Diabetes and Coronary Health: A Breakthrough for EDTA Chelation Therapy

“Chelation therapy was once scoffed by the medical community; this is why it is important to see evidence proving otherwise.”

Dr. Gervasio Lamas, a Harvard-trained cardiologist, once scoffed at a patient’s request to consider chelation therapy for his cardiac condition.[1] However, upon further consideration, even Dr. Lamas was bothered by how quickly he had discredited something he had not investigated, and he set about to remedy that.

Seventeen years later, Dr. Lamas made the study a reality, despite encountering a great deal of professional and financial hardship to do so. The results of the $30 million double-blind study, released in 2013, were intriguing: chelation is safe and somewhat effective for heart disease. The study[2] covered 1,700 Canadian and American patients over age 50 that had a recent heart attack; almost one-third of that group also had diabetes. Half the group received EDTA, and the other half a vitamin and mineral infusion. The chelation group had an 18 % reduced risk for heart attack, stroke, hospitalization for angina, or the need for bypass surgery. The real standout result was in those with diabetes—a 41% reduction in recurrent heart events, and a 43% reduction in deaths. Dr. Lamas published his findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association, where they were met with skepticism and criticism.

In 2016, the determined Dr. Lamas made plans to do another trial called TACT2 (Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy), this time focusing on those with diabetes, and with the U.S. National Institutes of Health providing $37 million. Some, such as Steven L. Salzberg of John Hopkins University, remained skeptical, stating there are “better ways to use this money.”[3] Dr. Lamas did not take such criticisms personally and persevered with arranging the second study. In 2018, 1,400 patients across Canada and the U.S. were being recruited to participate. The Canadian branch of the study was headed by Dr. Michael Farkouh, a cardiologist practicing out of the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in Toronto. Dr. Farkouh admitted that traditional medicine needs to incorporate out-of-the-box thinking.[4] Dr. Diana Visentin, an internal medicine specialist who trained for 2 years to participate in the study, agreed. According to her, “[d]iabetes is an epidemic. The prevalence is increasing, the tsunami of complications is still to come…and if we can slow that tide, it will be a benefit to all of us.”[5] Back then, the team of Dr. Lamas was hoping to have results of the second study in 4 years but it was only this year, in 2024, that it actually happened.[6]

Interestingly, the TACT2 study came out with a different outcome than the first one had; in fact, it “showed that in patients with prior MI and diabetes, intravenous chelation therapy with EDTA was not associated with a reduced risk of death or cardiovascular events compared with placebo.”[7] How is this possible? The best answer is probably that “a greater proportion of patients in TACT2 were not only taking statins or antiplatelet therapies but also sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, agents with proven cardiovascular benefits that were not available during TACT.”[8] This means that they used test subjects who were taking drugs to reduce cardio vascular condition, though the first study subjects were not on medication, which makes a great difference. It is my hypothesis that the second study was performed in hopes to skew the evidence of the first study, after all EDTA chelation therapy outperformed most prescribed drugs and could not be patented, 37 million is a small price to pay to preserve the profitable drug treatments.

The TRAC 2 findings did confirm that EDTA chelation therapy removes heavy metals, and that is why we have created CLAW Therapy with EDTA for the removal of heavy metals and everything that comes attached to the metals. “Researchers noted that over the same time period, serum levels of lead dropped by an average of 61% in the treatment group compared with the placebo group. Results also indicated that chelation therapy had a good safety profile. There was no increased risk of serious adverse or unexpected serious adverse events in the treatment group.”[9]

Of course, for those in the natural industry who have known about chelation for some time, these results are encouraging, but hardly surprising. Even in 1955, the Providence Hospital in Detroit found that EDTA dissolved metastatic calcium, which deposits in unwanted places such as joints, kidneys, and arteries. And, besides clearing out arteries, EDTA also makes bones stronger. Dr. Garry Gordon, known as the father of the modern chelation movement, found that the more chelation therapy he gives a patient, the less osteoporosis and age-related calcium accumulation that patient has. These are just some of the benefits of chelation therapy.

Why is chelation necessary?

The short answer is because we live in a toxic environment. However, it is easy to forget just how toxic our surroundings are. Take lead, for example; although this toxic metal is naturally occurring in the earth’s crust, it has also been used heavily in day-to-day life. Here are some examples:

  • mining
  • manufacturing
  • recycling
  • pigments
  • paints
  • stained glass
  • ammunition
  • toys
  • drinking water (using lead pipes or lead solder)

The damaging effects of lead can begin as young as en utero. Pregnant women exposed to high levels of lead may suffer from miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth and low birth weight, as well as minor malformations. Young children are especially vulnerable to lead exposure, mainly in brain and nervous system development. In adults, lead exposure can cause kidney damage and high blood pressure.

Although Flint, Michigan had made the news with lead poisoning in the city’s drinking water, in 2016, Reuters obtained results from 34 states and the District of Columbia. Out of those, 3,810 neighbourhood areas had lead poisoning rates at least double those found in Flint.[10] Canada is not better, either. A 2017 study[11] also confirmed the devastating effects of not only lead but also mercury, cadmium, arsenic and aluminum—these affect multiple disease processes and childhood development.

Mercury is widely known to be toxic. The World Health Organization has reiterated that even small amounts of mercury exposure can cause major problems, affecting the nervous, digestive, and immune systems, lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes.[12]

In the case of a heavy metal like cadmium, the concern is based more in soil concentrations. In some areas in Asia, cadmium waste from zinc mines had contaminated rice paddies, which led to adverse health effects. It should be noted, though, that cadmium exposure is by no means limited to soil. It can also come through air, water, (chemtrails), and food. Cadmium exposure side effects include cancer and organ system toxicity. It is recommended that those suffering from cadmium exposure be decontaminated with chelation therapy. Specifically, EDTA has been known to significantly increase urinary excretion of cadmium.[13]

EDTA is considered by some to be the best way to remove heavy metals from the body. It can offer long-term protection against heavy metal poisoning, chronic inflammation and hypercoagulable states.  Although the chelation process takes longer for some tissues such as bone and brain, the chelatory process does neutralize the risk of minor exposures in the meantime. In addition to EDTA, other nutrient chelators can be considered, too, such as malic acid, guggul lipids and high doses of non-GMO vitamin C.

However, because it is so effective, it also pulls out minerals the body needs, such as zinc, magnesium, calcium and essential trace minerals. This is why when taking CLAW Therapy with EDTA, it is always recommended to replace and replenish the lost minerals with Opti-Cal/Mag Complex with K2.

The recommended protocol is to take CLAW Therapy dosed at one bottle (180 capsules) per every 10 years of life. For example, a 40-year-old would use 4 bottles back-to-back, and then a reduced amount of two capsules per day for prevention to prevent the build-up reoccurrence of heavy metal toxicity. Since CLAW Therapy extracts both organic and inorganic minerals from the body, they need to be replaced to prevent symptoms such as joint pains and toothaches. The only formula we are comfortable to recommend is Opti-Cal/Mag Complex.

Chelation therapy was once scoffed by the medical community; this is why it is important to see evidence proving otherwise. It is a rebuke to the naysayers who think natural medicine is the equivalent to snake oil, no matter how they try to hide the evidence. My oh my, are they ever wrong?

References:

[1] Weintraub, Karen. 2016.

[2] Lamas, Gervasio A. et al. 2013.

[3] Weintraub, Karen. 2016.

[4] CTVNews.ca Staff. 2018.

[5] Ibid.

[6] ACC News Story. 2024.

[7] Saha, Amit. 2024.

[8] Ibid.

[9] ACC News Story. 2024.

[10] Schneyer, Joshua. and Pell, M.B. 2017.

[11] Hsueh, Yu-Mei et al. 2017.

[12] World Health Organization. 2024.

[13] Rahimzadeh, Mehrdad Rafati et al. 2017.