daisollc.com

Chromium Picolinate supplementation improved body composition in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Body composition

US Navy conducted a study of personnel whose body fat exceeded the Navy’s body fat standard. They had completed a 16-week, supervised fat loss program. All participants exercised but some plus to exercising consumed 400 mcg of Chromium a day and some had a placebo instead. Chromium was found ineffective in enhancing body fat reduction and was not recommended as an adjunct to military weight loss programs.

On the other hand, effects of same doses of Chromium supplementation (400 mcg/day) on body composition and glucose tolerance of mildly obese women during a 9-week weight loss program provided contradictory results. Those obese women who were consuming the Chromium Picolinate and didn’t exercise gained 2 kg, halve of the gain being body fat and halve being muscle mass. Those women who participated in exercise program while taking Chromium Nicotinate had a significant body weight loss with no change in lean body mass. Importantly, they also had a lowered insulin response to a glucose load. What’s more, Chromium supplementation combined with an aerobic exercise program was shown to be more beneficial than exercise training alone in ameliorating glucose intolerance.

Weight Loss

Chromium Picolinate supplementation improved body composition in a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. One hundred fifty-four participants received either a Chromium supplement (200 or 400 mcg/day) or a placebo for 72 days. Body composition was measured by hydrodensitometry before and after supplementation. No exercise program or special diet was advised but subjects had at least two protein/carbohydrate drinks that contained the different amounts of Chromium. Supplementation resulted in improvement of body composition compared with results from the placebo group. Chromium Picolinate enhanced both muscle sparing and loss of body fat. Interestingly, there was no difference in effects of doses 200 or 400 mcg a day.

In a second study, 122 adults had either 400 mcg of Chromium daily or a placebo for 90 days. Participants reported daily caloric intake and energy expenditure. The subjects with Chromium-supplemented diets lost significantly more weight (7.8 versus 1.8 kg) most losses coming from body fat (7.7 versus 1.5 kg)

However, these studies contained some serious methodological flaws, for example lacking to register actual supplementation dosage in one case or to accurately measure actual energy expenditure in another, etc. The US Federal Trade Commission concluded in July 2007 that there is no basis for claims that Chromium Picolinate promotes weight loss and fat loss in humans.

Tags: chromium, study, weight loss programs

This entry was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2010 at 10:53 am and is filed under Supplements, Weight Loss. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.