Are Chromium Supplements Dangerous or Just a Waste of Money?
Chromium picolinate is a popular dietary supplement, that has even found its way into diet drinks. Products containing this substance have annual sales of $500 million! A recent scientific paper (PNAS, April 1, 2003, page 3766) reviews two issues: does this supplement have any beneficial effect in terms of reducing body fat, maintaining insulin levels, and controlling glucose concentrations in the blood and do chromium supplements have deleterious effects? The answer to the first question is NO! Statistical studies fail to demonstrate any effects on body composition of healthy individuals taking chromium supplements. Evidence on the second question is mixed. There are isolated reports of deleterious effects of this supplement on humans: anemia, liver dysfunction, and kidney damage, but the significance of these scattered reports is difficult to determine. Some cell culture and rat studies have suggested that chromium picinolate seems to cause oxidative damage and might be mutagenic (ge
