Complementary alternative medical care

Heart Disease? Diabetes? The Broad Benefits of Chelation Therapy

One of our patients reported these findings:




Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy Recently Completed by the NIH.













Grab a Cup of Coffee - long article but worth it if you have diabetes or heart disease or want to prevent them.


Chronic degenerative diseases such as atherosclerosis, diabetes and arthritis are called chronic degenerative diseases because they persist over a long period of time. Once the diagnosis of arthritis, diabetes or atherosclerosis is made it is generally accepted by patient and professional that the disease will be present for the rest of the patient’s life.  What may escape notice is the disease process began long BEFORE symptoms were present and the diagnosis was made.  A particularly salient example of this is atherosclerosis.  Often the first “sign” or “symptom” of this disease is chest pain, if the disease is occurring in the arteries in the heart, or leg cramps, if it is occurring in the arteries in the legs.  It could also be a stroke or strokelet if the disease is present in the carotid arteries.  Subsequent to appropriate diagnostic procedures the patient is declared to have coronary artery disease, or peripheral vascular disease (blocked arteries in the legs) or carotid artery disease (blocked arteries in the neck).  While the symptoms may seem to appear suddenly and the diagnosis made in a relatively short period of time, the arterial disease process, which resulted in the symptoms and the diagnosis, started 20, 30 or 40 years earlier.

Let us briefly examine the important parts of this chronic disease process. Our body is composed of approximately 10,000 billion individual cells.  They are designed to perform specific functions.  There are heart muscle cells, designed to contract and pump blood throughout the body.  There are blood vessel cells present in numerous layers including cells that line the inside of the arteries, muscle cells and elastic fiber cells, designed to transport the blood, carrying nourishment to every cell.  Keep in mind that the muscle and elastic fiber of the artery pumps blood along with the heart.  These cells, fibers can become stiff, thus hardening of the artery.   There are liver cells and kidney cells designed to clean the blood.   The health of our individual cells is important then, is it not?  If our cells are healthy, we are healthy, if they are not, we are not.  When numerous cells and other substances in the body incur damage over a long period of time, a disease, for example, atherosclerosis, is diagnosed.  Damaged cholesterol, for example, is deposited in artery walls and is an important part of the atherosclerotic disease process.  This process is ongoing for years and years before it becomes a problem and before obvious symptoms occur.  The result of this damage is the cell’s inability to function normally, a decreased ability to protect itself and perhaps even death and destruction.

Damaged cholesterol is the main ingredient in plaque, NOT undamaged, normal cholesterol.  Medical science has been studying this damage and destruction for many years.  It is known that a significant portion of this damage is caused by something called free radicals.  Free radicals are reactive molecules that cause damage to cells and tissues by robbing them of electrons.   This can happen to the lining of your arteries.  It can happen to cholesterol.  It can happen to the genetic material, the RNA and DNA within the cells.  Virtually anywhere free radicals are present, damage to cells or tissue can result.  Damage from free radicals left unchecked day after day, week after week, year after year results in the inability of cells and tissues to function normally.  Eventually destruction, decreased function and death can result.  The symptoms of disease processes then become obvious.

It is doubtful there is a person in the United States over 40 who does not believe, with certainty, that cholesterol is bad and that it causes blocked arteries.  Most people regard high levels of cholesterol in the diet and in blood akin to a death sentence from atherosclerotic disease.  People believe high levels of cholesterol result in an increased risk of heart attack and stroke when it is only true that a certain type of cholesterol makes up a significant part of the plaque that blocks arteries.  This is the LDL type of cholesterol.  It is not generally understood that it is not the amount of LDL cholesterol in the body that causes the plaque build up, but rather DAMAGED LDL cholesterol that makes up the majority of the plaque.[i]  In other words, when LDL cholesterol is damaged by free radicals, it is much more likely to stay in the artery wall.  If the LDL cholesterol is not damaged, it is less likely to be deposited in the artery wall.  One of the primary effects of a comprehensive chelation therapy program is the potential to reduce free radical damage thus protecting the cholesterol.

Calcium is an important mineral nutrient.  As we all know it is an essential ingredient in healthy bones and teeth.  It is also an important factor in properly functioning cells including muscle cells.  It is well known that calcium becomes an important part of the plaque structure contributing to making it “hard”, hence “hardening of the arteries”.  This form of calcium is called metastatic calcium.  A study from 1944 in the Journal of Pathology discovered evidence of calcium in the walls of arteries, where it should not be, long before there was any plaque formation.[ii]  Although calcium is one of the many nutrient substances is essential for a healthy body it can be destructive.  Another important mode of action of a comprehensive chelation therapy program is lowering of minerals in the body including the metastatic calcium deposited in the body tissues where it does not belong.

Free radical damage can be accelerated significantly if the minerals iron and copper are present in the area where the damage is occurring.  Toxic metals such as lead, cadmium, and arsenic can also contribute to accelerating the disease process and are also carcinogenic.  Another mode of action of the comprehensive chelation therapy program is the removal of toxic metals and excessive iron and copper.[iii]

In summary, there are numerous damaging reactions that occur within the body at the cellular level resulting in the development of many chronic degenerative diseases including atherosclerosis.  A comprehensive chelation therapy program is individually designed for each patient to treat or prevent the disease processes.

Let us explore the component parts of such a program.  A properly prescribed, dispensed and monitored chelation therapy program is composed of three basic parts.  The first part is the intravenous chelation treatment, which removes the metastatic calcium and the iron and copper which accelerate free radical damage.  It also removes toxic metals such as lead and cadmium.  The second part of the program includes specific nutrients, taken orally, that are essential for healthy cell function, and antioxidants as well as other substances to support and enhance the immune system.  Mineral nutrients must be replaced.   The third part of the program is diet and exercise.  Educating oneself about the effects of free radicals and reducing free radical exposure is essential.

Numerous studies, evaluations, and medical papers have been written about chelation therapy over the past 40 years.  Intravenous chelation treatments have been used for over 30 years with children to remove lead from the soft tissues of the body.  It is extremely safe.  Saunders medical textbook, Cardiovascular Drug Therapy, published in 1996, has a chapter dealing with chelation therapy and references 65 scientific articles.[iv]  A recent study published in Evidence Based Integrative Medicine 2005; 2 (1), Insert footnote mark clearly shows evidence of the benefits of a comprehensive intravenous chelation program.  People who had intravenous chelation therapy for vascular disease were followed for three years and experienced fewer cardiac events than people treated with bypass surgery, angioplasty or conventional medical therapy.

Studies have shown that millions of Americans are seeking alternative medical choices and relying less on the usual drugs and surgical medical modalities.  It is encouraging to see that segments of the medical establishment are beginning to agree.  A 1998 article in the American Journal of Medicine states “coronary arteriography (heart catheterization) is inadequate for assessing the severity of diffuse (many vessels) CAD (coronary artery disease)”.  The authors also said that the adverse outcomes of invasive procedures such as bypass surgery and angioplasty outweigh the benefits when performed on patients who have good heart function.  Their conclusion went on to say that this knowledge, which they gathered from 183 references, “… provides the basis for a shift in the management of CAD from an invasive procedure oriented viewpoint currently dominant in cardiology toward a non-invasive orientation.[i]

Chelation therapy is a safe, non-invasive treatment for, and prevention of, chronic degenerative diseases.

Conrad G. Maulfair, Jr., D.O.                                 

[i]  Navab, Mohamad, et al:  The Ying and Yang of Oxidation in the Development of the Fatty Streak. Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology 16:7, 1994.

[ii] Blumenthal, HT, Lansing, AI, Wheeler, PA: Calcification of the Media of the Human Aorta and Its Relation to Intimal Arteriosclerosis, Aging and Disease. The American Journal of Pathology. 10:4, July, 1944.

[iii] Halstead & Rozema: The Scientific Basis of EDTA Chelation Therapy. Second Edition, 1997, Pages 87-91.

[iv] Messerli, FH: Cardiovascular Drug Therapy: Chapter 175, Magnesium EDTA Chelation, Second Edition, 1996, Pages 1613-1617.

v.  L. Terry Chappell et al, Original Research Article, Subsequent Cardiac and Stroke Events in Patients with Known Vascular Disease Treated with EDTA Chelation Therapy, a Retrospective Study.  Evidence Based Integrative Medicine 2005: 2 (1).

Dr. Maulfair's Comments "Its February and It is Heart Health Month."

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, this statistic is not limited to men.  Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in women, not breast cancer, not uterine cancer.  Although a very common health problem currently, coronary heart disease and heart attack date back to the early 18th century.  The first issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, in 1812, included an article about angina (chest pain from coronary artery disease).  Since that time much has changed in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease; unfortunately most of the currently popular treatment modalities do not address the causes of the disease but rather treat the symptoms (the result of the disease).  There are alternatives, there are choices, and there is a better way.

It is believed by the medical profession, and generally accepted by the public, that high cholesterol is the cause of hardening of the arteries, heart attacks and strokes. There is ample scientific evidence to the contrary.  Currently treatment of hardening of the arteries includes lowering cholesterol levels in the blood by diet and or drugs.  One example of the ample scientific evidence suggesting that cholesterol is not a significant factor in heart disease is a study done by the UCLA medical school citing 75% of people who had heart attacks had cholesterol levels within the acceptable range.

It is a fact that cholesterol is a major constituent of the plaque that builds up in an artery. It is also a generally held belief that there is good and bad cholesterol (HDL and LDL).   The simple presence of LDL cholesterol does not make it harmful.  It becomes harmful when it is altered from its natural form. In an altered form it is more likely to contribute to plaque in the artery wall. Damaged LDL cholesterol, when situated in the arterial wall, gets stuck and over time more is added and plaque progresses.  So a key question to ask is not what the LDL cholesterol level is, but rather what may be going on causing damage to LDL cholesterol?

The answer to this question is of critical importance; anything that contributes to free radical damage is the primary culprit.  Insecticides, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, flame retardants, artificial food coloring, artificial food flavoring, sugar substitutes, medical drugs, toxic metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic, uranium and others) are especially damaging to normal cholesterol.

The treatment of coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis in general must then include decreasing exposure to all of the above.  As treatment, removing as much of the above contaminants as possible, already accumulated in the body, is key.  The removal of chemicals is achieved via a sauna detoxification program.  The removal of toxic metals is achieved with an appropriately prescribed comprehensive chelation therapy program.  The importance of the removal of toxic metals and metastatic calcium (calcium located in soft tissues, where it is not supposed to be) cannot be over emphasized.

Numerous studies over the 60 years that chelation therapy has been used therapeutically have shown its potential to improve circulation and as a result, decrease the risk of heart attack, stroke and amputation.  A study funded by the National Institute of Health and reported November of 2012 is the latest study proving chelation therapy decreases heart attack and stroke even in people, who prior to the study, had heart attacks.  The improvement shown was especially significant for people in the study who had heart disease AND diabetes.

So if you have coronary artery disease, or if you have coronary artery disease AND diabetes, you might want to learn more.  The Maulfair Medical Center provides free educational seminars.    Our website is