyaluronic acid occurs naturally in our skin at all times. If it caused cancer we would all have cancer as it is abundant in our skin. Studies have shown that it is the enzyme that breaks down hyaluronic acid (HA), hyaluronidase, that is the culprit in any potential spread of cancer.

Hyaluronidase is a hyaluronic acid-degrading endoglycosidase that is present in many toxins and its levels are elevated in cancer. Increased concentration of hyaluronidase correlates with tumour progression and is a marker for grades of cancer.

So, the outcome of this enzyme on huraluronic acid is that degraded HA then facilitates the spread of cancer.

I.E: It is not hyaluronic acid, but degraded hyaluronic acid that facilitates cancer (remember that this is only potentially and theoretically). HA itself however is reparative, and has been used in studies to help reduce the spread of tumours.