Saturday, July 18, 2009

What is Chelation?

By Anju Mathur, M.D.

Chele is a Greek word which means "claw," and from that we get the word chelation (pronounced key-LAY-shun), a method of removing toxic chemicals and heavy metals from the body, using chemical agents that act like claws, latching onto the unwanted particles and chemically binding with them. The chemicals are called chelation agents. During World War II chelation was discovered and used to clear the body of poisonous metals. Researchers found they could make a ring of molecules that would sequester the unwanted mineral molecules and removed them from the body by the usual elimination. Chelation also happens normally in a body, such as hemoglobin combining with iron to deliver oxygen to cells.

Chelation is a well-known method of heavy metal and toxin removal in which a special chemical compound called a chelate - such as dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), dimercaptopropane sulfonate (DMPS), or ethylene diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) - is given, usually intravenously. The chelate finds and forms a single attachment to the toxin with one reversible bond. With that bond intact, the toxin is grabbed onto, pulled off the cell and carried from the body. However, the toxin is not neutralized during this process and is potentially able to attach to other cells on its way out.

A synthetic amino acid, which has been useful as a heavy metal chelating material, is EDTA (Ethylene Diamine Tetra-Acetic Acid). It is an FDA-approved treatment for lead, mercury, aluminum and cadmium removal, and has been used for lead chelating for over 50 years. EDTA also assists in restoring blood vessels jammed with calcium and arterial plaque. Basically EDTA is non-toxic and has few noticeable side effects. Unfortunately, it can also chelate necessary minerals and other elements from the body, so the treatment should be supplemented with vitamins and minerals.

Chelation is the sole treatment used today for lead poisoning. But since the process removes other metals, too, in addition to mineral deposits, calcium-based plaques and other poisons, it benefits other medical conditions. Atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries by plaque deposits) and arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and diabetes can be treated with chelation, as it has a very positive effect on the bloodstream.

In the textbook of EDTA Chelation Therapy by Cranton, clinical studies and research has shown that EDTA chelation treatment is just as beneficial as bypass surgery and angioplasty, or even more effective. It's hard to do double blind studies to prove or disprove the clinical results of bypass surgery or balloon angioplasty.

A person undergoing chelation therapy has to also change the diet. Non-prescription supplements are recommended, as well as deleting refined and synthetic foods. Certainly it lets down the big drug companies, who would prefer to profit from expensive prescription drugs. Additionally, chelation has no need for surgeons, hospitals, cardiologists and the ever-increasing group of health care workers who make a great deal of money ($6 billion per year) from by pass surgery and balloon angioplasty, because chelation can be performed in a doctor's office. More people have received chelation than have ever had the above-mentioned procedures.

The most frequent criticism leveled by critics of non-traditional and alternative medical therapies is that new treatments are "unproven" because randomized, double-blind, controlled studies have not yet been done to prove effectiveness. Those criticisms ignore the fact that most medical procedures routinely performed in the practice of medicine are also unproven using those same criteria.

In fact, the United States has the most advanced high technology hospital and surgical care in its history, yet 800,000 people die each year from arteriosclerosis and complications thereof. It is absurd to deny patients the option of undergoing EDTA chelation as a less expensive and at least just as effective alternative to surgery and angioplasty. The reduction in cost would be a great savings to medical insurance companies and hopefully result in lowered insurance premiums.

How about the improvement in quality of life?

Chelation patients have a tremendous increase in their expected life, although the chelation doctors are reluctant to admit it. It turns out that intravenous chelation therapy greatly reduces the risk of cancer as well as further heart disease. The chelation treatment deals with basic sources of all illness -- the tiny particles of metal, which accumulate over time and which greatly, increase the production of free radicals in the body. As the interior source of free radical production is reduced, by more than one million times, the acceleration of aging stops and people generally feel much younger.

Billions of free radicals that might have been produced in the body are thwarted by intravenous chelation therapy. Once heavy toxic metals, which create the free radicals, are removed by chelation, production stops.

It puts a stop to all toxins being created in the body, straight away.

It reverses the symptoms of heart disease and prevents cancer. These are the two biggest killers in society today.

It is amazing what chelation can do in reversing damage already done by free radicals. The benefit is great.

This informative article is not intended to provide medical counsel for individuals, but is for education of the reader. Qualified health practitioners dispense medical advice. - 14130

About the Author:

No comments: