Chelation Therapy May Help Reduce Cardiovascular Events

In a new study, chelation therapy—an unproven alternative treatment for heart disease—modestly reduced cardiovascular events in older adults who’d suffered a prior heart attack. findings weren’t conclusive but provide guidance for future research.

Chelation is a chemical process in which certain compounds bind heavy metals and minerals and hold them tightly. In chelation therapy, chelation compounds are given intravenously to remove toxic heavy metals—such as lead, iron and copper—from the blood before they can cause damage. cium disodium EDTA, for example, is approved by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration for treating lead poisoning.

Some physicians and alternative medicine practitioners recommend chelation therapy as a complement to standard therapies for cardiovascular disease. Its use as an alternate treatment for this and other disorders has grown dramatically in the United States in recent years. Disodium EDTA, the compound commonly used in chelation therapy for cardiovascular disease, isn’t approved by the FDA but can be ordered from compounding pharmacies for individual use. Thus far, its ability to prevent cardiovascular events has been supported only by anecdotal evidence.

To take a closer look, researchers enrolled over 1,700 adults ages 50 and older in the United States and Canada. The participants had all survived a heart attack on average about 4. 5 years prior to enrollment. The trial was sponsored by NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).


 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

Participants were assigned randomly to receive a course of 40 infusions of either a disodium EDTA chelation solution or an inactive placebo. They were also randomly assigned to receive high doses of oral vitamins and minerals or an identical placebo. Most participants took standard medicines for heart attack survivors, such as aspirin, beta blockers and statins. After the infusions, they were followed for a minimum of 1 year and up to 5 years. Journal of the American Medical Association.

The researchers found a clinically modest but statistically significant benefit of chelation therapy. The study assessed a combined endpoint that included death, recurrent heart attack, stroke, hospitalization for angina (chest pains that are sometimes a sign of an impending heart attack), and coronary revascularization (coronary stenting or bypass surgery). Fewer participants experienced any of these events in the chelation group (222, or 26%) than in the placebo group (261, or 30%). The study didn’t have enough patients to assess a difference in mortality.

The trial demonstrated that chelation therapy can be safely administered when rigid quality control parameters are in place, and that, under these conditions, therapy has modest benefits,” says lead investigator Dr. Gervasio A. Lamas of Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami.

Further research is needed to fully understand these results before this treatment can be applied to the routine clinical care of heart attack patients,” says NHLBI Director Dr. Gary H. Gibbons. We do not yet know whether this therapy can be applied to most people with heart disease, which patients may potentially benefit from it, or how it may work.

Article Source: NIH Research Matters

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English Afrikaans Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Danish Dutch Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Malay Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese

follow InnerSelf on

facebook icontwitter iconyoutube iconinstagram iconpintrest iconrss icon

 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

Saturday, 08 May 2021 08:43

Humanity has always had a rocky relationship with wasps. They are one of those insects that we love to hate. We value bees (which also sting) because they pollinate our crops and make honey

Wednesday, 26 July 2023 17:18

Do you know why junk food is so addictive? Are you craving sweets yet? If you've ever wondered why junk food can be so addictive, you're not alone.

Wednesday, 19 May 2021 09:40

To “cry poor mouth” is an expression used to habitually complain about a lack of money. A literal poor mouth, however, represents one of the most widespread global diseases: tooth decay.

Thursday, 27 July 2023 20:13

How to train your body for hot weather if you are active or work outdoors Heat exposure is inevitable for those who work or are active outdoors. (Shutterstock) Global warming is making outdoor...

Friday, 14 May 2021 16:24

The chakras set the frequencies that give rise to every aspect of the human experience. The foods we eat have consciousness and provide an energetic blueprint that stabilizes and entrains...

Wednesday, 26 July 2023 12:55

With the rising cost of living, gyms memberships and fitness classes are becoming increasingly unaffordable. But the good news is you can make just as much progress at home.

New Attitudes - New Possibilities

InnerSelf.comClimateImpactNews.com | InnerPower.net
MightyNatural.com | WholisticPolitics.com | InnerSelf Market
Copyright ©1985 - 2021 InnerSelf Publications. All Rights Reserved.