Saturday, May 25, 2019

Discovering The Benefits Of Oral Chelation Therapy

By Frances Howard


Heart attacks are often considered the leading cause of death among people in the United States. While most often individuals having heart disease or having experienced a heart attack are treated through changes in lifestyle, others are now looking to oral chelation therapy. In this type of treatment, a compound known as EDTA, a man-made solution is infused into the body.

In this type of therapy, an ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid or EDTA solution, not yet approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration is often used to provide relief. Even without such approval, a study in 2007 showed that there were over 10,000 people in the United States opting for this treatment. Ultimately, the substance provides a chemical process using molecules to bind and hold metals and minerals in the body in place.

Originally used to eliminate excess waste and toxic metals from the body, the treatment is far from new. For, EDTA has also been used to eliminate iron overload and treat lead poisoning in Western medicine. Whereas, when using the process to treat heart disease, a health care provider carefully provides injections of disodium EDTA into the veins over the course of 30 or more infusions generally on a weekly basis. After which, the treatment moves to a maintenance phase in which infusions are provided on an as needed basis.

To determine whether or not this type of therapy may be helpful, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute along with the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health or NCCIH sponsored a trial to examine the success rate of chelation therapy on individuals whom had a previous history of heart attacks. Ultimately, the trial showed that the infusions provided a modest reduction in cardiovascular events. Whereas, further examination showed that the treatment only benefited cardiovascular patients with a history of diabetes.

Diabetic individuals made up 1/3 of the participants in the chelation therapy group. These individuals showed a forty one percent drop in heart attacks and a forty percent risk of death from heart disease, non-fatal heart attacks or stroke. In addition, forty three percent reported a reduction in death from other causes and a fifty percent reduction in repetitive heart attacks. Whereas, non-diabetic individuals showed no significant benefits from chelation therapy.

The trial also included individuals whom were taking high dose vitamins and minerals while receiving chelation therapy. In most cases, the combination provided the highest drops in heart attack risks among participants versus others whom were only provided placebos.

Over the course of the study, 16% of individuals receiving chelation therapy and 15% of individuals receiving placebos asked to stop the infusions due to adverse effects. Overall, there were four major events, two deaths, one in each the placebo and chelation group and minor side effects. To date, the primary side effect appears to be burning at or near the injection site during the infusion process.

More research is needed before it can be determined if chelation therapy provides the best treatment for heart attack victims, especially those living with diabetes. As a result, the results reflected in this article or current research studies do not provide enough detailed information in order to make a final decision. Regardless, researchers and scientists are hopeful that future studies and trials will provide more positive results.




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