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EDTA and nutraceuticals,’ administered by the patient at home. colleagues are calcified. At least three sitting US women governors Note that this was not intravenous chelation, which has been have had it in breast cancer as well. And they are not alone. Media broadly analysed and critiqued, but, instead, a mix of oral and types who cover politics or poke fun at it haven't escaped. Larry suppository treatments. King and David Letterman are both calcified, as are many ageing In Toledo, Ohio, cardiologist Dr James C. Roberts, who pioneered —_ news anchors. A much younger CBS Early Show co-host, Rene early patient treatment with this approach, has on his website case Syler, has it too. histories from dozens of patients who have shown remarkable As we learn more about it, calcification is competing to be the improvement. In Tampa, Florida, cardiologist Dr Benedict leading medical disorder. Although it is nowhere on the "Leading Maniscalco, who supervised the clinical study [Pathophysiology Causes of Death" list, it contributes to most diseases that kill us, study, referenced previous page], reports that patients who stayedon —_ including heart disease, diabetes and cancer. The numbers are the treatment after the study was completed showed dramatic staggering. For the 60 million Americans who have heart disease, reductions in their heart disease symptoms. There are many more most have calcification. Of the millions of women who develop examples. breast or ovarian cancer or who have breast implants, calcification Normally results such as these, when reinforced by clinical is a warning. Men with prostate disease often have it, as do kidney- studies, however preliminary, would be cause for loud celebration. _ stone sufferers. Athletes with stress injuries like bone spurs and If the findings had been reported by a major pharmaceuticals tendonitis get it frequently. company, they could have easily made the Most of us don't know the pervasiveness of front pages of medical news services because, calcification because it has a different name in until then, no one had reported reversing the many diseases, and here are just a few: dental symptoms of such diseases to such an extent. pulp stones, hardening of the arteries, kidney More encouraging still, because the medicines stones, pitcher's elbow, bone spurs, microcalci- have been around for many years and their fication in breast cancer and "brain sand". side effects are minimal and well known, the Unsuspecting patients aren't the only ones in new approach is already available across the As we learn more the dark Many doctors are unaware of new USA and used with thousands of patients. about it, calcification studies that show calcification is toxic, causing That leaves thousands more doctors with acute inflammation, rapid cell division and millions more patients who might benefit right Is competing to be joint destruction. Oddly, these nasty effects are now. On top of that, a blood test based on the the leading medical wel Known "0 Specialists who study calcifica. new approach has been used to identify hear . ion in arthritis, but awareness of them hasn disease early in patients who show no outward disorder. translated very well to the cardiovascular com- symptoms. munity, with the result that calcification is still Why, then, has the response from gov- ernment authorities, medical associa- tions and health experts been cavernous silence? To understand this requires looking at a scourge that has been with us for mil- lennia, and which science has been at a loss to explain until now. It is known as calcification. misperceived by many as an innocent bystander instead of an inflammatory devil. The double-think about calcification is illustrated by how it is treated in breast cancer. When microcalcification is detected in the breast with routine scans, it is a warning sign for cancer and the deposits are biopsied for malignancies. This was the case, for example, with Connecticut Governor Jody Rell in early 2005. Doctors found cancer in the calcium deposits in her breast before scans detected a tumour. This let them surgically remove it before it spread to For the 60 million Americans who have heart disease, most have calcification. CALCIFICATION Calcification is a rock-hard mix of the most plentiful minerals in the body: calcium and phosphorus. Normally this calcium phosphate mix is essential for building bones and teeth. But as we age, and sometimes when we her lymph nodes. are still young, some of it goes haywire, stiffening arteries, roughing That typifies one perverse advantage of calcification: it helps up skin, destroying teeth, blocking kidneys and salting cancers. doctors pre-empt more serious disease. In some ways, it is a canary The arithmetic is frighteningly easy. Calcification doubles in the _ in the mine of the body. And yet, if cancer is not found in calcium body about every three or four years. We can have it as teenagers deposits, these are often declared as "benign" and patients are told and not notice, although it mysteriously accelerates in some there is nothing to worry about. athletes. Then as we age and also live longer, it becomes so The same thing goes for heart disease. Coronary artery calcifica- endemic that most people over seventy have it. tion is seen as an excellent predictor of the illness. Tens of billions For decades, calcification has been growing imperceptibly in tens of dollars are spent every year on scanning technology to identify of millions of baby boomers. Politicians and pundits are among the _the telltale thin white lines that betray its presence. Yet most doc- high-profile victims of this slow-motion explosion that is ripping tors see calcification in the arteries as something that comes along apart healthcare with skyrocketing treatment costs. In December later once the disease takes hold, despite evidence that calcium 2004, doctors diagnosed US President George W. Bush with one of _ phosphate crystals generate the same type of inflammation that, the more commonly known forms: coronary artery calcification. according to cardiologists, plays a big role in heart attacks. Former President Clinton required emergency surgery because Incredibly, with all the advanced detection techniques, there has doctors missed much of his calcification when they used older tests been no way to find calcium deposits where they get started in the to track it. Vice President Dick Cheney and many of his Senate billions of capillaries in the human body—so, without being able to is competing to be the leading medical disorder. heart disease, most have calcification. her lymph nodes. That typifies one perverse advantage of calcification: it helps doctors pre-empt more serious disease. In some ways, it is a canary in the mine of the body. And yet, if cancer is not found in calcium deposits, these are often declared as "benign" and patients are told there is nothing to worry about. The same thing goes for heart disease. Coronary artery calcifica- tion is seen as an excellent predictor of the illness. Tens of billions of dollars are spent every year on scanning technology to identify the telltale thin white lines that betray its presence. Yet most doc- tors see calcification in the arteries as something that comes along later once the disease takes hold, despite evidence that calcium phosphate crystals generate the same type of inflammation that, according to cardiologists, plays a big role in heart attacks. Incredibly, with all the advanced detection techniques, there has been no way to find calcium deposits where they get started in the billions of capillaries in the human body—so, without being able to 28 = NEXUS As we learn more about it, calcification ; For the 60 million Americans who have www.nexusmagazine.com AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2005