Alternative
Medicine Chelation: Can Have Its Controversies
In alternative medicine,
chelation is a therapy used to treat those with toxic heavy metal
poisoning. Although prominent in alternative medicine, chelation
is also known in the main stream world; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
has approved it for metal poisoning treatment. Still, the world
of alternative medicine also sees chelation as a way to treat those
with arteriosclerosis, the hardening of the arteries. Your bodies
contain 60,000 miles of arteries and veins that transport oxygen
and nutrients to the body’s organs. After doing this 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week for 365 days of the year, toxic waste and debris
begins to accumulate in those arteries and veins. In alternative
medicine, chelation is a way to remove those toxins from the body.
Chelation is the practice of using a chemical substance, EDTA, to
bind metals and minerals and excrete them from the body through
urine. A physician inserts a needle, which is attached to an IV
drip containing EDTA, into the patient’s vein. The process
takes about three hours and patients usually undergo up to 30 treatments
within a few weeks.
Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved chelation
for the treatment of metal poisoning, it hasn’t approved it
for the treatment of any heart condition. It is estimated that about
1 million people in the United States undergo chelation treatments
in a year. A fraction of that number goes the alternative medicine
route and uses chelation for heart conditions.
Because of the controversy surrounding the alternative medicine
chelation therapy, the NIH National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine is funding a study to answer the questions
surrounding chelation as a treatment for arteriosclerosis.
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