The future of chelation

Kalidas, the chelation practitioner in Florida, said he hopes these new study results will help persuade insurance companies to start paying for chelation.

But insurance companies usually only pay for treatments that are FDA approved -- and there's little chance the FDA would approve chelation for heart disease based on this study, experts say.

"This would never pass muster at the FDA," said Nissen, the former chairman of the FDA advisory panel that examines applications to put new heart drugs on the market.