Chromium(III) Picolinate - Health Claims and Debates

Health Claims and Debates

A pilot trial of 15 patients suggested that chromium picolinate might have antidepressant effects in atypical depression. A larger follow-up trial failed to reproduce this effect, but indicated that the use of chromium picolinate could help to reduce carbohydrate cravings and regulate appetite in these patients. A post-hoc analysis of a subpopulation of patients in this study that experienced high carbohydrate cravings suggested that patients treated with chromium picolinate experienced significant improvements in their depression (as measured by the 29-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) compared to those treated with a placebo. A more recent study focused on the effects of chromium picolinate supplementation on food intake and satiety. It indicated that chromium supplementation led to reduced cravings for fat, not carbohydrates.

Some commercial organizations promote chromium picolinate as an aid to body development for athletes and as a means of losing weight. But a number of studies have failed to demonstrate an effect of chromium picolinate on either muscle growth or fat loss.

There are claims that the picolinate form of chromium supplementation aids in reducing insulin resistance, particularly in diabetics, but a meta-analysis of chromium supplementation studies showed no association between chromium and glucose or insulin concentrations for non-diabetics, and inconclusive results for diabetics. This study has been challenged on the grounds that it excluded significant results. Subsequent trials gave mixed results, with one finding no effect in people with impaired glucose tolerance, but another seeing a small improvement in glucose resistance. A further study on obese adults with metabolic syndrome, was published in 2009, this found no significant effect on insulin sensitivity, but increased short-term levels of insulin. The study also observed no effect on weight or serum lipids.

In a review of these trials it was again concluded that chromium supplements had no effect on healthy people, but that there might be an improvement in glucose metabolism in diabetics, although the authors stated that the evidence for this effect remains weak. However, opinions differ on this conclusion, a review published in 2006 argued that these data instead supported the clinical efficacy of chromium picolinate for the treatment of diabetes. In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stated that the "relationship between chromium picolinate intake and insulin resistance is highly uncertain".

Initial concerns were raised that chromium picolinate is more likely to cause DNA damage and mutation than other forms of trivalent chromium, but these results are also debated. These concerns were based, in part, on studies in fruit flies, where chromium(III) picolinate supplementation generates chromosomal aberrations, impedes progeny development, and causes sterility and lethal mutations. However, other studies indicate that chromium picolinate is safe even at very high doses. In mice, one study observed that chromium(III) picolinate supplementation caused skeletal defects in their offspring. However, a two-year study of the long-term effects of this supplement in rats and mice found no effects on overall survival, or on the animal's body weight and food consumption, the authors of this review also found no toxicity beyond an increase in preputial gland adenoma which was tentatively considered equivocal.