Dr. Jeffrey Morrison, founder of The Morrison Center in New York, serves on the board of directors of the American Academy for the Advancement of Medicine, or ACAM (formerly American Academy of Medical Preventics). This leading authority and educator of physicians and health care providers on the proper use of chelation therapy first advises, “The accumulation of toxic metals in the body’s tissues can lead to elevated blood pressure, the risk of heart disease and neuro-degenerative conditions.” Then Morrison points to accumulating case studies that prove the relationship.

A family history of heart disease led Gary Gallo, a medical doctor with the Chelation Center of Naples, to use chelation therapy to reduce his own high mercury levels. “Mercury attacks the nervous system, kidneys and heart,” notes Gallo. He explains that the presence of heavy metals in the body helps free radicals to form. This can lead to the buildup of plaque in the arteries, as well as irregularities in heart rhythm, arthritis-like joint pain, chronic fatigue, motor dysfunction and the decline of mental acuity.

A recommended series of 30 treatments, which can only be administered by a physician, is accompanied by comprehensive testing before, during and after chelation. “Many people show improvement with 20 treatments,” comments Diana Smith, a registered nurse with the Chelation Center of Naples. “When they feel the difference, patients go on for another 10 or more treatments.”

It’s uplifting for health care practitioners to see patients who formerly had to pop nitro pills to walk from the parking lot to the doctor’s office, undergo treatment and reduce their nitro intake to once a week. Smith has also witnessed the improvement of patients, who prior to chelation, could barely walk because of poor circulation. After treatments, some took up walking one to two miles daily.

Chelation therapy’s long and varied history began in 1893, when French-Swiss chemist Alfred Werner developed the theory of coordination compounds, known today as chelates. Chelation (key-layshun) derives from the Greek chele, meaning to claw. Chelating agents are substances that can chemically bond with toxic minerals, metals and chemicals within the body. They encircle and carry away the unwanted matter from the body via excretion. Werner received the Nobel Prize for his work in 1913 and went on to establish the science of chelation chemistry.

Germany put Werner’s discovery to use in the manufacture of industrial paints, which required the elimination of heavy metal contamination. Rather than be dependent upon imported citric acid for their manufacturing process, the German chemists invented a safe amino acid known as ethylenediamine tetra-acedic acid (EDTA), now also used in chelation therapy.

For the past 50 years, more than a million patients have undergone chelation therapy for a wide range of circulatory problems. Yet, at present, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration only approves the therapy for treatment of heavy metal poisoning. What do these patients know that officials have yet to understand?

Further experimentation and research into this science from the 1940s to the 1980s led to the application of EDTA and chelation therapy in the treatment of individuals who had an accumulation of toxic metals, such as mercury and lead, in their body. It employs an intravenous infusion that may, according to an individual’s needs, include vitamins, magnesium and a saline solution. Fortunately, the only side effects that these early patients experienced were relief from arteriosclerosis, chest pains, arthritis, memory loss and the inability to concentrate.

The news eventually made its way into medical journals. By 1973, ACAM was formed to educate physicians in the uses of EDTA chelation therapy in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Today, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, both components of the National Institutes of Health, have launched the Chelation Therapy Study. It’s the first large-scale, multi-center study to determine the efficacy of EDTA chelation therapy and/or high-dose vitamin/mineral supplements in the treatment of individuals with coronary artery disease.

Michael Loquasto, a doctor of naturopathy, practices chelation therapy at the Borton Medical Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “I prefer to call the therapy a vitamin cocktail,” says Loquasto, “because we add vitamins C and B6, along with magnesium and calcium.”

Loquasto, who invented oral chelation, believes that physicians should not limit chelation to detoxification. Rather, “It can help any health condition,” he says, “since it increases circulation, which naturally offers more healthful oxygen to all parts of the body.”

To connect with Dr. Michael Loquasto at the Borton Medical Center in Allentown, PA, call 610-791-2453.

To connect with Dr. Gary Gallo at the Chelation Center of Naples, FL, call 239-594-9355.

To connect with Dr. Jeffrey Morrison at The Morrison Center in New York City, call 212-989-9828.