EDTA -- A Food Additive With Many Remarkable Properties
In the previous issue of IntelliScope, intravenous EDTA chelation therapy was discussed. This issue continues with a discussion of EDTA's protective and enhancing effects as a food additive on and food supplements, as well as some clinically tested uses of oral EDTA.
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the synthetic amino acid, ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), as a pharmaceutical agent for the treatment of lead and other heavy metal poisoning or exposure. In older literature, the FDA also approved intravenous EDTA treatment as "possibly effective in occlusive vascular disorders ... arrhythmias and atrioventricular induction defects ... and in the treatment of pathologic conditions to which calcium tissue deposits or hypercalcemia may contribute other than those listed above."' These "possibly effective" indications were removed from FDA-approved literature in the late 1970's for reasons known only to the FDA. Fortunately, physicians are not limited solely to FDA-approved indications and may prescribe approved drugs for whatever "unapproved" conditions they find them to be effective. Consequently, since EDTA is approved for the treatment of heavy metal poisoning (especially lead), many physicians continue to use pharmaceutical EDTA with great benefit in many diseases and conditions other than the officially approved uses. There are two medical associations whose physician members are trained in the administration of EDTA for the treatment and prevention of atherosclerosis and other chronic degenerative diseases. These organizations are the American College for Advancement in Medicine (800-532-3688) and the Great Lakes Association of Clinical Medicine(800-286-6013). Members of these organizations and their patients find that EDTA chelation therapy is highly effective as an alternative or addition to more traditional/widely accepted approaches such as angioplasty or bypass surgery.
Beneficial Uses of Oral EDTA In
Cardiovascular Disease
In addition to the controversial but widespread recognition of EDTA's
intravenous benefits, is its less well-known clinical uses when administered
orally. Early clinical studies with EDTA reported loss of fat in rats, reduction
of cholesterol in rabbits, and reduced blood pressure in humans. Consequently,
a study of the effects of oral EDTA on patients with atherosclerosis and/or
hypertension was conducted on 10 patients. Four of these patients had
hypertension, four had angina pectoris, one had peripheral vascular disease
(intermittent claudication), and one was recovering from a heart attack. All
were treated with 1 gm of oral EDTA daily for 3 months. Seven of the ten
patients experienced significant reductions in their cholesterol levels, and
blood pressure was reduced in all ten. The most marked change occurred in the
patient with intermittent claudication, whose cholesterol dropped from 278 mg
per 100 ml to 128! This patient also reported improved exercise tolerance, and
the researchers found improved pulsations in the extremities. The four patients
with angina pectoris also A reported improvement.
In another series of 20 patients who suffered from hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, angina or peripheral vascular disease, one gram of EDTA was administered orally every day for 3 months. During that short time, elevated cholesterol levels in nine of the patients dropped to within the normal range. No adverse results were experienced by any of the patients. Angina attacks were reduced in frequency and severity in five individuals. One person who previously had suffered a heart attack and experienced several angina attacks daily thereafter, obtained complete relief.
In another study, two patients with extremely elevated cholesterol were treated with oral EDTA. One patient took EDTA in progressively increasing doses ranging from 500 mg to 4 gm daily for one year, and the other took 1,000 mg daily for three years. Although the first patient suffered a heart attack after three years of therapy, she recovered uneventfully, and had reduced angina pains and improved sense of well-being with continued use of EDTA. The second patient - in addition to hypercholesterolemia had a condition known as xanthomatosis (yellowish papules in the skin, related to elevated blood lipids). She not only experienced dramatic reductions in her cholesterol levels with oral EDTA treatment, but her skin lesions completely resolved. Other laboratory studies (including kidney and liver function) remained normal throughout the study for both patients. This is further confirmation of the safety of oral EDTA, considering that doses as high as 4 gm daily were consumed.
Further support of the anti-atherosclerotic effects of oral EDTA are provided by Italian researchers who found that two grams of oral EDTA daily were effective in reducing blood cholesterol. Scientists at Wayne State University quantified reversal in atherosclerotic plaque in rabbits that were treated with daily subcutaneous EDTA injections.
EDTA's Multiple Uses as a Food Additive
In addition to its remarkable pharmaceutical uses, the FDA has also approved
EDTA as a food additive that is generally recognized as safe (GRAS). EDTA's
array of biochemical properties make it extremely valuable as a food additive.
It has the ability to:(1) bind with many metals;(2)act
synergistically with other antioxidants to stabilize fats and oils;(3)prevent
discoloration of potato products; (4)stabilize
vitamins;(5)prevent discoloration of fish and
shellfish;(6)prevent flavor changes in milk;(7)inhibit
the thickening of stored condensed milk;(8)enhance
the foaming properties of reconstituted skim milk;(9)prevent
color changes of scrambled eggs prepared from egg powder;
(10)preserve canned legumes;(11)prevent gushing in beer;(12)promote flavor
retention and delay loss of carbonation in soft drinks;
(13)prevent oxidation of meat products; and(14)prevent
discoloration of canned fruits and vegetables. In fact, EDTA's use in foods is
so widespread that its presence in bloody evidence even created questions during
the O.J. Simpson trial as to its source-i.e., from food or from blood previously
drawn as evidence-since EDTA is also used as an anticoagulant in blood used for
laboratory studies.
[Karl Note: The above description of how "plaque" exists is not the description I follow. The intravenous chelation doctors, using EDTA, have never been able to refute the argument that EDTA does NOT remove calcium from the body, but rather removes heavy metals. It is certainly proven that the EDTA infusion results in arteries clear of blockage, but that does NOT mean that the blockage was as shown in the images above. There is much more logic and science in the concept that the blockage is caused by calcium accumulating INSIDE individual cells, rather than as shown above. You go from there, in logic and science, to understanding that the calcium inside individual cells gets there and stays there because the cell has been bombarded by free radicals. The cell then becomes weak and cannot eject unwanted calcium from the cell -- allowing the cell to become less and less functional. The free radicals are, of course, greatly increased in number and activity by the presence of toxic metals in the body -- it is the METALS which IV chelation removes, not calcium. But, as the cells experience less and less harm from free radicals (caused by the removal of the metals by chelation) the cells revitalize and are able to eject unneeded calcium. Thus, clean arteries come about, but not in the way usually described, as in this article.]
Absorption of EDTA
In 1954, Dr. Harry Foreman and his colleagues performed a landmark study to
deter- mine how much orally administered EDTA the body absorbs. The scientists
found that the body absorbs a maximum of 5 per cent of orally consumed EDTA and
that it can take up to three days for the EDTA to be totally excreted. If
someone consumed nutritional supplements that contained 800 mg of EDTA (used as
a stabilizer of the ingredients in the supplement), then we can assume from Dr.
Foreman's research that about 40mg will be absorbed each day and that 1,200 mg
will be absorbed each month. That equates to almost the same amount of EDTA
administered in one intravenous chelation treatment using the low-dose optimum
protocol of Drs. Born and Geurkink that was described in last month's article.
Consequently, those unable to obtain intravenous chelation therapy due to
financial , occupational, geographical or other restraints, or who wish to
undergo a less- intensive preventive approach may be able to obtain many of the
same benefits of intravenous chelation therapy by consuming food-additive EDTA
that is used as a stabilizer in food supplements.
Because of concern that long-term use of EDTA might result in depletion of
certain elements, Drs. Ira Manville and Robin Moser recommended that a potent
vitamin and mineral formula (such as Personal Radical Shield TM or MultiMin TM)
be administered during treatment with EDTA."(This should be taken with meals and
not with the EDTA formula.) Dr. Garry Gordon agrees and also recommends that
because EDTA binds to nutritional as well as to unwanted metallic elements, it
is most effective when taken on an empty stomach" (I hr before or 2-3 hours
after a meal.)
WD
References
1.
Calcium disodium edetate and disodium edetate. Federal Register, Volume 35, No.
8, Tuesday, January 13,1970,585-587,
2.
Perry, H. Mitchell, Schroeder, Henry A. Depression of cholesterol levels
in human plasma following ethylenediamine tetraacetate and hydralazine. J
Chronic Diseases, 1955, 2: 5, 520-532.
3.
Schroeder, Henry A. A practical method for the reduction of plasma cholesterol
in man. J Chronic Diseases, 1956, 4: 461-468.
4.
Perry, Jr., and Camel, G., Some effects of CaNa2EDTA on plasma cholesterol and
urinary zinc in man, in: Metal Binding in Medicine, by Marvin J. Seven and L.
Audrey Johnson (eds), 1960,J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 209-215.
5.
Mariani, B., Bisetti, A., and Romeo, V. Blood-cholesterol-lowering action of the
sodium salt of calcium ethylene diamino tetraacetic acid. Gazz Intem Med e Chir,
1957. 62: 1812-1823.
6.
Wartman, A., Lampe, T.L., McCann, D.S., and Boyle, A.J. Plaque reversal with
MGEDTA in experimental atherosclerosis:Elastin and collagen metabolism. J
Atherosclerosis Res, 1967, 7:331-341.
7.
Aamoth, H.L., and Butt, F.J. Maintaining food quality with chelating agents.
Annals New York Academy of Sciences, 1960,526-531.
8.
Furia, T. EDTA in Foods-A Technical Review. Food Technology, 1964, 18: 12,
1874-1882.
9.
Foreman, H., Trujillo, T. The metabolism of C14 labeled ethylene diamino
tetraacetic acid in human beings. J Lab Clin Med, 1954, 43: 566- 571.
10.
Born, G.R., and Geurkink, T.L. Improved peripheral vascular function with low
dose intravenous ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA). Townsend Letter for
Doctors. July, 1994, #132, 722-726.
1
1. Manville, I., and Moser, R. Recent developments in the care of workers
exposed to lead. AMA Arch Indust Health, 1955, 12:528-538.
12.
Gordon, G. Oral Chelation with EDTA. J Holistic Medicine,
198618: 1 & 2, 79-80,
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