CHROMIUM (Cr)

General - trace mineral;

• Chromium content of foods consumed in Western countries is low;
• Tissue levels of chromium decrease steadily with age;
• Healthy body contains about 9.0 milligrams (U.S. body content is only 1.7 mg);
• History: identified to be essential in mammals in 1959; first associated with human deficiency in 1966;

Nutrition

• Sources: best: brewer’s yeast, liver; good: meat, cheese, legumes, beans, peas, whole grains, black pepper, thyme, molasses; poor: fruits, processed & refined foods:
• Supplements: chromium salts, acid salts, picolinates, niacinates, amino acid chelates, GTF chromium, multi-mineral & multi-mineral-vitamin supplements;
• Absorption from small intestine; 1 to 2% of dietary chromium salts, but 10 to 25% of GTF chromium is absorbed; GTF is chromium-niacin-amino acid complex;
• Improved by: balanced multi-mineral-vitamin formula;
• Storage: mainly in skin, muscle & fat; also in hair, making hair analysis a reliable way of measuring chromium status;
• Excretion: mainly in urine;
• Metabolism: need increases with high sugar diet;

Functions of chromium

• Improves glucose intolerance, which is decreased ability to remove sugar from blood for cell nourishment, a condition characteristic of diabetes;
• Involved in metabolism of glucose; necessary for energy production;
• Component of glucose tolerance factor, involved in glucose metabolism; binds insulin to cells, potentiating its action in allowing cells to take in glucose; indirectly affects blood fat levels; stabilizes blood sugar levels;
• Stimulates liver enzymes involved in synthesis of cholesterol & fatty acids;
• Chromium lowers high cholesterol & increases beneficial HDL in 50% of people;
• Involved in protein synthesis; increases lean muscle mass;

Quantities

• Measurement: micrograms;
• Optimum: (SONA) average not yet established; suggested 200 μg/day for adults;
• Individual optimum needs to be individually determined; requirement increases with increasing sugar consumption;
• Minimum: (DRI) 30/35 μg/day
• Less than RDA: not measured; estimates suggest 80 to 95% of population gets less than RDA;
• Deficiency from inadequate intake; excess sugar consumption; chromium absent from arteries of people with coronary heart disease; poor absorption; increased requirement;
• At risk: aging & pregnant people; those on diets high in refined foods; those on strenuous exercise programs;
• Symptoms include: lowered insulin activity; abnormal blood sugar levels, producing mental & emotional disorder, irritability, lassitude, weakness & fatigue; glucose levels characteristic of diabetes; impaired growth, elevated cholesterol, fatty deposits in arteries, decreased life span, decreased sperm count, decreased fertility; low plasma chromium levels indicate coronary artery disease;
• Chronic deficiency may result in fatty deposits in heart & blood vessels & elevated cholesterol; increased incidence of diabetes; decreased glycogen reserves; retarded growth; disturbed amino acid metabolism; lean tissue wasting; high blood fats;
• Toxicity: trivalent amino acid chelates are non-toxic; hexavalent toxic (industrial) chromium salts;
• Reversed by: vitamin C converts hexavalent salts to trivalent;

• Usual therapeutic dose ranges from 100 to 1,000 mcg/day;
• May reduce diabetics’ needs for insulin; enhances insulin’s ability to attach to cell membrane receptors;
• Reverses diabetic symptoms, including high blood glucose, weight loss & nerve disorders; improves glucose tolerance; useful in treating hypoglycaemia;
• Lowers high cholesterol in 50% of those with it; increases beneficial HDL & lowers detrimental LDL; protects against heart disease in Cr-deficient people;
• Improves glucose tolerance even in healthy, younger people;
• Useful in treatment of hypoglycaemia, increasing low blood sugar;
• Helps body make better use of glucose; prevents tissue-damaging reactions of glucose with proteins in membranes & perhaps also with nucleic acids;
• Increases lean muscle mass in athletes;