From chromiuminfo.org
Chromium May
Reduce Diabetes Risk
Washington. DC
(November 1, 1997)- Chromium supplements appear beneficial
in the treatment of type II diabetes, suggest the results
of a placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted in China.
The final results of a study appear in the current issue
of the medical journal Diabetes.
The USDA sponsored
study was designed to determine whether supplemental chromium
could help in the control of type II (non-insulin dependent)
diabetes. One-hundred and eighty men and women in China
who were already being treated for type II diabetes received
either placebo, 100 mcg (micrograms) of chromium two times
per day, or 500 mcg of chromium two times per day. The volunteers
continued to take their normal medications and were asked
not to change their normal eating and living habits.
Glycosylated
hemoglobin (HbA1c) values improved significantly after 2
months in the group receiving 1,000 mcg/day of chromium.
The test is a measure of how well glucose is metabolized,
and is considered a gold standard in medicine. These values
were lower in both chromium groups after 4 months. Fasting
glucose levels were lower in the high-dose group after 2
and 4 months. Two-hour glucose values were also significantly
lower for the high dose chromium group after both 2 and
4 months. In addition, fasting and two-hour insulin values
decreased significantly in both groups receiving supplemental
chromium after 2 and 4 months. Moreover, plasma total cholesterol
also decreased after 4 months in the subjects receiving
the high dose of chromium.
"These data demonstrate
that supplemental chromium had significant beneficial effects
on HbA1c, glucose, insulin, and cholesterol variables in
subjects with type 2 diabetes. The beneficial effects of
chromium in individuals with diabetes were observed at levels
higher than the upper limit of the Estimated Safe and Adequate
Daily Dietary Intake," the researchers note.
Both the high-
and low-dose chromium groups had a significant drop in plasma
insulin just two months after beginning the supplements
and a further drop at four months. People with type II,
or maturity-onset, diabetes produce more insulin than normal
in the early stages of the disease, because the insulin
is less efficient at clearing glucose from the blood. Chromium
apparently makes the hormone more efficient.
The study was
a collaboration between USDA investigator Dr. Richard Anderson
and Dr. Nanzheng Cheng. Cheng--a former visiting scientist
in Anderson's laboratory--and her sister Nanping Cheng,
a physician in Beijing. The study participants were recruited
at three Beijing hospitals.
In the U.S.,
it's possible that people with diabetes would need higher
levels of chromium to realize similar improvements because
Americans are larger than the Chinese and eat more fat and
sugar. All of these factors raise the requirement for chromium.
No other studies have seen consistent improvements with
200 mcg.
Anderson also
said he has maintained rats on daily doses of chromium picolinate
or an inorganic form of the mineral several thousand times
above the highest suggested intake for humans with no adverse
effects on the sensitive organs.
There is no Recommended
Dietary Allowance for chromium. The estimated safe and adequate
dietary intake is between 50 and 200 mcg daily. Most Americans
consume less than 50 mcg, Anderson said. He has analyzed
well-balanced diets prepared by dietitians and found them
to contain only about 33 mcg per day.
The study results
appear in Diabetes, November 1997, Volume 46, Number 11.
