Author
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Anderson, Richard |
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Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 3/18/2003 Publication Date: 4/2/2003 Citation: Anderson, R.A. 2003. Historical perspectives of chromium research [abstract]. Paper No. 10. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: A major breakthrough in chromium nutrition occurred in the late fifties with the discovery that Cr is involved in the control of glucose tolerance. Following the demonstration of the beneficial effects of Cr in children and adults, Cr was shown during the late seventies to reverse the signs and symptoms of diabetes in a woman on total parenteral nutrition. Several studies during the eighties documented the role of Cr in human nutrition and Cr was shown to be involved in controlling both high and low blood sugar through its action on the regulation of insulin function. While most of the studies prior to the late eighties involved Cr chloride or yeast Cr, the majority of the studies during the past two decades usually involved Cr picolinate. One of the most notable of these involved 180 subjects from China with type 2 diabetes. There was a Cr dose response observed on glucose, insulin and lipid variables including a decrease of HbA1c from 8.5 ± 0.2% to 7.5 ± 0.2 in subjects consuming 200 g of Cr picolinate per day and 6.6 ± 0.1% in subjects consuming 1000 g of Cr as Cr picolinate per day for four months. Steroid-induced diabetes in 47 of 50 subjects was also shown to be reversed within 10 days of consuming 200 g of Cr as Cr picolinate three times per day. However, Cr is a nutrient and only one of the factors involved in the control of glucose and insulin metabolism and therefore will only be of benefit to that portion of the population who are deficient or marginally deficient in Cr. The toxicity of Cr is low and there have not been any confirmed studies documenting any negative effects of nutritional levels of chromium in humans or farm animals. |
