Chromium is an indispensable trace material.It has a very significant role in glucose metabolism, regulation of insulin levels, and maintenance of normal blood levels of cholesterol, as well as some other lipids.
Chromium is a part of the so called “glucose tolerance factor (GTF), which is a compound in the body, that takes part in modulating the actions of insulin for keeping the level of blood sugar.
Appetite is another thing that chromium can possibly control. Chromium could be found in pewer’s yeast, whole grain cereals, poccoli, prunes, mushrooms and beer.
Some supplements could be found, as chromium salts, for example. Such are chromium polynicotinate, chromium picolinate and chromium chloride. They all work for increasing the absorption and availability compared to isolated chromium.
Claims & Benefits:
· Reduces body fat
· lower insulin resistance and increases sensitivity
· regulates blood glucose level
· Controls appetite and suppresses hunger
· Lowers triglyceride and cholesterol levels
· Increases muscle & lean body mass
The lack of chromium in human’s body is proved to cause glucose intolerance and insulin resistance, both found in people with diabetes. As mentioned above, chromium takes part in regulating the action of insulin.
Its supplements can also have a significant effect on maintaining the normal levels of blood sugar and cholesterol, as well as controlling the sweet cravings of people that have problems with appetite.
However, chromium has a bad reputation because it is not easily absorbed by the body. This is why it is preferred to be combined with other compound that is better absorbing. Vitamins and amino acid derivatives are examples of such efficiently absorbed compounds.
Through the years there have been studies on the chromium supplementation and its peak was in the middle 1980s, when it was suggested that 200mcg per day can have a considerable anabolic effect, resulting in increased muscle mass and, on the other hand, reduced body fat.
However, there’s been some controversy in later medical research on the effects of chromium on muscle and fat mass. There is said to be a balance between the theories stating the beneficial effect and the others – on the position that it has no effect, at all.
The “positive” theories have been blamed of imprecision and usage of inaccurate measures of the body composition. Thus, their conclusions that weight loss could be a result of usage of chromium have been criticized.
However, one thing is for sure about chromium and it is that deficiency is caused by insulin resistance, which supplements can improve. In the United States it is known that the lack of chromium causes insulin resistance in many cases.
Some surveys show that about 90% of the Americans take with food less than the recommended amount of chromium per day. It’s also a fact that people who exercise excrete chromium with the urine. Therefore, people that are active in sports are supposed to take more chromium with food.
For the ones that suffer from diabetes or have problems with overweight, chromium supplements lower the level of triglyceride with nearly 20% and is said to have a positive effect on glucose tolerance and normalizing the levels of insulin.
There are evidences of women who lost up to 50% more fat in a period of 3 months, compared to a placebo group, only by taking 400 mcg of supplements.
*Chromium is a vital contributor to controlling the level of blood sugar, by working with insulin.
*Chromium, also, has a significant role in reducing the level blood cholesterol, which is the main cause of diabetes. Only 200 mcg of chromium per day are enough to decrease the total amount of cholesterol in the body.
*Chromium is commonly used to treat diabetes and hypoglycemia, due to its power to keep blood sugar levels in the limits.
*Chromium polynicotinate or picolinate supplementation helps fight glaucoma and
*Chromium picolate supplementation has the ability to lower body fat and at the same time increase lean body mass
It is true that most of the studies on chromium supplementation show no side effects, though, in some cases mild gastrointestinal upset might appear but it has short persistence and disappears in few weeks to few months. Nevertheless, some anecdotal reports have recently put under consideration some harmful side effects as anemia, memory loss and DNA damage, caused by chromium picolinate.