Oral chelation is a highly controversial topic among integrative medicine doctors. Some absolutely love it and some think its completely worthless. But what you are about to read could put the argument to rest once and for all. In fact, this new oral chelation product has the potential to make intravenous chelation go the way of the dinosaur — at least for removing toxic metals.
Intravenous chelation has long been the gold standard for removing heavy metals from your body. The fact that heavy metals play a major role in many diseases is becoming accepted even among many conventional medicine doctors. Mercury, for instance, is slowly accumulating in your brain, where it can lead to forgetfulness, poor coordination, loss of hearing or speech, along with more serious problems that could leave you unable to care for yourself.
And that is just touching the surface of the problems heavy metals can cause. Everyone knows that we are seriously poisoned with heavy metals. And, until recently, IV chelation was the best option for removing these metals. Fortunately, its not our only choice.
I recently discovered some surprising information about an oral chelation product that is so powerful, it makes all other oral chelation products pale in comparison. And that includes IV chelation!
The story on this amazing discovery starts in a Hungarian peat bog more than 40 years ago.
During the 1940s and 1950s, farmers from Hungary noticed the health of their cattle raised around the Lake Balaton area. The animals were healthier, grew faster, and were more robust than animals just a few miles away. The Hungarians went to work to find out why. They discovered the secret lay deep in the black material just under the surface. Turns out, Hungary has one of the worlds richest peat bogs — and now they add the material to their animal feed!
I first learned about peat five years ago. Esteemed Vancouver, BC naturopath Jimmy Chan taught me the incredible healing and detoxification powers of peat baths called balneotherapy. Its an old naturopathic tool to aid in detoxification and relief of rheumatic complaints. Peat? I asked. Its dead stuff! But evidence shows that vegetation from the past provides a secret to a healthier life in todays world.
Dr. Chan told me how mineral-rich peat baths are used in naturopathic medicine to treat arthritis, chronic pain, skin diseases, fibromyalgia, and other conditions. I wondered how peat baths could be so therapeutic. Now I know.
Peat is the old organic (plant) material of dense vegetation that is piled up in thick bogs over thousands of years. As the material thickens, it becomes devoid of atmospheric oxygen, which would completely break it down. However, within the decaying vegetation are chemical compounds containing oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen from polysaccharides and lignans in the plant substance.
Bacterial fermentation processes alter these compounds and rearrange them into chemical families of humic and fulvic acids.
If you like to garden, you probably know the word humus. Humus is ultra-rich black earth, prized for optimal plant growth. Humuss secret lies in its high content of humic (and fulvic) acids.
Humic acids are very complex and highly oxidized hydrocarbon molecules, containing a ton of molecular organic acid groups. These organic acids are negatively charged. Metal ions are positively charged. So the acids will attract the smaller metal ions like a magnet and bind them. That is chelation in its simplest description.
The three-dimensional structure of organic (hydrocarbon) acid molecules determines how strong and what affinity the molecule might have for any particular metal. For example, the simplest natural organic acid is acetic acid found in vinegar. Having only one organic acid group (COOH), it can only attract metals with one binding site (one positive electrical charge), such as sodium and potassium. That is why vinegar is so good for you, but also why it cant be used as a general heavy metal chelator.
The best-known chelator, EDTA (ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid) has four acid groups of which two are available for binding metal ions. It can bind metal ions that have one or two positive charges. This covers most metals. But its small size can permit some release of the larger toxic metals, such as lead, as it passes through your kidneys.
Humic acid is a huge molecule. Its tens of times larger and with many more metal binding sites than EDTA. In fact, when I looked at the chemical structure of humic acid, I was taken aback at the amount of possible binding sites on just one molecule — at least 15. This molecule can mold its three-dimensional structure to exactly fit any size and charged metal (one to three charges — aluminum has three charges, and uranium has up to six).
I know this chemistry is a little confusing, so let me give you an analogy that describes how this incredible property works.
Imagine you have a standard baseball glove. If someone throws a regulation-size baseball at you, you can catch it easily with the glove. Now suppose a beach ball is coming. Your glove might catch it, but the large beach ball might easily slip out.
Now picture a monstrous glove. But within the huge glove are innumerable gloves of just the right size, shape, and performance to hold onto any particular size ball. If someone throws a beach ball, it can catch it. If someone throws a volleyball, no problem. This glove can handle any ball.
That is essentially what humic acid looks like chemically — a huge catchers mitt for metals. Within that mitt are innumerable varieties of mitts that can adjust their size and shape to fit any particular target mineral (metal). Theres no chelator in use today that has such an amazing property.
How Peat Chelates Heavy Metals
But here is where this story gets interesting. You see, the molecules are so large that they cant be absorbed into your body from your intestines, or through your skin. So you might wonder how they can work.
They work in much the same way a water softener does. Inside a water softener, there is a membrane.
On one side of the membrane is salt (sodium chloride). Sodium is the metal ion. Your homes water flows on the other side of the membrane. Hard minerals in your water, such as calcium, are exchanged through that membrane for a sodium ion. So your hard, calcium-loaded water is softened, by exchanging the unwanted minerals for a bit of sodium from the salt side of the membrane.
The complex organic acids of peat essentially do the same, only their higher affinity is for the toxic metals. Humic acids bind toxic metals from two to six times more tightly than smaller nutritional metals. In fact, the order of affinity of metals is perfect for detoxification purposes: lead> cadmium> copper> nickel> iron> cobalt> manganese> zinc.
That means that humic acids will grab toxic metals before nutritional minerals. This is incredibly exciting!
But Does It Pan Out Clinically?
Now this amazing story returns to Hungary, where the Hungarian government years ago approved the use of peat extracts for the treatment of systemic heavy metal poisoning.
Hungary is the home of world-famous lead crystal factories. The companies that produce the crystals have to constantly monitor their employees. If their blood levels of lead get too high, they will be pulled out of production and assigned to another job without exposure. So lead monitoring and treatment is very important to this country.
In a fascinating study, researchers selected 60 people, ages 18-60, from the Ajka Crystal Factory. Their blood levels of lead had to exceed 2.4 umole/100cc. Some of the participants were removed from exposure, while others were not. Both groups were given a humic/fulvic acid complex preparation.
In those who were removed from lead exposure during the 12-week study, the mean blood level dropped by 0.26 umol/100 cc. If the workers continued their lead exposure, their reduction was 0.12 umol/100cc or almost half of those removed from lead exposure. Its important to understand here that those who remained in lead exposure still had lead entering their body. But the product was still able to lower their blood levels of the toxic metal.
The average reduction in lead for the total study group was 0.18 umol/100cc. Two of the participants dropped out because of excess gastrointestinal gas and acidity. Of the 58 who finished, 46 had a statistically significant reduction in their lead levels! That is an astounding 79% success rate!
A second study looked at the toxic metal cadmium in industrially exposed workers. In just six weeks of HFC treatment, blood cadmium in alkaline battery workers dropped by 43%. In metal-plating workers, blood cadmium dropped by 17%. Conversely, urine excretion increased in the battery workers. Abnormal markers of liver and kidney function improved, and low iron levels were corrected.
Unfortunately, you cant purchase the same humic/ fulvic acid product here in the States. But there is a product available that is every bit as effective — and its inexpensive.
Next month, Ill show you how effective this product is at chelating mercury — something IV chelation cant do very effectively. Ill also show you how it can chelate uranium (which IV chelation cant touch either) and arsenic. And, of course, Ill show you where to get it and how much to take.