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A Closer Look at EDTA

Posted by on June 16, 2010 · 5 Comments 

Tetrasodium Edta is derived from sodium salts.  It is a synthetic amino acid and is used as a chelating agent.  The Greek root of the word chelate is chele which means “to claw”.   The root of the word creates a great visual image of what Edta does as a chelating agent.  Edta “claws” or “binds” minerals, which are necessary components for the growth of mold.  For instance, Edta binds up magnesium which is necessary for mold to grow.  The Research and Development Lab at Essential Wholesale found that alone phenoxyethanol failed as a preservative, but that the addition of minimal levels of Edta to the formulas made a effective broad spectrum preservative system.

Edta is widely used for chelation therapy, which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment for lead, mercury and heavy metal poisoning.  An estimated one million people in America use chelation therapy for this purpose. The NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is currently funding a study to prove the effectiveness of Edta chelation therapy for heart disease.  The American Heart Association recommends chelation therapy for removing toxic metals from the body. More than 1 million Americans and over 3 million patients in other countries use Chelation Treatments for heavy metal detox and plaque removal each year. Chelation Therapy has been used successfully for over 60 years.  An interesting article on Chelation Therapy can be read here.

In chelation therapy, Edta in solution is injected intravenously.  Once in the bloodstream, Edta latches onto lead and other metals to form a compound that can be excreted through the urine.  Food grade Edta is approved by the FDA and USDA for use in foods.  Edta is also used in many foods, for instance mayonnaise and soft drinks, that include ascorbic and sodium benzoate to mitigate the formation of benzene (a carcinogen).  Industrial grade Edta is often used in household products to reduce water hardness.

The Edta molecule has an attraction to heavy metal ions, when the two encounter each other, bonds are formed between the metals and the Edta molecule. Because there is a finite amount of EDTA within a system, the Edta can be fully spoken for in certain conditions. In other words, once bound, the Edta-heavy metal complex is unchanged.  This new complex is negatively charged and is unable to cross the lipid cellular membrane.  Essential Wholesale did extensive testing to determine the lowest level of Edta that could be used in our formulas in order to make them stable while using up all of the Edta’s potential in the finished cosmetic base.

The list of common uses for food grade, pharmaceutical grade and industrial grade Edta is extensive including: biochemistry, molecular biology, analytical chemistry, biomedical laboratories, veterinary ophthalmology, histopathology, chelation therapy, to treat complications of repeated blood transfusions and thalassaemai, dentistry, analysis of blood as an anticoagulant, alternative to heart surgery, sequester metals in the textile industry, pulp and paper industry, food preservative, and cosmetic preservative.

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More about the author:  Kayla Fioravanti is the Vice President, Chief Formulator, ARC Registered & Certified Aromatherapist for Essential Wholesale and its lab division Essential Labs. Read more from this author

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  • http://www.SchoonScientific.com Doug Schoon

    I disagree with much of the information in this article and am disappointed to find this type of misinformation being published on this site. Chelation therapy is sometimes used for medical purposes, but mostly it is fraud. I've talk to hospitals that specialize in treatment of heavy metal poisoning and they claim to do very few of these procedures each year. Chelation therapy is effective when needed, but it is rarely needed. The majority of uses are bogus and the overwhelming majority of people in the world will never need and should never consider having this type of therapy performed. Someone needs to do a much better job of vetting information if you intend this site to become a credible source of information.

  • http://twitter.com/essentialU Kayla Fioravanti

    The point of mentioning chelation therapy and the use of it in medicine is that it is approved as safe for intravenous treatment then it is completely safe for topical application. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), The American College for Advancement in Medicine and others believe that chelation therapy is a valid treatment. There are always going to be arguments for and against an alternative and/or medical treatment. However, none of the arguments on chelation therapy change the fact that in topical application and as a food preservative EDTA is safe and effective.

  • http://twitter.com/essentialU Kayla Fioravanti

    The point of mentioning chelation therapy and the use of it in medicine is that it is approved as safe for intravenous treatment then it is completely safe for topical application. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), NIH National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), The American College for Advancement in Medicine and others believe that chelation therapy is a valid treatment. There are always going to be arguments for and against an alternative and/or medical treatment. However, none of the arguments on chelation therapy change the fact that in topical application and as a food preservative EDTA is safe and effective.

  • http://www.SchoonScientific.com Doug Schoon

    Thanks for your reply. Are there any valid, peerreview scientific study that you can point to that shows chelation therapy is useful beyond treatment for heavy metal poisoning? I would love to see the references and will happily change my opinion if/when the usefulness of such studies are verified. I do agree with the other points in your article and clear, EDTA is safe and effective as a food preservative.

    BTW, I just got this from the AHA website. They did confirm that a study is underway, as you informed us but they start by saying, ” The American Heart Association has reviewed the available literature on using chelation (ke-LA'shun) (E.D.T.A., ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid) to treat arteriosclerotic (ar-te”re-o-skleh-ROT'ik) heart disease. We found no scientific evidence to demonstrate any benefit from this form of therapy.
    Up to now, there have been no adequate, controlled, published scientific studies using currently approved scientific methodology to support this therapy for cardiovascular disease. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American College of Cardiology all agree with the American Heart Association on this point.”

  • David Steinberg

    First, it should always be written EDTA-all caps.

    Commercial material includes the free acid, disosdium, trisodium and tetrasodium salts.

    When added to formulations, it converts to the pH of the product:

    Acid ~pH 3
    disodium pH 6-7
    trisodium 8-9
    tetrasodium 11-12

    Onlt the free acid, disodium and calciumdisodium salts are allowed for ingestion.