Is Oral Chelation the Same as IV Chelation?

Julian Whitaker, MD

I am often asked about oral chelation and its effectiveness in treating heart disease. Some manufacturers of oral chelation supplements claim that it is a convenient, inexpensive, equally effective alternative to intravenous (IV) chelation therapy. I disagree. Although oral chelation has some benefits, it is nowhere nearly as effective at removing toxins and improving the health of the arteries as IV chelation.

Oral chelators are essentially vitamin and mineral supplements which contain some EDTA, the synthetic protein in intravenous chelation that binds to heavy metals in the bloodstream and removes them from the body. Taken orally, only a small percentage of EDTA is absorbed into the blood. While these products offer nutritional support and likely have some chelating effect over time, they in no way confer the benefits of IV EDTA, which has been demonstrated in clinical trials to be an effective therapy for heart disease and circulatory problems.

Recommendations

• For information on receiving intravenous EDTA chelation therapy at the Whitaker Wellness Institute, call (866) 944-8253 or click here.
• To learn more about chelation, read Questions from the Heart by Terry Chappell, MD. I also discuss chelation in greater detail in my book, Reversing Heart Disease. To order, call (800) 810-6655.

Modified from Health & Healing with permission from Healthy Directions, LLC. Copyright 2007. Photocopying, reproduction, or quotation strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher. To subscribe to Health & Healing, click here.