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Oral Chelation - Hoax or Heart Protector?

This article is from Dr. Robert J. Rowen’s Second Opinion

newsletter; http://www.doctorrowen.com/; http://

www.secondopinionnewsletter.com/

Ref: “Vaccine,” 2002 May 31;20 Supp13:S40-3.

Permission granted via Garry Gordon, M.D., D.O. M.D.(H)

Last month I told you about a more patient friendly form of

intravenous chelation therapy - the quick-push method pioneered

by Dr. Walter Blumer of Switzerland. While the quick-push method

works wonderfully well, it still requires visiting a physician knowl-

edgeable about both IV [intravenous] chelation therapy and will-

ing to do the short method instead of the prolonged three-hour drip.

Many of you may not be close to a chelating physician, nor have

the financial means to obtain any IV [intravenous] treatment, so

what can you do for similar help?

I’m repeatedly asked about oral chelation therapy. It seems

every few weeks I get another hyped promotion for an oral chela-

tion product. Like magnets, which I’ll cover in full next month, the

hype can be most confusing. However, I had seen some excellent

published data and knew the FDA had approved a form of oral

EDTA treatment for lead poisoning, so I wanted to find out more.

Most chelating physicians (yes, me too) were trained to be-

lieve that EDTA is not well absorbed orally, hence it would be of

little use. We were also trained to believe that a significant part of

the effectiveness of EDTA was due to the ability of EDTA to pull

calcium out of the body (theoretically from vascular walls).

However, the incredible results of Dr. Blumer using calcium

EDTA, which does not remove calcium, indicate otherwise. With

calcium EDTA, the calcium is left in the body and the EDTA picks

up a metal ion, which has a greater affinity for EDTA. Dr. Blumer

has seen tremendous success using calcium EDTA, which suggests

the actual removal of toxic metals may be what is so good for the

body, not the calcium removal. EDTA not only binds lead and cad-

mium, both closely associated with vascular disease, but also picks

up free iron. You already know that iron can be as deadly as it is life

giving. Iron, when it’s bound by enzymes and proteins, is healthy

in the right amounts. When the iron isn’t bound, it’s a powerful

generator of highly destructive free radicals, but it’s also available

for EDTA binding and removal!

The next question is if oral EDTA is absorbed. The worldwide

literature shows oral EDTA is absorbed from five to 18 percent.

Comparing this modest absorption with the typical three grams given

intravenously once or twice weekly, one might take orally six to 7.5

grams (one gram per 35 pounds body weight) daily. The calculated

absorption at an average of 10 percent would be some four to five

grams over a week, quite comfortably in line with what is adminis-

tered intravenously. However, rather than a cost of perhaps $800

for IV [intravenous] administration (eight over a month), the oral

cost is approximately $60/month, a price most everyone can af-

ford.

But is it safe? EDTA is universally used as a food preservative

(therefore, it’s generally recognized as safe) and we’re exposed to a

rather large amount (15-50 mg) every day. EDTA, by binding and

neutralizing the action of iron and heavy metals, prevents oxida-

tion and rancidity in prepared and processed foods and oils. With

regard to depletion of nutritional minerals, there seems no evidence

of this occurring. In fact, there’s animal evidence that oral EDTA

actually increases tissue stores of nutritional minerals and bone

calcium, while lowering toxic metals!

Now how about effectiveness? The medical literature around

the world has repeatedly shown a dramatic kidney and fecal elimi-

nation of lead via oral EDTA chelation, some two-and-a-half to

three times as much as without! (This compares favorably to the

five-fold excretion of lead induced by IV [intravenous] chelation.)

One study documented removal of 1,200-2,600 mg lead in just five

days with oral chelation. Elimination far outstripped any possible

increased intestinal absorption of lead pulled into the system by the

EDTA. A compilation of the literature over the past 50 years docu-

ments such an overwhelming consensus of the safety and efficacy

of oral chelation that the FDA has approved it for the treatment of

lead poisoning.

Remember that modern humans have 1,000 times the lead in

our bones as our 16th-century ancestors. It does not take a nuclear

physicist to realize we all could stand to lower these awesome poi-

son levels, and this simple and inexpensive treatment can do just

that! Now, if there’s enough absorbed oral EDTA to reach for lead,

it stands to reason that the other toxic metals (such as cadmium and

free iron) will be picked up as well.

But more on lead for a moment. A recent article on EDTA in

rodents in a major kidney journal found oral EDTA effectively low-

ered lead from soft tissues and organs, but not from bones. So stored

heavy metal would serve as a “source of permanent exposure,”

(quoted from the study) as the lead slowly escape the bones. There-

fore, it’s vital oral therapy is used on a regular basis and for an

extended period of time, to pick up the slow long-term release.

There’s scientific evidence that long-term exposure to low lev-

els of lead may contribute to chronic renal disease, and that chela-

tion therapy may slow or reverse the progression of kidney impair-

ment. Of course, low level lead is also associated with brain dys-

function, cancer development, dementia, bone marrow disease, or-

gan dysfunction, and more.

The bones are the greatest reservoir of lead in the body. You

can be exposed to a very toxic load of lead today, easily measurable

in the blood for just a few days. It then disappears from measure-

ment, as it’s taken up and stored in bone (actually the body’s short-

term means of reducing toxicity), only to be slowly released over

the years, as the bones remodel or thin. (Hence, a static single blood

or urine measurement is a very poor way to assess total body bur-

den of lead). If you have osteoporosis, oral chelation is something

you need to seriously consider. A 2002 article from Harvard re-

searchers indicated osteoporosis patients are exposed to a signifi-

cant release of the lead, which was released from their failing bones.

I’ve observed significant improvement in the mental well be-

ing of my chelation patients. A recent report in a psychiatric journal

confirms improvement in a wide variety of such symptoms. Neur-

asthenic (mental) and nonspecific multi-organ symptoms improve

significantly following oral EDTA chelation therapy, resulting in a

marked improvement in the overall quality of life.

Additional information from research years ago shows that

oral EDTA may enhance B

12

absorption, the vitamin hardest to as-

similate. Polysaccharides, such as heparin, are also made more

absorbable, which is very important in people with blood-clotting

problems.

Oral chelation, with a product containing calcium EDTA (about

one or two grams daily), can be taken on a continuous basis, along

with adequate nutritional minerals (which would help to avoid any