Diabetes & insulin resistance. Since 1965, over 369 studies have looked at chromium in diabetes and insulin resistance. According to a review by Richard A. Anderson, Ph.D., by 1998 over three dozen studies had already been reported on the effects of chromium supplementation, especially as the studies relate to chromium picolinate and people with type 2 diabetes. “Essentially all of the studies employing the more bio-available chromium picolinate have reported positive effects, while there have been varying effects when other forms of chromium have been used,” wrote Anderson. Improvements in glucose, insulin and blood fats have been shown, with increasing effects corresponding to increasing dosage.

 Cardiovascular. According to an April 2002 scientific presentation, “functional chromium deficiency in people with cardiovascular disease may be directly related to a relative lack of chromium in the diet.” Chromium supplementation helps in reducing the risk of early onset of coronary heart disease by reducing the associated risk of complications. After more than three decades of chromium research, supplementation studies have consistently demonstrated significant effects on blood-fat metabolism in humans, which is discussed in numerous studies dating back to 1966.

Chromium’s average improvement in total cholesterol levels (3 percent) can provide a 15 percent reduction in the incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD); a parallel decrease in LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol and an increase in HDL (or “good”) cholesterol can reduce the risk of CHD by two to three percent.

 Obesity. At least 28 studies since 1971 have looked at chromium supplementation in reference to cholesterol and lipid metabolism. Double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have demonstrated that, as part of a healthy diet and exercise program, chromium supplementation can help reduce body fat, increase or maintain lean body tissue (i.e., muscle) and can lead to weight loss. Chromium picolinate supplementation led to increased lean body mass in obese patients on very-low-calorie-diets (1997) and in overall body composition in non-dieting obese subjects (1998, 1996).

Clearly, any safe, effective nutritional compound that can help people lose weight while retaining lean muscle mass in the context of diets that are not severely calorie-restrictive, is a compound worth considering—chromium picolinate is such a compound.

 Depression. A number of recent studies have uncovered key insights into the beneficial role chromium picolinate supplementation plays in the metabolic and biochemical pathways of depressive illness.

Building on pioneering research by the University of North Carolina’s Dr. Malcolm McLeod, Duke University’s Dr. Jonathan Davidson recently published his findings in which chromium supplementation in 15 patients with atypical depression yielded significant improvement in such behaviors and symptoms as overeating, hostility/interpersonal sensitivity, fatigue, depression. In fact, chromium picolinate supplementation brought on a 60 percent rate for full remission of symptoms.

 Other studies. in 2002, 2000 and 1999 contributed to the groundwork for what is becoming a new understanding of chromium picolinate’s role in brain neurotransmission and its connection with insulin metabolism.