Gathering evidence for chromium picolinate
backing the use of chromium in glucose control for people with type
2 diabetes and insulin resistance, suggests chromium maker
Nutrition 21.
A recent conference on chromium picolinate highlighted the evidence backing the use of chromium in glucose control for people with type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance, suggests chromium maker Nutrition 21. Chromium picolinate has been the subject of hot debate recently after a study found that the chemical caused severe genetic damage and affected reproductive organs in fruitflies. However there have been no reported adverse affects in humans, who use the supplement to boost weight loss.
And a recent conference organised by the non-profit Council for the Advancement of Diabetes Research and Education (CADRE) on chromium and its role in insulin resistance, further highlighted the strong evidence backing the mineral, said to be a co-factor of insulin, claims Nutrition 21.
James Komorowski, vice-president of Technical Services and Scientific Affairs at Nutrition 21, maker of Chromax brand chromium picolinate, added: "Several of the scientific investigators at the CADRE summit announced that additional trials using Chromax chromium picolinate are now underway in the US." Komorowski believes that the results of these trials will continue to confirm the mineral's beneficial effects. He also pointed to a study in a recent issue of the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.Taking supplements of chromium picolinate improved insulin function and glucose control in people with type 2 diabetes, according to results of a small trial carried out in India.
The double-blind, placebo-controlled study, led by Basudev Bhattacharya from Calcutta's University College of Medicine, evaluated the effects of a daily 400 mcg chromium intake in 43 people with type 2 diabetes. After 12 weeks, both fasting glucose and post-prandial glucose levels dropped significantly, and there was also a decrease in fasting insulin.
Dr Richard Anderson, US Department of Agriculture's Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, said: "In the context of the CADRE summit and a substantial body of published research, this study by Bhattacharya and colleagues is exciting and substantiates earlier studies conducted in the US, China and other countries."
The demand for supplements to help combat the obesity and obesity-related problems currently gaining pace in the US, certainly makes it worth investigating the mineral further.
