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OBJECTIVE Chromium picolinate (CrPic) supplementation has been suggested to improve glycemia, but there are conflicting reports on efficacy. We sought to determine the effect
of CrPic on insulin sensitivity, glycemic control, and body composition in subjects with type 2
diabetes.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Thirty-seven subjects with type 2 diabetes
were evaluated. After baseline, subjects were placed on a sulfonylurea (glipizide gastrointestinal
therapeutic system 5 mg/day) with placebo for 3 months. Subjects were then randomized in a
double-blind fashion to receive either the sulfonylurea plus placebo (n 12) or the sulfonylurea
plus 1,000 g Cr as CrPic (n 17) for 6 months. Body composition, insulin sensitivity, and
glycemic control were determined at baseline, end of the 3-month single-blind placebo phase,
and end of study.
RESULTS Subjects randomized to sulfonylurea/placebo, as opposed to those randomized
to sulfonylurea/CrPic, had a significant increase in body weight (2.2 kg, P 0.001 vs. 0.9 kg, P
0.11), percent body fat (1.17%, P 0.001 vs. 0.12%, P 0.7), and total abdominal fat (32.5
cm2, P 0.05 vs. 12.2 cm2, P 0.10) from baseline. Subjects randomized to sulfonylurea/CrPic
had significant improvements in insulin sensitivity corrected for fat-free mass (28.8, P 0.05 vs.
15.9, P 0.4), GHb (1.16%, P 0.005 vs. 0.4%, P 0.3), and free fatty acids (0.2
mmol/l, P 0.001 vs. 0.12 mmol/l, P 0.03) as opposed to sulfonylurea/placebo.
CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates that CrPic supplementation in subjects with
type 2 diabetes who are taking sulfonylurea agents significantly improves insulin sensitivity and
glucose control. Further, CrPic supplementation significantly attenuated body weight gain and
visceral fat accumulation compared with the placebo group.
Diabetes Care 29:1826 1832, 2006
From the 1Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont; the
2
Division of Nutrition and Chronic Diseases, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State
University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and the 3Biostatistics Program, School of Public Health, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to William T. Cefalu, MD, Pennington Biomedical Research
Center, 6400 Perkins Rd., Baton Rouge, LA 80808. E-mail: cefaluwt@pbrc.edu.
Received for publication 31 January 2006 and accepted in revised form 25 April 2006.
Abbreviations: AUC, area under the curve; AUC-B, glucose AUC from the fasting glucose at time 0; CrPic,
chromium picolinate; DEXA, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry; FFA, free fatty acid; GITS, gastrointestinal
therapeutic system; OGTT, oral glucose tolerance test.
A table elsewhere in this issue shows conventional and Syste`me International (SI) units and conversion
factors for many substances.
DOI: 10.2337/dc06-0254. Clinical trial reg. no. NCT00283777, clinicaltrials.gov
2006 by the American Diabetes Association.
The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby
marked advertisement in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1826
Figure 1Study design (A) and study flow and numbers (B) for each study period.
Period 2
Sulfonylurea placebo
Glycemia
Fasting glucose (mg/dl)
GHb (%)
Glucose AUC
Glucose AUC-B
Insulin
Glucose disposal (mg/min per fat-free mass)
Insulin AUC
Insulin AUC-B
Fasting C-peptide (ng/ml)
Indirect calorimetry
Respiratory quotient
REE
DEXA scans
% fat
Fat-free mass
Lipids/adipocytokines
FFAs (mmol/l)
Triglycerides (mg/dl)
Log (Triglycerides)
Adiponectin (mg/ml)
Sulfonylurea placebo
19.98 5.33
1.07 0.26
7,794 1238
2,531 873
0.0009
0.0006
0.0001
0.008
11.33 8.03
0.44 0.43
6,454 2289
2,501 1412
21.9 11.8
3,460 522
2,604 518
0.007 0.030
NS
0.0001
0.0001
NS
15.9 18.5
2,969 1102
1,618 754
0.136 0.111
0.006 0.010
59.43 40.3
Sulfonylurea CrPic
31.00 7.37
1.16 0.38
11,131 2108
3,981 1269
0.0002
0.0049
0.0001
0.0043
NS
0.013
0.042
NS
28.9 11.3
3,498 985
2,022 657
0.173 0.093
0.0209
0.0016
0.0052
NS
NS
NS
0.005 0.009
29.14 36.4
NS
NS
NS
NS
0.0092
NS
0.005 0.006
53.74 28.1
NS
NS
0.22 0.44
0.59 0.40
NS
NS
1.17 0.31
0.68 0.46
0.0008
NS
0.12 0.35
1.07 0.44
NS
0.0227
0.12 0.05
11.43 13.04
0.09 0.07
2.06 0.60
0.018
NS
NS
0.002
0.12 0.05
3.68 18.86
0.06 0.090
0.74 0.75
0.028
NS
NS
NS
0.20 0.05
30.32 18.19
0.13 0.087
0.93 0.702
0.0007
NS
NS
NS
Figure 2A: Body weight changes for all subjects over the treatment period. , placebo; ,
CrPic. B: Abdominal fat distribution for all subjects over the treatment period. p, control; f,
CrPic. *P 0.05; **P 0.01. Data are means SE.
1829
Acknowledgments This study was supported in part by grants R55 DK060126 and
R01 DK060126 awarded to W.T.C. and
M01RR00109.
Technical assistance for chromium analysis
provided by the Inorganic Toxicology and Radionuclide Laboratories, National Center for
DIABETES CARE, VOLUME 29, NUMBER 8, AUGUST 2006
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