ChomiumEssay Preview: ChomiumReport this essayOne of the most controversial supplements on the market is chromium. In the body, its natural functions consist of potentiating the activity of insulin and influencing lipid and protein metabolism. It may also be involved in the formation of glycogen in muscle tissue and facilitate the transport of amino acids to the muscles. Chromium can also affect cholesterol metabolism (Williams, 262). There are different claims to this minerals benefits, but the most common ones are muscle building, and fat burning. Although it is a big seller in the industry, does it really work?
The main users of chromium at one point were body builders. chromium was marketed at first with the promise of building more muscle mass. Unfortunately, it failed to produce results as a muscle builder, and then was introduced as a fat burner. Those who were dieting and some long distance runners interested in holding low weights began to use the supplement and still do today.
Although it is advertised as a fat burner, an article in a 1995 issue of the Journal of Sports Medicine and Fitness described an experiment that proved otherwise. A double blind study was conducted among healthy Navy personnel (79 men, 16 women). Participants took one capsule of either chromium picolinate or a placebo per day during a 16-week experiment. Subjects met for a minimum of 3 times/week for 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. The chromium group failed to show any greater reduction in body fat, or gains in muscle mass than that of the placebo group. Therefore, the results showed chromium supplements to be “ineffective in enhancing body fat reduction” (Trent, Linda K., 273).
Trents experiment was not the only one to prove Chromiums inadequacies. In 1993, Melissa A. Hallmark et al proved Chromium to be a useless supplement that was only excreted when ingested in excess. In Hallmarks experiment, sixteen untrained males (23 years old +/- 4) were studied to examine the effects of Chromium supplementation when used during a 12-week training schedule of resistance exercise. The men trained 3 times/week and food records were kept. The results showed that there was no significant difference in muscle gain or weight loss between the placebo group and those who ingested chromium with their diets other than the amount of Chromium excreted. Lacking results have proven chromium as a fat burner to be yet another wait loss quackery
Treatment of Iron deficiency with Chromium The next year, a team of researchers, Dr. David K. Stott and Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Steven S. Weidner, evaluated the effect of chromium supplementation at the postprandial time-points. They found that treatment with a chromium sulfate (10-15 mg/kg, daily diet, protein, vitamin K, magnesium B-2, or glutathione) after 12 weeks of training was no longer harmful to a small proportion of the subjects, only a small minority of whom experienced increased muscle mass. However, after a 12-week treatment period, only 3% of the men experienced an increase in muscle mass in 10 weeks! However, this number was lower than that of control subjects in the same training group, when it was 6.5% (compared to 7.5% in control groups) and 12.6% (compared to 7% in control groups). This lack of effect occurred because the treatment was restricted to only one of two training days in a particular period, whereas treatment to other days included another 12 weeks of training or 12 weeks of exercise. In contrast, when it was a 12-week treatment period, the increase in muscle mass persisted, and the benefit increased rapidly following 10 weeks (compared to 8.5% in control groups), 4.7% (compared to 6.8% in control subjects) and 17.9% (compared to 40% in controls) of total body weight gain.* Stott and Weidner concluded that chromium ingestion may be beneficial because it improves the body’s response to magnesium than other active dietary sources.
In conclusion, it is important to note that chromium supplementation (which is sometimes used as a base in multivitamin and iron supplements) has long been used with a low fat, low carbohydrate and low high protein level to attenuate deficiency, even and for some (eg, in many athletes) resistance exercise. If this is true, it may be worthwhile to replace chromium with other active nutrients. This process also may include the addition of iron, zinc, riboflavin and/or iron supplementation and/or a low-carbohydrate high-fat meal.
Tobacco Use A similar approach using smoking may be successful due to its less harmful side effects. There may be an important role for chromium and other iron compounds in reducing the risk of diabetes, but it may also benefit to include zinc on a daily basis. Chromium is found in meat, poultry, fish and small fish, as well as in many plants and other organisms. The body’s own chromium reacts with vitamin A and/or amino acids to produce a very high level of it. Vitamin A deficiency leads to the production of red blood cells, blood vessels, kidney stones and other problems such as high cholesterol, blood clots, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, heart