The American Heart Association has reviewed the available literature on using chelation to treat
arteriosclerotic heart disease. We found no scientific evidence to demonstrate any benefit from this form of
therapy.
Chelation therapy is a recognized treatment for heavy metal (such as lead) poisoning. EDTA, injected into the
blood, will bind the metals and allow them to be removed from the body in the urine. Chelation therapy is not
approved by the FDA to treat coronary artery disease, but some physicians and alternative medicine
practitioners use it for this purpose.
Up to now, there have been no adequate, controlled, published scientific studies using currently approved
scientific methodology to support this therapy for cardiovascular disease. The United States Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American College of Cardiology all agree
with the American Heart Association on this point.
In August 2002, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which are both components of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH), announced that they have launched the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT). This will be the first
large-scale, multicenter study to find out if EDTA chelation therapy is safe and effective for people with
coronary heart disease. This placebo-controlled, double-blind study will involve 2,372 participants age 50
years and older who’ve had a heart attack. They will be representative of the U.S. population. TACT will be
more than 20 times larger than any prior study of chelation therapy — large enough to show if chelation
therapy has mild or moderate benefits.
This study is being done because there is a public health need to conduct a large, well-designed clinical trial
to find out if chelation therapy is safe and effective for treating people with coronary heart disease. If people
use chelation therapy and it doesn’t work, they may be deprived of the well-established benefits from the
many other valuable methods of treating these diseases, such as lifestyle modifications, medications and
surgical procedures.
The trial will take place at about 100 research sites across the United States and will test EDTA chelation
therapy by using the most widely practiced means of administering it. Participants will begin being recruited
in March 2007; patients will receive 30 weekly intravenous treatments, then 10 more treatments given
bimonthly, over a 28-month period. They will also receive high doses of vitamins, which are also often given
with chelation therapy. (The effect of such vitamin doses will also be examined in the trial.) Once recruitment
begins, the study will take about five years to complete. To learn more about this study, visit nccam.nih.gov
and ClinicalTrials.gov.
For more information about chelation therapy, see the American Heart Association online pamphlet,
Questions and Answers About Chelation Therapy.
Oral chelation is the solubilization of a metal salt by forming a chemical complex or sequestering. One way of
doing this is with ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid (EDTA) salts, which have a multidentate spiral ligand form
that can surround metallic and other ions.
The term "oral" simply refers to "mouth." When you take something "orally," you take it into the mouth. Hence,
the word oral chelation. This word can be contrasted with "intravenous" which is a word that means that
something enters your body through a vein rather than through your mouth.
"Intravenous" actions (including IV Chelation) are generally done by a doctor or a nurse who sticks a needle
in a vein, often in your wrist.
The word "chelation" starts with the Greek Root of this word - chele. Chele, in Greek, means the claw part of a
crab or lobster. So, "chele" refers to a grabbing action. When combined, getting "chelation" you simply have a
word that means the "grabbing action" of some substance. Oral chelation is dispelling substances by taking
the preparation orally.
The ingredients which make oral chelation "work" are Cysteine, N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine and EDTA.
EDTA is an important ingredient in oral chelation. It has a chemical and physical characteristic that it is
attracted to heavy particles. It is not quite like a magnetic attraction, but in any event when there is EDTA in
your blood stream, and some heavy particle (such as a particle of lead, mercury, iron, etc.), the EDTA and the
heavy particle come together such that the heavy particle is coated with the EDTA, and passed out by your
system
EDTA is an artificial amino acid, and since the body regards it as a foreign substance, the body eliminates
the entire particle - the heavy particle coated with EDTA.
The body can't tell that underneath the coating is some material (iron mixed with carbon, perhaps) which the
body might be willing to keep even though it is harmful to the body. So, this coated EDTA particle gets sent to
the kidney and you urinate it out into the toilet. You just got rid of some heavy particles.
EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) is a common sequestrant and antioxidant which is a part of oral
chelation. This oral chelation is added to foods, body care, and household products.
The oral chelation also occurs as disodium calcium EDTA, tetrasodium EDTA, and disodium dihydrogen
EDTA. As a sequestrant, this oral chelation binds trace minerals such as copper, iron and nickel that may be
in the product. If not inactivated, these minerals will lead to discoloration, rancidity and textural breakdown.
When added as an antioxidant, EDTA prevents oxygen from causing color changes and rancidity.
Chelation therapy is a procedure with is used to remove toxic levels of heavy metals from within a person.
The process happens when the use of chelating agents is used. There are both conventional medicine
approaches to using it as well as alternative medicines. In any case, this treatment, when administered
properly can help to improve the health and well being of individuals.
During World War I, the use of poisonous gas was in place. Chelating agents were first used during this time
period. The first of them was British Anti Lewisite also called BAL. This was the name given to Dimercaprol.
This is an organic compound that is related to mercaptans. These mercaptans are organic compounds that
contain sulfur. But, what does all of this really have to do with what they can do? Well, mercaptans are able to
react to the bad metals that are within the body to capture them or to form compounds with them. In this case,
the lewisite gas was an arsenic type of organic compound that was used in poisoning the enemy. BAL was
able to bind the arsenic compounds from lewisite within the body. This then allowed them to be removed
from the body without any harm being done to them.
Later, there were other chelating agents discovered to be used as well. These bind with metallic ions and
render them less chemically reactive. This then allows them to be excreted from the body without any harm.
Conventional Medicine And Chelation Therapy
In conventional medicine, there are several ways in which these chelating agents can be used. Although it is
rare for them to be needed and used, they can provide a safe and excellent way to treat several conditions.
They can be effective in treating such conditions as:
Acute Mercury poisoning
Plutonium poisoning
Arsenic poisoning
Iron poisoning
And lead poisoning.
They can also be useful in treating other conditions as well as other heavy metal poisonings. In any case that
they are used, though, the patient’s health must be in a good deal of risk to warrant them being used. Heavy
metal poisoning is quite detrimental to the body. In many cases, significant damage can be done to virtually
every organ of the body due to the effects of this poisoning. One example is mercury in which
neurodegeneration can happen. Chelation therapy can help to remove these toxic compounds from the body
without damage as long as preformed correctly and within the right amount of time. The Chelation therapy
can be used to treat in several methods including through intravenously, orally or through intramuscularly.
Alternative Medicine And Chelation Therapy
There is another side to chelation therapy though. It has been used to treat conditions such as coronary
artery disease and many other degenerative diseases. In alternative medicine, they are provided through
intravenous forms and are believed to reverse or slow down the progression of these conditions including
age related disease.
One case in which alternative medicine gives help with the use of chelation therapy is with those children
effected by autism. This condition is a neuro-developmental problem. Those that use alternative medicine
may believe that the condition is caused by the exposure to heavy metal poisonings. And, for that, the
chelation therapy can be helpful.
More and more individuals are seeking out chelation therapy to treat many of their disorders. But, it is a widely
debated topic. Some claim that the therapy can help to repair all sorts of damage while others believe it is
much too dangerous to do so. There are some dangers that can happen through the use or misuse of
chelation therapy. For example, it can decrease blood coagulation and hyprocalcaemia.
Yet, for many, chelation therapy is one in which there is strong hope. The conditions of the use and of the
abilities of these treatments range by those who are using them as well as the poisoning that has been had.
When it comes to the use of chelating agents in the body, it can be said that there is a good belief that they
can help in extracting poisonous heavy metals from the body.
