Chelation Therapy for Heart Disease? The Hype Doesn't Hold
If you're like me, you use social media to follow dog accounts because the dogs are all very good boys. If you surf the dark corners of the internet where people with no medical training dole out medical advice without any qualifications, then you may have heard someone talk about heavy metals — and no, I don't mean the music.
Heavy metals — things like mercury, lead, arsenic, and iron — supposedly cause everything from heart disease to autism. Now, you might be saying to yourself, 'Wait a second, lead poisoning isn't good for you. I learned that in medical school.' You are right, but the problem here is that people are using this factoid to push chelation therapy on an unsuspecting public.
Now, if you don't know, chelation therapy is a medical procedure where you remove heavy metals from the body. This is obviously useful in cases of acute lead poisoning, for example. It isn't going to cure autism, and it's certainly not going to reduce your cardiovascular risk.
However, about a decade ago, the TACT trial suggested that it did.Now, there were problems with this study, such as a high dropout rate, maybe blinding failed, and numerous interim analysis. To make a long story short, even with all these caveats, the benefit was mainly limited to people with diabetes.
A confirmatory follow-up study was planned. TACT2 was supposed to settle this issue definitively, and it was negative.
If someone tries to sell you chelation therapy, don't buy it. It doesn't prevent heart disease, it doesn't treat autism, and it's potentially dangerous. It took over a decade and how many millions of dollars for us to figure it out, but at least it's done now.
For Medscape, I'm Dr Christopher Labos.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Merck & Co (MRK) Announces the Approval of ENFLONSIA
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is one of the 11 Best 52-Week Low Stocks to Buy Right Now. On June 26, Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) announced that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has approved ENFLONSIA for preventing respiratory syncytial virus in infants younger than 8 months. The recommendation is provisional and is pending the final approval of the CDC Director or the Health and Human Services Secretary. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) noted that ENFLONSIA is the first and only RSV preventive option administered to infants using the same dose regardless of weight, simplifying dosing logistics. Moreover, earlier this month, the FDA approved ENFLONSIA based on the strong clinical trial data from the Phase 2b/3 CLEVER and Phase 3 SMART trials. The results showed a 60.5% reduction in medically attended RSV lower respiratory infections and an 84.3% reduction in RSV-associated hospitalizations. A close-up of a person's hand holding a bottle of pharmaceuticals. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a global healthcare company that operates through two main business segments including the Pharmaceuticals and Animal Health Segments. It is known for Keytruda and Gardasil, which are the main sources of the company's revenue. While we acknowledge the potential of MRK as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
People Are Sharing The Habits That Completely Destroyed Their Quality Of Life, And It's A Cautionary Tale
We all make mistakes, but sometimes we pick up a bad habit that is so significant that it digs us deeper into a life hole. On the popular subreddit r/AskReddit, Reddit user u/Unlikely_Bid8892 asked: What's something you did that reduced your quality of life so much that you wish you had never done it? The results were brutally honest and will make you rethink your life choices: 1."Taking on student loans." —u/Beautiful-Signal7249 2."Worked 12-hour days for a job that wasn't worth it." —u/sylphdreamer 3."Neglect my body for years. Almost no movement. Rather poor hygiene. Horrible food. And little to no sleep." —u/Sad_Fee_4104 4."Succumbed to my food After two years of extreme dieting and exercise, I lost a significant amount of weight and achieved the best shape of my life, feeling very good about myself. Once I got down to an ideal weight, I didn't know what to do with myself anymore. I didn't know how to maintain it. I started eating horribly again and am now, just over a year later, at the heaviest point in my entire life. I binge eat to the extreme, and I'm pretty powerless to stop it. It affects pretty much every aspect of my life to some degree, and it's a very depressing feeling." —u/NocturnaPhelps 5."Bulimia for 15 years since I was a teen. All because my mom signed me up for Weight Watchers as a kid, since I was a little chubby. Never felt thin enough. Ruined my teeth and digestive health. 10/10 do not recommend." —u/ghostbustrnutclustr 6."Trying to impress people who don't GAF about you." —u/Brave_Calendar_941 7."Decided to give working in a warehouse a shot. Quality of life went from 90% to below 50%." —u/F3Grunge 8."Isolated myself for years. I'm not sure it could really have been otherwise with the issues I had, but it annihilated my social circle." —u/NuclearSoil 9."Living with a boyfriend who rages." —u/Equivalent_Hair_149 10."Vaped. Been nine months without it, and still cough and get winded easily. Used to sing as well and I can't hit notes for shit these days." —u/Ok-East-8412 11."I was jumping on our kids' trampoline and I hurt my back, and I've suffered sciatica pain all these years since. My life would be so much better if I had not thought jumping on a trampoline would be good exercise." —u/AvailableBreeze_3750 12."Spent years to impress the girl I like, I should have given that attention to my own self instead, improving my life." —u/OkAccess6128 13."Holding out for a management position instead of moving on. He won't retire. The man is mid-70s." —u/Funkyp0tat0chip 14."Trying to please people." —u/OrchidCrushxoxo_ 15."Not wearing earplugs at concerts." —u/organicbooger 16."Moved to a new province (state) thinking I needed a fresh start, but in reality I was just running from my problems!" —u/Smooth_Raspberry_007 17."Running too much in bad shoes. Now I have arthritis in my foot and I can't run anymore." —u/justablueballoon 18."GET INTO DEBT!!!" —u/ImpactSmooth299 19."Overeating." —u/Different_Cat7932 20."Caring for others who do not give a damn about me in return. Wasted far too many sleepless nights on people who wouldn't give a flying monkey if I was in a situation like theirs." —u/Party_Phrase2445 21."The wrong partner will wreck your life. I've been there, done that." —u/Top-Car-808 22."I went rock climbing one day without a helmet on. The first time I didn't have it on was on the day it was needed. A Severe TBI is an injury I wish upon no man, woman, or child." —u/Impressive-Dog-408 23."Smoked." —u/Verlin_Wayne 24."Going to prison at 19 for selling weed. In the end, it worked out. I've since graduated from college and have a nice engineering job and a great life. It was a rough patch in my life for sure. Freezing, stuck in a prison cell in Joliet for 77 days, I went weeks without showers or seeing sunlight. Then, I was shipped off to boot camp for 4.5 months to be further denigrated. In the end, it caused me to grow up and prioritize what I want in life. Worked and paid my way through a 2-year community college, followed by a MIS degree at a 4-year University. Life hasn't been perfect, but I always have perspective on a 'bad day' in that I've had it much worse." —u/leprechanmonkie 25."Putting effort into people who didn't do the same for me. Then getting anxiety over it." —u/MeltyFrog 26."Stayed in my college major even after I knew it wasn't for me. I wasted a lot of time that I can never get back." —u/SororitySue 27."Skipped the mammograms cause I had an 'it'll never happen to me' attitude when I was younger. Now I'm lying on a bed at a breast center waiting to get five biopsies for suspicious spots." —u/Snowfall1201 28."Being understanding when someone treats/talks/screams at you like shit. Don't stand for it." —u/Hangytangy 29."Ever touching nicotine." —u/titsmuhgeee 30."Drinking wine every night." —u/OpheliaJuliette 31."I left Walmart after 15 years to be a store manager at Starbucks —worst mistake of my life. I remember nights when I was there, ten after a closer called off, to have an opener call out, and knowing I'd have to wake up in four hours and work another shift, hoping the same thing wouldn't happen again. It was just awful, and the stories I'd hear from interviewing people made me realize how bad fast food was. People from other companies wanted to work at Starbucks cause those places were even worse." —u/bendystrawboy 32."Social media. It has seriously messed with my attention span. And I can't even remember how to enjoy free time without checking it every five minutes." —u/NeonPinkBag 33."Married young, at 18, now 61 divorced, wish I had planned my life better for my future first before I got married, I just didn't want to be alone." —u/Ok-Dependent4293 finally, "Dwelling on the past." —u/Ball2daW-all The National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text 'NEDA' to 741741. The National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline is 1-800-950-6264 (NAMI) and provides information and referral services; is an association of mental health professionals from more than 25 countries who support efforts to reduce harm in therapy. Is there a bad habit that you feel has derailed your entire life? Comment below on what you are doing to change it!
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Morton legend Andy Ritchie reveals how he discovered he'd had two heart attacks
In the past few months in these columns, I have addressed a number of sports from football to snooker, darts, horse racing and now, of course, I am enjoying the tennis at Wimbledon. If you have been following closely, and I am grateful that you have, you may have noticed a pattern: all my sports activity has come from being parked on the sofa in front of the telly. Advertisement Now, there was always a school of thought that, if I wasn't kicking a ball, I would be lying idly in front of the box. I can tell you – not true. Well, mostly not true! Andy Ritchie reveals the health concerns that have affected him over the last 18 months or so. (Image: George Munro) However, the reason I am not out much has been, regrettably, a wee downturn in my physical health. I have felt for the best part of the last 18 months that I was not in full vigour, and I was putting that down to a lot of factors. I now know, that really since the turn of the year, my health has deteriorated and, after a spell of not feeling myself, I eventually went to a doctor who referred me to a consultant. Advertisement I have had an ECG, I'm waiting on an angiogram, and my medication has increased - because, according to said consultant, I have had a couple of what I believe are called 'cardiac episodes'. In plain talk, that means heart attacks. Two of them. Naturally, I couldn't be happy with just one. I needed the full bhuna with nan bread. READ MORE: I have also become aware in my local manor that there has been a bit of talk about this and, before the dam bursts, so to speak, I wanted to let everyone know in my own way. This sort of news can travel faster than a Carlos Alcaraz forehand, so I wanted to be in charge of the story. Advertisement So, where am I now? Well, as I said, the angiogram awaits, and from there, a precise course of treatment will be acted upon. That could range from even more meds up to a possible bypass. We shall see. Of course, the worst thing about this, and don't judge me, is that the fags are on their way out. I have smoked for over 50 years, even as a professional player. Then again, so did Johan Cruyff and John Robertson, so I am in good company. Andy Ritchie says that after more than 50 years he's given the fags the boot. (Image: Archant) I have curtailed my habit and, going forward, I will conquer it - not least of all because of Robin, my local pharmacist, who is helping me with this one. Advertisement Night times are difficult because the new meds disrupt my sleeping pattern, but on the whole, I am generally fine and looking forward to the new season. I just felt that I wanted to share this with the good folk of Inverclyde who have shown me many kindnesses in the past. Hopefully, I will see some of you in due course perhaps at Cappielow but do not offer me a ciggy! Onwards and upwards, folks!
