Chromium Picolinate

Obesity significantly increases the risk for the development of Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Chromium supplementation [Page 146]has variable effects on body weight and body composition in people with and without diabetes. Chromium picolinate is a popular dietary supplement in the United States. The clinical response to chromium supplementation depends on chromium status, diet consumed, type and amount of supplemental chromium, and study duration. Chromium picolinate is a compound made up of a combination of the element chromium and picolinic acid. Chromium is a naturally occurring mineral. Trace amounts of chromium are found in everyday foods such as meat, poultry, fish, and whole-grain breads. When foods are processed, they are stripped of natural chromium, making American diets generally very low in Chromium; studies estimate an average daily chromium consumption of 33 mcg. Recently, studies from Harvard University of Public Health and Johns Hopkins University reported that low Chromium status is associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Chromium can be found with other ingredients in many herbal weight-loss products readily available at the local drugstores or on the Internet.

There have been no confirmed negative adverse events or side effects of using chromium picolinate supplementation in any of the controlled clinical trials. Based on the past three decades of research on chromium picolinate supplement, it has potential benefits on decreasing insulin resistance, thereby decreasing diabetes risk, and lowering elevated cholesterol. In a recent study, the addition of chromium picolinate to a regimen consisting of a sulfonylurea in subjects with type 2 diabetes improved glycemic control, increased insulin sensitivity, and significantly attenuated body weight gain as compared to sulfonylurea only. These subjects demonstrated less increase in percent body fat and less accumulation of visceral, subcutaneous, and total abdominal fat in those subjects randomized to chromium picolinate. However, in non-diabetics, chromium picolinate supplementation had equivocal results on glycemic control and weight loss.

In individuals without diabetes, chromium supplementation showed decrease in weight and fat in three larger studies. Most of the studies reporting no change in body weight may be due to specific discrepancies in study design, such as subject selection, sample size, exercise pattern, diet, end-point measures, baseline body fat percentage, variation in diets, population, measuring body fat distribution techniques, urinary chromium, and follow-up for a relatively short duration. Chromium supplementation has at best modest effects on body weight or composition in individuals with diabetes. In the 1990s, there were a few human and animal studies supporting claims that it is a “safe alternative to steroids” for increasing strength and lean muscle mass.

In a recent meta-analysis, it was observed that there was a significant differential effect on body weight found in favor of chromium picolinate (mean difference: –1.1 kg; 95 percent confidence interval (CI): –1.8 to –0.4 kg, n = 489). Sensitivity analysis suggests that this effect is largely dependent on the results of a single trial (mean difference: –0.9 kg; 95 percent CI: –2.0 to 0.2 kg, n = 335). The clinical relevance of the effect is debatable. Austrian scientists reported in a study with 36 obese patients that chromium picolinate is able to increase lean body mass in the maintenance period after a very-low-calorie diet without counteracting the weight loss achieved. Recent reports suggest that chromium picolinate enhances the activity of insulin, thus significantly aiding the body's glucose and fat metabolism, and in managing the breakdown of glucose and fat. Activated mediated protein kinase (AMPK) integrates nutritional and hormonal signals in peripheral tissues and the hypothalamus.

...