In the 50's when more things had been done in laboratories and where the rules of ethics didn't apply, the studies on chrome revealed that our bodies need chrome in order to benefit from glucose more.
We need chrome to make insuline work properly. Chrome takes part in a substance called "glucose tolerance factor" and increases the function of insulin to the optimal level so that the body can benefit from glucose better. Chrome has been used in diabetic people since 70's with the aim of regulating blood sugar.
Chrome also helps different types of lipids to be produced in the body and to be used as energy fuel (But such effects are not so evident that we can describe as "miracle" neither in the case of chrome nor the others. In fact, chrome is a "trace element" so it's found in very little numbers and does its work at those levels. Therefore, chrome's contribution is only can only between narrow limits.
The other point is that the chrome deficiency can be observed commonly among the US citizens while it's not the case in the citizens of other countries. One possible reason of it may be the refinement of grains (the braken being taken away) which caused the loss of chrome.
Usually %0.2 of chrome is excreted from body by urine. The daily intake is usually 10 mcg/day. So normally 0.2 mcg chrome is taken away from the body a day. If the intake increases up to 40 mcg/day then the excretion escalates to %0.5. Besides, exercise increases the excretion of chrome.
The main way of taking chrome away from the body is feces. We usually excrete the most of the chrome by feces without even being utilized.
Our daily requirement of chrome is 13 mcg per each 1000 calories that are taken daily from diet. So it's roughly 35 mcg for an adult male and 25 mcg for an adult female. The insufficient intake of chrome have been stuided and it was shown that the utilization of glucose by the body was disrupted and blood cholesterol levels increased as well. Because the lack of chrome caused the insufficient utuilization of fat as fuel. The sypmtoms in these people got better when 250 mcg/day chrome treatment was carried out.
The daily chrome requirement of the elderly, pregnant, alcoholic and the ones that follow low-calorie diet is higher because they lose more chrome than the other.
The chrome deficiency may also cause weightgain, fatigue, thirst, urinary tract infections and frequent urination. If we look at such outcomes with caution, we can see that most of the symptoms are the same symptoms that can be observed in the case of diabetes. In fact, the deficiency of chrome disrupts glucose mechanism so the symptoms are similar to the cases of diabetes and dyslipidemia (the disruption in the levels of blood lipids).
The excess intake is problematic as well. But the absorption of chrome is low and as we've mentioned before, the most of the chrome is excreted without being used in the body. So the toxicity that it would cause seems improbable. But there's a type of chrome which has 6 valence electrons (Cr+6). That type of the chrome is carcinogenic and mutagen.It was shown that the chrome powder caused an increase in the risk of stomach and lung cancers. Besides, it creates a burden on liver and kidneys. Therefore, the chrome supplementation is not recommended in the case of liver and kidney diseases.
But here's a thing: It's a really difficult task to reach the toxic levels via diet. With pills, maybe. The exposure during work like chrome processing or in the making of glass, steel or coating may take place and cause toxicity. Up to 200 mg a day, it's safe. But above that, the risk of lung cancer and the disruption in liver functions escalated.
The best food sources of chorme are grains, meat, fish and offals. Therefore, if we eliminate the bran of a grain kernel, a significant amount of chrome is eliminated as well. So the importance of the consumption of wholemeal food is higher for diabetic people. The secondary sources of chrome are egg yolk, wine, mushroom, potato and fruits.
Kromun en iyi besinsel kaynakları tahıllar, etler, balıklar ve sakatatlar (1,2). Dolayısıyla daha önceden de sözünü ettiğimiz gibi, tahılları kepek kısmını almak yoluyla saflaştırma işlemi sırasında kromdan kayıp yaşanıyor. Bu yüzden şeker hastalarının tam tahıl ürünlerini tüketmeleri biraz daha anlam ve önem kazanıyor. Tahıl, et ve sakatatların yanı sıra yumurta sarısı, şarap, mantar, patates ve meyveler de ikinci derecede önemli krom kaynaklarıdır (2).
Now we can get to the point since we build a knowledge on chrome. It's being used lately as a weight loss product. We can see it being merchandized as "CrP" which is a form of chrome that can be absorbed better in the body and it's called "chrome picolinate".
There 7 stuides between 2006-2016 on that. After that, not that much (There's a study which states that chrome picolinate was shown to be effective but it points out to the sources dating back to 1998 and before, so many things have changed since then). But thank God, all of those studies are randomised control studies. But all of them are short in duration (2-6 months, to be precise. It should have been longer than 6 months, sorry) and were carried out with small groups. Some of them were carried out with type-2 diatebic people, some carried out with overweight people who doesn't have any complications (Complications are the side-problems brought along by a health problem).
Kleefstra and colleagues worked with 46 people in 2006. Participants followed a weight loss diet as well. The duration was 6 months. They were divided into 3 groups. The first group took 250 mcg/day of CrP, the 2nd took 500 mcg/d and the 3rd took placebo (the control group). There weren't any changes in the placebo group while the first two gruops gained weight.
Anton and colleagues worked with 42 women for 2 months. The first groups of them were given 1000 mcg CrP a day while the 2nd were given placebo. The 2nd group gained 0,5 kilogram while the 1st lost a half. Some of the participants of placebo group left the study. Overreaction... (I'm just joking. We've never been a participant in such a study, we can't know what they had been through).
Iqbal and colleagues worked with 66 people for 4 months and the participants were given 500 mcg CrP a day. The mean weight loss was 0.1 kg. There weren't any side effects.
Yazaki and colleagues worked with 80 people in 2010 and the participants were given 500 mcg/d CrP and an educative program as well. The participants gained 0.1 kg per a square meter of body surface whereas the placebo group maintained their weight. Besides, there were some side effects in this study. Some of the participants experienced urticaria.
Cefalu and colleagues worked with 137 people for 6 months in the same year. The gave the participants 500 mcg CrP/d and have the participants follow a weight-maintaining program. Lo and behold, they gained 0.8 kg! Tian and colleagues carried out a meta-analysis by gathering the studies which had the duration varying between 2-6 months. CrP doses varied between 200-1000 mcg in those studies. 3 of the total 9 studies had side effects. The mean weight loss was 1.1 kg. In the same year, Brownley and colleagues worked with 24 people who had binge-eating disorder (In the case of binge disorder, people consume excessive amounts of calories like 2000 in a short time period like 2 hours). The medium dose (600 mcg/d), high dose (1000 mcg/d) and the place group were the groups in this study. At the enf of 6 months, the high-dose group gained 0.2 kg and medium-dose group gained 0.1 kg per each month. 4 people in the medium-dose group, 2 people in the high-dose group and 3 people from the placebo group had headache (Placebo group overreacting again...). Some of them even left the study: 1 from high-dose, 2 from medium-dose and of course, 4 from place group. SAFETY
If CrP is applied without a caloric gap being created, chrome doesn't contribute to weight loss. When we look at the studies by thinking "Let's hope, at least, that there are now side effects", we see that 6 of the total 9 articles between 2006-2019 showed side effect cases. 2 of them stated that those side effects were not significant but they didn't say whether they were mild or at a level that can be called "moderate". Besides, there isn't any study that reports whether or not there's difference in side effects when compared to the placebo groups.
Side effects are usually urticaria, nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, vertigo, bloating etc. Some of them are mild to moderate and some of them are severe. So severe that it would make people stop using it.
Consequently, if you're going to take CrP, keep its possible side effects in your mind. What healthcare workes should do is to observe that person well and select the correct person who'd use it.
THE MARKET OF CRP
Needless to say that weight loss products should be sold in order to make things work in the industry. So as we're going to mention in our articles, such products are sugar-coated, presented in an attractive package (figuratively) and even as "savior". Taken all the things aside, how is the market of CrP?
If we look at different brands, it's hard to say that there's a balance in prices. Some sells 60 tablets from 20 TL, some sells the same amount over 100 TL. Some sell 100 tablets from 55 TL, some from 35 TL (And these are the prices of 2019). CONCLUSION
CrP doesn't seem to be contributing to weight loss. If weight loss is desired, a caloric garp should be created (Around 500-1000 calories) and a long-term (at least 6 months) diet program should be followed. The best thing that one can get from a diet program is to acquire healthy eating as a habit. In other words, if you get back to what you do before diet program immediately and give up on what you did during dieting progress completely, then it means that that program achieved nothing. Okey, it may achieve something in terms of figures but one of the main targets of diet program is to "teach". We expect people to internalize the things that a healthy diet program emphasizes. So... gotta be patient :) #diet #health #dieta #salud #diät #ernährung #gesundeernährung #диета #питание #здоровье #диетолог #dietasaludable #sağlık #yaşam #istanbul #antalya #alanya #turkey #nutrition #weightloss #nutrition #nutritionist #dietitian #nutricionista #ernährungsberater #english #deutsch #alemán #german #spanish #espanol #spanisch #swedish #schwedisch #sueco #russian #russisch #ruso #русский язык #anlatilke #tellmeilke #diet #healthydiet #dietitian #nutricionista #ernährung #gesundeernährung #gesundessen #ernährungsberatung #диета #диетолог #здороваядиета #питание #здоровоепитание #salud #dietasaludable #nutricionistaesportiva #sportsnutrition #sports #fitness #alanya #antalya #istanbul #turkey #lahmacun #baklava #sourdough #chips #bratwurst #glühwein SOURCES 1-Beslenme, Prof. Dr. Ayşe Baysal, Hatiboğlu Yayınları, 2012, sayfa 148-149. 2-Diyetler ve Gerçekler, Prof. Dr. Emel Tüfekçi Alphan, Hatiboğlu Yayınları, 2016, sayfa 80-81. 3-The safety and effectiveness of commonly-marketed natural supplements for weight loss in populations with obesity: A critical review of the literature from 2006 to 2016, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Warton et al, 2019. 4-https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6315740/ 5--https://www.vitaminler.com/c/krom-142) 6-https://solgar.com.tr/urun/chromium-picolinate-200-mcg/0866)
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