Chromium Supplements: The Risks
Chromium Supplements: The Risks
Chromium testing is difficult to control and the results are hard to determine. Many experts in nutrition evaluate chromium testing by looking at each individual’s risk of having a chromium deficiency. Chromium deficiency risks increase under a variety of conditions: (1) eating a diet that is high in simple sugars (high sugar diets can increase the amount of chromium that is excreted in the urine by over 300%), (2) high levels of blood insulin in the body, (3) little or no exercise, and (4) eating a diet that is high in refined foods such as sugars and white flour. The difficulty lies in determining whether these four risk conditions indicate whether or not you have a chromium deficiency. Making simple changes in your diet and your lifestyle can help you reduce the risk of chromium deficiency instead of relying on a supplement.
The recommended amount of chromium that you should take every day is about 20 to 35 µg for adults. The amount of chromium you require will vary according to your age and body type. Breastfeeding women should take about 45 µg each day. Children aged 1 to 8 need about 11 to 15 µg. It’s possible to get all the chromium you need from diet alone without having to take a supplement. For example, one cup of cooked broccoli will give you about 22 µg of chromium while 3 ounces of cooked turkey leg will give you about 100 µg. So why are more and more people taking a chromium supplement when they can get the recommended amount from their diet? The answer is that studies are proving that chromium supplements can be beneficial to people who are at risk of diabetes or who already have Type 2 diabetes. However, in order for chromium to be of benefit the studies indicate that you need to take supplements that give you about 1,000 µg of chromium every day.
Results vary when it comes to assessing the risk of taking a chromium supplement. Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that any time you’re taking a mineral supplement you might be at risk for adverse side effects. Chromium picolinate, one form of chromium supplement, is a metal. Any time you put a metal into your body there are sure to be changes to your body chemistry. Most studies indicate that the benefits of a chromium supplement far outweigh the small side effects that you might experience, such as headache or loss of appetite. The end result of most testing is that taking chromium supplements present little or not risk.