The original theory was that EDTA chelation rids the body of calcium deposits that led to a hardening of the arteries (or calcification). Furthermore, some of the early research suggested that high levels of accumulated iron in men and postmenopausal women explained their higher heart attack risk, and that removing that iron through chelation could lower that risk. Many books, articles and promotional pieces still maintain the same approach, while more recently the focus has shifted. The explanations for the benefits of chelation have become much more precise.
When scientists began to understand the devastating effects of oxidation on the heart, chelation researchers learned that excess metals in the body encourage the production of free radicals and molecule fragments. Chelation counteracts this process. It helps reduce the levels of metals in the body, thereby reducing the production of free radicals and preventing per-oxidation or breakdown of cell membranes, DNA, enzymes, and lipoproteins. Plus, reducing the free radical threat frees up the body's natural healing mechanisms, so those resources can be directed at halting or even reversing the progression of disease.
Even more recently, researchers proposed another explanation for chelation's heart-healthy benefits. Even though more complex, every layman can still easily follow and understand it. It goes like this: The endothelium, or lining of the arteries, produces several vital substances that reduce blood flow resistance. For example, the endothelium generates nitric oxide (NO), which causes capillary relaxation and expansion; prostacyclin, a prostaglandin that slows blood platelet aggregation and promotes vasodilation; and heparin, a natural substance with the same name as a blood-thinning drug, which prevents clotting. All these substances are critical to maintaining optimal blood circulation. But excess heavy metals in the body can diminish the endothelium's ability to produce nitric oxide, prostacyclin, and heparin - a triple whammy for your arteries. Chelation therapy can remove those heavy metals, restoring optimal production of these substances critical to cardiovascular health.
Chelation authorities now say, which some independent research has confirmed, that the therapy's beneficial effects on blood circulation may also have positive effects on impotence, intermittent claudication, and vision problems like age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. And new research suggests that removing heavy metals through chelation can treat and/or prevent many serious diseases, including pancreatitis, gout, both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis-even cancer.
The research supporting metal toxicity's link with cancer is particularly intriguing. Several studies have linked high body iron stores with an increased risk of cancer, particularly lung cancer. In one study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, women with the highest iron levels were 50 percent more likely develop any type of cancer than women with the lowest iron levels. Chelation may reduce that risk by binding and eliminating high body iron stores.
This goes to show that much research has been accumulated in the past forty years, all underlining the braod spectrum health benefits of EDTA and other forms of chelation.