Dr. Ward Dean
comments on
Oral Chelation

My own clinical experience with oral chelation (using EDTA) supports that of Dr. Gordon's. I am also in agreement with his rough calculations regarding the absorption and equivalence of oral to intravenous chelation (i.e., one month's consumption of an effective oral-chelation product produces approximately the same effect as one intravenous chelation). These calculations are similar to those that I have previously proposed.

Nevertheless, I believe that the oral form of treatment does not completely replace all the benefits of the intravenous mode, nor are its effects so rapidly apparent. I recommend oral chelation for its preventive role, as well as for supplementation and maintenance for those receiving intravenous chelation.

However, I don't think Dr. Gordon's explanation that oral chelation works only as an anticoagulant is the whole story. I, too, have seen and heard of dramatic clinical improvements in very debilitated patients who had used only oral chelation as a treatment. I doubt whether such reversals of what were considered irreversible conditions (atherosclerosis, dementia, diabetes, hypertension) would be due only to EDTA's anticoagulant effect. I believe oral EDTA also positively influences mineral metabolism (similar to the effect of intravenous chelation), and it may have other effects as well. I'm not sure whether we really know exactly what all of the mechanisms (and/or benefits for that matter) of EDTA chelation are. For example, Dr. Gordon presents a very eloquent and well-documented case for the mineral-normalizing hypothesis of EDTA treatment in his landmark book, The Chelation Answer.¹

However, in the other popular "bible" of chelation, Bypassing Bypass², Dr. Elmer Cranton dismisses the "calcium-chelation misconception." He believes that removal of toxic heavy metals and normalization of mineral metabolism are secondary mechanisms, and he proposes that the benefits of chelation are due primarily to its free-radical fighting effects. Dr. Johan Bjorksten, father of the "cross-linkage theory of aging," believes that the benefits of EDTA are due to its ability to dissolve inter- and intramolecular cross-linkages.³

Mechanisms aside, the one issue we all agree on is the overwhelming safety of EDTA when administered in proper dosages (patients with kidney impairment need to be closely monitored, as they do with many medications). It is also well-accepted that the tremendous benefits of EDTA can be obtained in a variety of degenerative, age-related conditions.

Finally, no better testimonial for the benefits of EDTA therapy's preventive and antiaging effects is Dr. Gordon, himself. Threatened with coronary artery disease in his late 30s, and a candidate for coronary bypass, Dr. Gordon took his own medicine, became a member of the "Century Club" (over 100 intravenous chelations), consumes his own oral EDTA formulation daily, and today, in his 60s, could easily pass for a man 20 years younger.

1. Walker M, Gordon G. The Chelation Answer. M. Evans and Company: New York;1982.

2. Cranton E. Bypassing Bypass (2d Ed). Medex Publishers.Trout Dale, VA 24378-0044;1992.

3. Bjorksten, Johan. The cross-linkage theory of aging as a predictive indicator. In: A Textbook on EDTA Chelation Therapy, Cranton E (ed). American College of Advancement in Medicine, Laguna Niguel, CA;1989.

Read our feature interview in this issue with Dr. Garry Gordon MD, DO:
Exclusive Interview with Garry Gordon, M.D., D.O.: Oral Chelation for Improved Heart Function - Apr. 1997