Stress Management

Chelation Process Is Very Common in Nature

Our human digestive process is a very good example of how chelation takes place. Digestion and assimilation of foods involves the chelation of protein substances (amino acids) with minerals for transportation to their destinations, or in which blood cells latch on to, and thus acquire, iron. Hemoglobin is a chelate of iron (as is the enzyme catalase, that is used by our bodies to 'switch off' the free radical activity of hydrogen peroxide). When you eat meat or green vegetables which contain iron, after the digestive process has released the iron from the food in which it is bound, it has to be combined (chelated) with amino acids so that it can be carried through the intestinal mucous membranes into the bloodstream.

If you drink tea with your meal, the tannin in the tea will chelate with the iron (forming insoluble iron tannate) before it gets absorbed. In this case, the body does not get any iron from your food. On the other hand, if we take some foods which are rich in Vitamin C (or take Vitamin C supplement) with our iron rich meal, the ascorbic acid (or Vitamin C) will chelate with the iron and enhance and speed its absorption. The iron, once in the bloodstream, is released from the proteins with which it was chelated for transportation.

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