Nutrition 21, the US-based developer and marketer of nutritional products, presented evidence at the recentExperimental Biology's Annual Scientific Conference in New Orleans to support the role of chromium picolinate supplementation in reducing cardiovascular disease risk factors.
This report showed that chromium picolinate can significantly lower elevated total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) levels, as well as improve HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) levels. This improvement can result in a 15 per cent decrease in the risk of heart disease. The cholesterol lowering benefits of chromium picolinate supplementation are patented by Nutrition 21.
``Nutrition 21's ongoing research programme continues to confirm chromium's critical role in maintaining proper insulin function,'' said Gail Montgomery, CEO of Nutrition 21. ``Our goal is to develop a physician-recommended, clinically-proven nutritional supplement targeted for conditions associated with insulin resistance - estimated to affect one in five Americans,'' she added.
Dr Vijaya Juturu, a nutritional scientist at Nutrition 21, explained: ``Combined with a healthy diet, chromium picolinate may be a valuable nutritional tool for helping to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.''
Although chromium is found in some foods, it is difficult and almost impossible, to obtain the levels of chromium shown to be beneficial in studies, from daily food sources alone.
Nutrition 21 claims that Dr Juturu's findings are supported by other published clinical studies, including data reported by Dr Gilbert R. Kaats et al in the Winter 1999 Journal of the American Nutraceutical Association showing that chromium picolinate positively affected serum cholesterol levels and was particularly beneficial for subjects whose total cholesterol was above the 200 mg/dL range.
Additional research in 1990, published by Raymond Press, Jack Geller and Gary Evans in The Western Journal of Medicine , noted that chromium picolinate played an important role in lowering LDL levels, raised essential components of HDL, and lowered total serum cholesterol.