Category: Preventive Cardio

What is Chelation and How Does it Work Using chelation therapy for the treatment of heart disease is still considered to be an experimental treatment even though the most recent study showed benefit. Chelation therapy is FDA only approved for toxic metal poisoning and hypercalcemia (a condition of too much calcium). Chelation literally means "to chemically bind to." Chelation can be administered either orally or intravenously but oral bioavailability is poor. Chelation may help but this depends on many factors.  I have noticed that it is most effective when elevated levels of reactive metals are present. Several theories have been proposed for how this treatment may work. One theory suggests that EDTA chelation might work by directly removing calcium found in fatty plaques that block the arteries, causing the plaque to decrease in volume. Another is that the process of chelation may stimulate the release of a hormone (calcitonin) that in turn causes calcium to be removed from the plaques and redistributed. A third theory is that chelation therapy may work by reducing the damaging effects of oxygen ions and reactive transition metals (oxidative stress) on the walls of the blood vessels. Reducing oxidative stress could reduce inflammation in the...

I started specializing in preventive cardiology about 15 years ago. Prior to this I did general medicine in addition to optimal aging medicine, wellness, and the treatment of severe chronic diseases. One thing I noticed is that almost no one did preventive cardiology. All that I was seeing were prescriptions for blood pressure medications and cholesterol drugs, but not much else. I saw some practitioners encouraging diet and exercise and even offering specialized diet plans and supplements but soon realized that was not enough. Arterial Plaque Can be Reversed Early on in my career, about year #2 in my internship, was the first time I witnessed plaque going away in coronary arteries. The textbooks said that this could not happen and I believed too. Ever since I saw this and became fascinated with the prospects of reversing atherosclerosis and improving patients lives, and especially keeping them out of the hospital. The main deficit I saw was a lack of proper testing in the gathering of objective data. I started seeing a lot of guessing and crossing of the fingers with very little follow-up testing to prove treatments were working. Here is an example: you go to the doctor and your...