Cardiovascular Health

Here are a number of key, representative studies in this area using chromium picolinate.

1999.

• Gilbert R. Kaats, PhD, Samuel C. Keith, John A. Wise, PhD, Dennis Pullin, MS, and William G. Squires, Jr., PhD. “Effects of baseline total cholesterol levels on diet and exercise interventions,” Journal of the American Nutraceutical Association 2(1):42-49, 1999.

The authors conducted two concomitant studies that examined the effects of a behavior modification plan (BMP) that included the use of nutritional supplements (one group received 400 mcg of chromium as chromium picolinate [CP]) and which collected pre- and post-study serum cholesterol measurements. The results from the CP-supplemented group indicate that “chromium picolinate can facilitate reductions in triglycerides (TC) and LDL serum cholesterol,” especially in people whose baseline TC levels were above 200 mg/dL.

1990.

• Raymond I. Press, MD, Jack Geller, MD, and Gary Evans, PhD. “The effect of chromium picolinate on serum cholesterol and apolipoprotein fractions in human subjects,” The Western Journal of Medicine 152:41-45, 1990.

In this study, 28 people were given either 200 mcg of chromium as chromium picolinate (CP) or a placebo, daily, for 42 days in this double-blind crossover study. In this trial, in the patients who supplemented with CP, four of the six most important serum lipid (circulating blood fats) were beneficially altered during the test period. Specifically, levels of total cholesterol, LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol and its transport protein, apolipoprotein B, were all beneficially decreased, while levels of the transport protein for HDL (or “good”) cholesterol, apolipoprotein A, were beneficially increased. The authors say that “Because each of these variables is related […] to the development of coronary artery disease, chromium picolinate is an excellent agent to consider in the treatment and prevention of hyperlipidemia.”

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