Has anyone heard of EDTA?

Question

I saw a commercial for it and it claims to cure practically everything. Is this a legitimate medication? Is it prescribed by doctors?

Answer 1

EDTA stands for ethylene-diamine tetra-acetic acid. It is commonly used in scientific research and chemistry as a chelating agent. Chelating agents are useful because the trap one or more specific metal ions inside the molecule--hemoglobin and chlorophyll are more well known chelating agents, chelating iron and magnesium, respectively.

EDTA chelates a larger range of metal ions, including iron, calcium and magnesium.

In medicine, it has a very limited use as a treatment for people who have too much of a metal in their system--specifically, hypercalcemia in some cancers and metaboloic diseases, as well as lead and arsenic in cases of heavy metal poisoning. Since it is not absorbed orally, it needs to be injected for this use.

Many alternative and fringe health trends adopt a standard medical treatment for a rare disease, and then claim that doing a treatment like it will cure many common ailments. Since it is a standard medical treatment, they claim their is science to support their ridiculous claims. They fail to mention that standard medical treatment only applies to certain disease states which are uncommon.

Chelation is no exception--this despite the fact that most chelating agents are not absorbed orally, including EDTA. This is fortunate, since unmonitored use of an agent like EDTA will be, in most cases lethal--since calcium is necessary for the regulation of muscle contractions, chelation of the body's calcium will result in weakness, asphyxiation and heart failure/arrythymias.

Don't waste your time and money--chelation therapy is another example of quackery and snake oil peddling at its worst. If you feel the need to try alternative medicine, long standing techniques that openly admit they are non-scientific, such as traditional chinese medicine, acupuncture, and meditation would be better bets. However, any claims about medical evidence should be ignored except from your physician.

Answer 2

EDTA is a member of the aminocarboxylate family of ligands that (among many other uses) is used as a food preservative.

Ironically, it is probably the same fools now promoting it as a "cure-all" that just a few years ago were blaming it for causing whatever the "disease of the day" was!

Answer 3

EDTA is Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic acid-it is chealating agent of Calcium to prevent clotting .We use it Clinical Diagnostic Laboratories-I do not know whether it is sold as a Medicine.You have to ask your Doctor.

Answer 4

You probably wasted your money. Most of these "cure" are money making schemes. Eating a healthy diet and not smoking is the best thing you can do for your arteries.

Answer 5

never heard of it.