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Chelation therapy, in which a chemical agent improves one's health by latching on to excess metal atoms in the body, forming complexes that are then excreted in the urine, so far has only limited proven effectiveness.
Claims are often made that chelation therapy is a good treatment for cardiovascular disease, multiple sclerosis, mercury poisoning, chronic fatigue syndrome and other long-term conditions. But there is no scientific evidence for any of these
The only chelating treatment that's been proven to be effective is one using the compound EDTA, which is administered intravenously to remove excess metals from the body.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is engaged in a five-year, $30 million study of EDTA chelation therapy in patients with heart disease. It is assessing claims that intravenous chelation strips plaque from arteries, supposedly by removing calcium from it. The study, named the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy, or TACT, is recruiting volunteers and will finish up in 2009.
In the meantime, the future of an oral chelating agent known as deferasiroz, or Exjade, which is used to treat iron overload in the wake of multiple blood transfusions, is in doubt. The drug, approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration in 2005, was put in limbo by a 2007 warning issued by its manufacturer, Novartis, and the FDA saying that some Exjade users experienced kidney failure and other serious medical complications, sometimes resulting in death. Most of the affected patients had advanced, pre-existing diseases of the blood; in a few, their bone marrow had failed.
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