That's what insulin does, and chromium helps insulin to do that.Īlthough they need their nutrients, muscle cells, like most cells, can't feed themselves. So you want those nutrients to be taken up by cells quickly and efficiently. Circulating nutrients from your last meal which are not absorbed quickly enough get stored as fat.whether those nutrients consist of protein or carbs or fat in any combination. That's because your body won't wait forever for nutrients to be absorbed by hungry cells.

Same with creatine, same with carbs, same with most amino acids taken individually. When you're dumping un-naturally huge volumes of aminos into your bloodstream with high BV proteins like whey, you want to make sure those aminos make it into muscle cells. But even more than that, it's not what you absorb, it's what actually makes it's way into your cells. I've heard it said that, 'it's not what you eat, it's what you absorb'. Now, I think a lot of people hear that/read that and tune out, they hear 'insulin' and figure 'That's something diabetics worry about - not me, I dont have diabetes'.īut it's huge because of insulin's central role in metabolism. The most important part of which, is that it increases sensitivity to and utilization of insulin. But it's not mentioned a lot which is surprising in light of what it does. Well maybe not overlooked per se.I notice it's a top seller on BB.com. It would seem prudent, however, to avoid excessive intake of supplements containing chromium picolinate and, where possible, select supplements which use alternate forms of chromium such as nicotinate, chloride or other amino acid chelates.IMO it's a really interesting nutrient, very useful and criminally overlooked/under-appreciated. An animal study conducted by the USDA, fed rats a diet rich in chromium picolinate for 24 weeks and found no adverse side effects and there are no clinical studies that show harmful effects in humans from supplements containing chromium picolinate. Both case reports demonstrate the fact that intakes of chromium picolinate at levels above the recommended dosage should be avoided. The supplement increased blood chromium levels to 2-3 times normal and caused anemia, blood abnormalities, liver dysfunction, and renal failure. Another case of toxicity following chromium picolinate ingestion (1200-2400 mcg for 4-5 months) involved a 33-yr-old woman who was taking it to enhance weight loss. This is 6-24 times the daily recommended allowance of 50-200 mcg. In one, a 24-yr-old female body builder developed rhabdomyolysis, a serious condition causing muscle and kidney toxicity, after ingesting 1200 mcg of chromium picolinate over 48 hours. There have been a few case reports of adverse effects following high dose chromium supplementation. The upshot of the study was that other chromium salts, such as nicotinate and chloride, were not taken up into the cells as efficiently as the picolinate version. In one of the most publicized studies, Dartmouth researchers demonstrated that chromium picolinate is absorbed into cells intact (at least in the test tube), where it appeared to cause breaks in chromo****l DNA in hamster ovary cells (a common model for cancer researchers). Such DNA effects are thought to lead to genetic mutations and cancer, but it is important to note that these cell studies in the test tube are a long way removed from the case of a human ingesting an essential trace mineral. A handful of laboratory studies have shown that the supplemental form of chromium (chromium III) provided as the picolinate form, causes DNA breakage in isolated cells. Recent anecdotal reports, however, have suggested a variety of adverse side effects such as anemia, memory loss and DNA damage – in most cases for a particular form of chromium known as chromium picolinate. Although the vast majority of studies of chromium supplementation reveal no side effects except mild gastrointestinal upset, they tend to be of short duration (a few weeks to a few months).

Chromium picolinate bodybuilding