For over 2000 years, velvet antler has been used to promote health and well-being. The first recorded use of velvet is linked to a Han tomb in Hunan Province. There, a silk scroll was discovered that listed over fifty different diseases for which velvet antler was prescribed (Davidson, 2001).

In 1596, Li Shi-Zhen described in detail the many ways in which antler could be used for improved health. (Kamen & Kamen, 1999; Davidson, 2001). This book remains in use among Chinese herbalists to this day.

Interest in velvet antler has increased over the last decade as modern-day scientific studies have begun to evaluate and substantiate many of these traditional claims. In recent years, more than 250 articles have been published on the use, composition, and biochemical effects of velvet antler (Kaman & Kaman, 1999).

Benefits of Velvet Antler

Velvet antler has been attributed with success in promoting many health benefits. Dr. Betty Kamen (Kamen & Kamen, 1999) reports that velvet antler is being used to encourage:

• arthritis relief
• muscle development
• increased strength
• increased endurance
• red blood cell production to correct anemia
• capacity of blood to carry oxygen
• speedy recovery from injury and stress
• faster recuperation after surgery
• augmented levels of certain anabolic hormones
• enhanced immune activity
• fertility

In a report for the Alberta Elk Association, Dr. John S. Church, game farm manager for Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts, (Church, and date unknown) addressed and substantiated the scientific validity of many traditionally held beliefs:

• antler amplifies the body's metabolism in general
• preserves and renews injured organs and tissues by accelerating healing and recovery from injury
• assists immune and phagocyte functions (anti-inflammation, anti-arthritis, anti-stress)
• moderates the aging process
• has hypertensive-vascular effects
• ameliorates both gonad tropic and thyroid function

Many other studies and reports suggest that the uses of velvet antler are far-reaching. It is interesting to note that many researchers, including Kamen and Church, believe that the components in velvet antler create a synergistic effect: in concert, they provide greater benefits than each individual component would produce were it taken alone. Dr. Betty Kamen said, "There is no single active ingredient that defines the special quality of velvet antler."

Studies have also shown that velvet antler is well tolerated. A New Zealand study on the toxicity of antler (Zhang et al, 2000), concluded that there were no observable toxicological effects in the study subjects. According to Kamen (Kamen & Kamen, 1999), the only known adverse side effect of consuming velvet antler is an upset stomach when antler is taken in very high doses. Symptoms disappeared when the dose was discontinued.

Velvet antler has been consumed by humans for thousands of years. In fact, some researchers, like Dr. Betty Kamen believe that our modern-day diet has created a need for supplements like velvet antler:

"For millions of years humans and human ancestors ate nearly all of the animals they killed. Blood, brains, organ meat, connective tissue, bone marrow, and every body part were all consumed, and consumed raw. It's only in the last 125,000 years that people began cooking food on a regular basis, only in the last 10,000 years that cereal grains like wheat and rice became dominant in our diets, and only in the last century or two that non-meat animal components have been left off the plate. Velvet antler is a way of putting back some of the things we are missing, things that our bodies are designed to thrive on. We cannot bring fresh-killed animals home to our kitchens, even if we wanted to. But we can take antler supplements," (Kamen, 2000).


Velvet Antler and Animals

Although most studies have evaluated the effects of velvet antler upon humans, there have been a number of animal studies too. Dr. Clinton J. Balok, a practicing veterinarian in Gallop, New Mexico has reported success with velvet antler treatments in both dogs and horses. According to Balok, velvet antler has a place in treating a number of osteoarthritic and musculoskeletal conditions in animals (Balok, 2001).

Other researchers reported similar successes with velvet antler at a symposium in Banff, Alberta in April 2000 (Kamen, 2000)