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Return To Diabetes Article Archive   Chromium and Diabetes - Is There a Connection? By Alan Glender Chromium is a heavy metal, quite popular as a weight loss supplement, that may also have some other benefits. Namely, as a moderator of blood glucose levels. In this respect, there is interest in it as a therapy for diabetes. However, the research isn't clear on this. In some studies it has proven effective, and in others not so much. This article will examine the current research and determine if there is a reason to supplement your current diabetic treatment with chromium. In a Nutrition Today study (40(4):189-195), chromium was concluded as being effective for control of blood sugar in diabetics, as well as being accepted as relatively safe. This study involved the use of 900 micrograms of chromium given to diabetic patients. This is quite a large dose, compared to what the FDA recognizes as safe. Does this point to chromium's effectiveness at fighting diabetes? Perhaps. Another study, published in the International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research (2004 May;74(3):178-82), involved diabetic elderly patients, compared with a control group. The group taking chromium picolinate had better glucose tolerance than the group taking a placebo. More verification. But there are some doubts as well. A much more recent study, from 2006 and published in Diabetes Care (2006;29:521-525), followed two obese diabetic groups, one taking chromium in addition to their regular treatment, and one taking a placebo. There was no difference found between the two groups. Now this doesn't help much, does it? And browsing through discussion groups, you can clearly see the confusion. In a discussion on misc.health.diabetes, people are asking if chromium can help their diabetes or not. The replies are just as inconclusive as the above research. One person replied that he thought the successful stories are nothing more than the placebo effect, although we clearly saw two studies that accounted for that. OK. So we seem to be at an impasse. According to a lot of the research, despite some positive results, there just doesn't seem to be enough hard evidence to clearly suggest taking chromium picolinate for your diabetes without question. While it may help control blood sugar, this should be a subjective decision made between you and your doctor. While I do not recommend beginning regular chromium supplementation for diabetes, there are some other possible benefits you may be able to get from it. Would you like to read about the other possible benefits of chromium picolinate? Check out the articles on chromium at http://www.supplementzone.org/chromium. Alan Glender is one of the managing editors and regular contributors to SupplementZone.org, a website devoted to telling you the truth about dietary supplements before taking them. keywords: chromium | diabetes Blood Glucose Monitor System

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