Chelation Remains A Hopeful Heart Therapy

Maybe you know someone who has suffered a heart attack. You're concerned about their well-being, particularly if they're diabetic or suffered a large heart attack. You want to make sure that absolutely everything that can help this loved one stay healthy and alive is discussed with their doctors. Odds are very high, however, that there's one promising therapy the doctor won't tell them about: chelation therapy. Chelation therapy was designed decades ago to trap and remove serious environmental toxins like arsenic. While using it, some practitioners noted improvements in symptoms of heart disease, and chelation began to be used in some clinics for heart patients. (There's quite a large body of science that suggests "heavy metal" toxins like lead, mercury and arsenic can poison systems important to heart health, so even at the time, it made some sense.) Physicians in traditional practices, however, viewed chelation therapy as quackery, since there truly was little science to support it. As a physician, I advised my patients to avoid it, since I couldn't find much research to support its use. Fast forward and the National Institutes of Health agreed over a decade ago to provide $31 million to fund the "definitive trial" for chelation therapy. This trial was called the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT). Over the course of about 10 years, more than 1,700 people who had suffered a heart attack received real chelation therapy, or sham IV therapies, planned ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news