FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

The word chelate is derived from the Greek noun chele, which means the claw of a crab or lobster. Chelation, a natural process, is the pincer-like binding of chelating substances to metallic elements. It is a medical treatment that improves metabolic function and blood flow by removing toxic metals (such as lead and cadmium) and abnormally located nutritional metallic ions (such as iron) from the body.

Chelation is a basic life process that enables all growing things and living organisms (including plants) to assimilate and make use of essential inorganic metallic elements. Think of it as nature’s marriage ceremony: It weds two substances from totally different worlds – organic and inorganic – into a compatible working partnership. Chlorophyll, the plant-greening pigment, is a chelate of magnesium. Haemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying pigment of red blood cells, is a chelate of iron. The chelation process is involved in the formation and function of many enzymes – those protein catalysts that control most of your body’s vital biochemical functions. So chelation can be looked on as preventing another type.

EDTA is a small, protein-related, amino acid molecule with unique and valuable therapeutic properties. EDTA binds tightly to many other abnormally placed and potentially toxic metal ions. It forms a blockade where toxic substances might otherwise interfere with normal metabolism or enter into an undesirable chemical reaction.

When they are where they are supposed to be, essential metals are so tightly bound that they are not easily removed. The metallic ions most apt to be removed by EDTA chelation are those that are loose and free-floating. However, because this does not hold true all the time, we are careful to provide.

Chelation treatment is outpatient procedure and should take place at a clinic. It is a 3-hour slow intravenous infusion of EDTA solution. During infusion, the patient should be sitting comfortably on sofa to chat, read, doze or watch TV.

This depends on the condition of the patient. In general, it takes at least 30 treatments to complete, and between 50 to 100 infusions for patients with more serious conditions. Dosage and frequency varies from patient to patient, depending on their kidney function and reaction for the EDTA solution. To make certain the infusion is being well tolerated, patients are carefully observed during the treatment sessions. Just like any other medical treatment, dosage and infusion speed are carefully controlled at each session, making chelation therapy very low risk.

Hoping to make a difficult subject more understandable, a chelation doctor once described chelation as a kind of liquid plumber. But this theory is not scientifically correct. Although EDTA is certainly a calcium chelator, its affinity for calcium is far less than for other metals, such as iron, copper, lead, cadmium, manganese, etc. EDTA will quickly release calcium in order to pick up one of these other metals. Furthermore, calcium plays only a secondary role in plaque formation.

Chelation therapy has been proven to increase blood flow throughout the body. It has been reported to improve liver function, improve blood cholesterol levels, reduce blood pressure, reduce leg cramps, improve vision, relieve angina pains, relieve symptoms of senility, heal ulcers caused by poor circulation, forestall heart attacks and strokes, relieve symptoms of arthritis, relieve symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, improve memory, and reduce the incidence of cancer.

It takes only very slight vascular changes to significantly alter blood flow. A long-established scientific law states that with perfectly laminar flow (fluids moving easily through a smoothwalled conduit), and expansion of a mere 19 percent in the diameter of a vessel will double the flow rate. But the arteries in most patients are not smooth – they are usually filled with irregular plaque and, as such, are turbulent conduits. Poiseuille’s Law of Hemodynamics tells us that in the presence of turbulence, it takes something less than a 10 percent increase in diameter for a doubling of blood flow. Those percentages are counterintuitive but can be proven mathematically and experimentally.