Re: Question about EDTA

elgoog wrote:
> Jason wrote:
> > I received a booklet in the mail that was sent to me by a company named
> > Health Resources (phone: 1-800-471-4007). There was information in the
> > booklet related to a product they sell that contains EDTA. They stated in
> > the booklet that EDTA is "Oral Chelation". They also say in the booklet
> > that EDTA will "flush away artery plaque" and reduce chol. levels and
> > cause people to have normal blood pressure levels.
> >
> > My question: Have you ever heard of EDTA and will it do all of the things
> > that Health Resouces staff says that it will do? Is it a safe or harmful
> > product?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Jason
> >
> > --
> > NEWSGROUP SUBSCRIBERS MOTTO
> > We respect those subscribers that ask for advice or provide advice.
> > We do NOT respect the subscribers that enjoy criticizing people.
>
> There's really no clinical evidence showing that it works, though there
> is a study underway -
> http://nccam.nih.gov/news/2002/chelation/q-and-a.htm
>
> EDTA is a manufactured compound, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, that
> forms compounds with calcium, magnesium or copper. The theory behind
> oral chelation therapy with EDTA is that the EDTA will form a bound
> with the calcium n the walls of arteries. One problem with this theory
> is that EDTA cannot penetrate the cell walls in the arteries and
> therefore cannot get bind to the calcium. Another is that it binds
> preferentially to other metals.
>
> A number of dangers have been associated with the therapy including
> hypocalcaemia and decreased blood coagulation ability (possibly due to
> loss of calcium). Even though it can't bind with the plaques stiffening
> the artery walls, it can still remove calcium from the blood stream.
> Also associated with this practice is the risk of leaching of necessary
> trace metals.
>
> Hope you take a look at the references below,
> -elgoog
>
> ref.
> http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/chelationindex.html
> http://your-doctor.com/patient_info/alternative_remedies/various_therapy/fraud_topics/chelation.html
> http://www.casewatch.org/board/med/sica/consentform.shtml

elgoog seems to adhere to NCCAM's view that only IV administration
of EDTA is "EDTA Chelation". ACAM does this because their members
make money doing IV EDTA Chelation, they want to corner the EDTA
therapy market. I'm not sure why NCCAM defines it this way.

Jason has asked about oral EDTA. Misleading him with IV EDTA
Chelation links is low, I hope this was not intended.

Orally consumption of EDTA salts results in some absorbtion. Heavy
metals are much prefered over calcium and magnesium. EDTA was widely
used to combat lead poisoning before superior drugs became available.
http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-156b.shtml

The relative binding affinities of EDTA for different metal ions
seems to be a copyright matter. On the web I picked up one table
which included EDTA:
Metal
Ligand Al(III) Ba Ca Co(II) Cu Fe(II) Fe(III) Hg Mg Mn
EDTA 16.13 7.78 10.70 16.21 18.8 14.3 25.7 21.5d 8.69 13.56
Ni Sr Zn
18.56 8.63 16.5

Higher numbers indicate increased binding affinity. These are
common logs so calcium would be essentially unaffected until zinc
(for example) were reduced in concentration by about a million to
one below the Calcium concentration per 10 ** (16.5 - 10.7)
It seems, then, that the theory (para #5: stripping calcium from
plagues) referenced by elgoog's nccam link is blarney.

I agree that oral EDTA is unlikely to "flush away artery plaque"
etc. On the other hand, the small amount of EDTA absorbed from
an oral dose is much less likely to cause harm although I'm sure
you could do it with enough repetition.

I occasionally do a capsule of Ca-EDTA to clean up Hg which may
have leaked out of my oral amalgam fillings. It may take out
excess copper or iron ions if those exist which are known free
radical generators in a catalyst sense. (cheap insurance theory)

This mechanism may play a part in forming plaque, so the EDTA
may help. I think that this is a slow process so it may be
difficult to construct a test to proove/disproove such benefit.
ACCAM will probably have people doing weekly IV chelation. I
expect it would take a long time to see measureable benefit.

Ed

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: LOL - guess what the *nglish most popular name is now?
    ... "Oral Chelation"? ... They're using EDTA (Ethylenediaminetetra- ... DMSA is readily absorbed and only goes after the target metals ... 287) that such therapy _DOES NOT WORK_ and if used ...
    (soc.culture.scottish)
  • Re: "House" and Heavy Metal Chelation
    ... conventional chelation using EDTA which pulls calcium from the body, ... Chelation therapy is dangerous if you ... They do have EDTA now that contains ... fillings as this pulls mercury from the fillings into the body. ...
    (misc.health.alternative)
  • Re: "House" and Heavy Metal Chelation
    ... conventional chelation using EDTA which pulls calcium from the body, ... Chelation therapy is dangerous if you ... They do have EDTA now that contains ... fillings as this pulls mercury from the fillings into the body. ...
    (misc.health.alternative)
  • Re: Question about EDTA
    ... >> make money doing IV EDTA Chelation, they want to corner the EDTA ... The oral stuff is usually the calcium salt so that it only adds ... >> Orally consumption of EDTA salts results in some absorbtion. ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)
  • Re: Question about EDTA
    ... >> make money doing IV EDTA Chelation, they want to corner the EDTA ... The oral stuff is usually the calcium salt so that it only adds ... >> Orally consumption of EDTA salts results in some absorbtion. ...
    (sci.med.cardiology)