Towards Reversal of Vascular Calcification

Calcification appears to be one of the causes of increasing vascular stiffness with age, a form of functional deterioration in blood vessels that contributes to numerous age-related conditions. Here, researchers investigate means to remove this calcium:

Elastin-specific medial vascular calcification, termed "Monckeberg's sclerosis," has been recognized as a major risk factor for various cardiovascular events. We hypothesize that chelating agents, such as disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), and sodium thiosulfate (STS) might reverse elastin calcification by directly removing calcium from calcified tissues into soluble calcium complexes.

We assessed the chelating ability of EDTA, DTPA, and STS on removal of calcium from hydroxyapatite (HA) powder, calcified porcine aortic elastin, and calcified human aorta in vitro. We show that both EDTA and DTPA could effectively remove calcium from HA and calcified tissues, while STS was not effective. The tissue architecture was not altered during chelation. In the animal model of aortic elastin-specific calcification, we further show that local periadventitial delivery of EDTA loaded in to nanoparticles regressed elastin-specific calcification in the aorta. Collectively, the data indicate that elastin-specific medial vascular calcification could be reversed by chelating agents.

Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23963635

Comments

Its known in the alternative medical community that EDTA chelation reverses arterialsclerosis in 75% of the people who try it. The mainstream medical community does not like it because it cuts into the revenues that come from bypass surgery (EDTA chelation costs $5,000, bypass surgery costs $100,000). This is the reason why the AMA, along with the FDA, has always had such a which hunt against EDTA chelation. This is why not only that medicare is forbidden to cover EDTA chelation, but that it is actually a felony (yes, seriously) for any doctor who receives payment from medicare to do or recommend EDTA chelation.

Posted by: Abelard Lindsey at October 23rd, 2013 4:33 PM

Yeah? Well Quackwatch itself is fraudulent.

Posted by: Abelard Lindsey at October 24th, 2013 1:18 PM

$5000?! That's going to be expensive for people who need to remove calcium from their arteries.

Unfortunately, Quackwatch is a bit dodgy and unreliable. They are an enforcer of mainstream dogma, rather than science. So research showing that EDTA removes calcification of arteries and that calcification of arteries occurs in everyone with age and causes aging, isn't going to sway them.

Obviously it's not the money that makes the medical community dislike chelation. It's social pressure. And it's partly the risks and the fraudulent quack nature of many chelation activists.

Posted by: Carl at October 27th, 2013 10:04 PM
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