Benefits of Chelation Therapy

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Benefits of Chelation Therapy

Reduces Free Radical Activity in The Blood

http://holisticonline.com/Chelation/chel_ben_free_rad.htm

 

We can think of our cells in the body as miniature factories. Inside

the cell, the digestive process is going on. That means converting

the raw materials into energy and protein compounds. Like in a

factory, there are mechanisms to transport material within the cell

as well as mechanisms to transport material to and from the cell. In

our body, these mechanisms are performed by complex enzyme activity.

 

The skin that surrounds a cell controls what goes in and what goes

out of it. (It is like the shipping and receiving department in a

factory.) The active cell membrane is made up of lipids

(Cholesterol), proteins and water.

 

As explained in " The Story of Free Radicals " below, free radicals

can cause lipid peroxidation (fat becomes rancid). Like in the

factory example, if the shipping and receiving department is not

functioning properly, it can cause chaos; the whole factory will go

out of synch. It does not get raw materials in time or cannot ship

out waste products and finished products out. In the body, this is

the beginning of the cell degeneration. (In case of factory, it will

go out of business.)

 

This is what happens when atherosclerosis begins in an artery wall.

The majority of lipid peroxidation activity involves the presence of

metal ions such as iron, copper or calcium. EDTA effectively locks

onto these ions, preventing their destructive action. Proponents of

Chelation Therapy claim that EDTA can reduce the production of free

radicals by up to a million-fold!

 

Research over the past 30 years has confirmed the benefits of EDTA.

This protective influence of EDTA would be enhanced by an

appreciable presence of antioxidant nutrients such as vitamins A, C

and E, selenium, and amino acid complexes such as glutathione

peroxidase. These not only mop up free radicals but also assist in

reinforcing the stability of cell membranes.

 

The Story of Free Radicals

 

Free radicals are the highly unstable chemicals that attack,

infiltrate, and injure vital cell structures. Most stable chemical

compounds in the body possess a pair of electrons. Sometimes, one

member of the electron pair gets stripped away. The resulting

compound (that is short of one electron) is called a free radical.

 

In chemistry, the term free radical means that it is now free to

combine with another element to form a new stable compound. One way

to think of free radical is the way our social system work. In a

family there is husband and wife. They are joined together. Both

are " tied up " or not available for other partners. Let us assume

that they get 'separated'. Now we have two " free " persons who are

looking for other partners to partner with. The way free radicals

work, one of these free spouse go and break up a stable marriage of

another couple, by joining with one of the spouses. This results in

the ouster of a person from that family creating a brand new " free

radical " who goes around prowling to find another " compound " to

attack. You can see that free radicals can do lot of harm by forming

a chain reaction.

 

A similar thing happens with free radicals in the body. When a free

radical is born, it goes around the body looking for another

compound to steal an electron from. This breaks up the " contented "

couple, that results in releasing another free radical, and so on.

While on the prowl, these free radicals (which are really the

oxidation products from the body) can do tremendous damage to the

delicate machinery of your cells. The most studied free radical

chain reaction in living things is lipid peroxidation. (The term

lipid refers to any fat-soluble substance, animal or vegetable.

Peroxidation means the formation of a peroxide molecule. These are

the molecules with the greatest proportion of oxygen molecules. For

example, a water molecule has two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen

atom. Hydrogen peroxide has two Hydrogen atoms and two oxygen atoms.

In other words, there is an excess oxygen atom in a hydrogen

peroxide molecule.)

 

Ninety eight percent of the oxygen we breathe is used by tiny

powerhouses within our cells called mitochondria, that convert

sugar, fats and inorganic phosphate by combining with oxygen into

adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the universal form of energy we need

to live. This energy producing activity of the mitochondria involves

a series of intricate, complex and vital biochemical processes that

depends on vast numbers of enzymes (estimates vary from 500 to

10,000 sets of oxidative enzymes). These, in turn, depends on dozens

of nutrient factors and co-factors. In this metabolism process, a

very small amount of left over oxygen loses electrons, creating free

radicals. These free radicals burn holes in our cellular membranes.

Calcium penetrate our cells through these holes. This excess calcium

results in cell death. This, in turn, weakens tissues and organs. As

this damage continues, our body become " rusty " , less able to fight

other invaders such as cancer, hardening of the arteries, premature

aging, and other bodily disorders.

 

Because of the amount of oxygen we breathe every day (our bodies

take 630 quadrillion damaging oxygen hits per day, each of our cells

takes about 10,000 hits per day and each DNA strand in the cell gets

hit 5,000 times per day. This free radical bombardment causes a

typical human cell to undergo thousands of changes or mutations

daily. If a DNA strand gets hit and is not repaired before its twin

gets hit, we will have the onset of a potentially lethal cancer.

 

In addition to the oxygen we breathe, the free radicals can also

come from such things as environmental pollution, radiation,

cigarette smoke, chemicals, and herbicides.

 

The key to having a healthy body is to repair the damages caused by

the free radicals before it is too late, and to protect the body's

tissue cells from the free radicals before they cause mutations.

Antioxidants are substances that have free-radical chain-reaction-

breaking properties. Like a bouncer, the antioxidants deactivate

potentially dangerous free radicals before they can damage a cells'

machinery. Most of these antioxidants come from plants and are

called phytochemicals. More than 60,000 of such plant chemicals are

identified. Among the most effective and dedicated antioxidants are

Vitamin A, C, and E (known as the ACE trio.). Out of these, Vitamin

C is the most powerful.

 

Each cell produces its own antioxidants. But the ability to produce

them decreases as we age. That is why our diet should supply anti-

oxidants, phytochemicals ( fruits and vegetables are a good source

for this.) and additional vitamins and minerals.

_________________

JoAnn Guest

mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest