Deficiency symptoms
Diabetes, low blood sugar level, sclerosis of the blood circulatory system, increased levels of blood cholesterol and triglycerides, arteriosclerosis, alcoholism, and alcohol intolerance.
Also nervousness and irritation, mental derangement, depression, learning disabilities, excessive urination, weight loss, itching, progressive myasthenia, symptoms that are equivalent to kwashiorkor, and protein/calorie under nourishment, nervous sufferings similar to the ones present in case of diabetes - in spite of a normal insulin production.
Poisoning symptoms
Virtually unknown in case of trivalent chromium forms, probably due to the fact that chrome is not easily absorbed. Other chrome compounds - e.g. the hexavalent chrome- can be extremely toxic.
RDA
50 mcg.
Optimum Daily Allowance (ODA)
200 - 600 mcg. a day (organic).
Therapeutic dosage (TD)
200 - 1000 mcg. (organic).
Large single supplements are best utilized if taken in the evening.
Richest natural sources
Brewer's yeast, black pepper, liver, mushroom, whole meal wheat bread, beef, and beets.
The only apparent function that chromium has is partaking in the glucose-tolerance-factor (GTF), a complex, giant molecule which is responsible for the glucose (sugar)-oxidation in the body. Chromium also reduces the blood cholesterol and increases the oxidation of fat.
Chromium has an influence on the production of interferon and certain enzymes in the central nervous system, where it helps to control the appetite function.
Chromium extracted from yeast is 10 times as efficient as the chrome occurring in foods such as liver, wheat germ, fish and shellfish.
Chrome effects the transport of glucose and the absorption of glucose in the muscles and other kinds of tissue, effects the transformation of glucose into fat, catalyses the formation of glycogen from glucose in the liver and the brain, promotes the sensitivity in the tissue towards insulin, controls the concentration of blood cholesterol and other fatty substances in the blood, promotes the production of HDL (high density lipoprotein) - the "good" cholesterol that protects the blood vessels.
GTF reduces arteriosclerosis, stimulates the transport of amino acids in the skeletal muscles and the heart, and takes part in the protein synthesis that takes place there. It activates the formation of vital neurotransmitters by promoting the transport of amino acids through the blood/brain barrier. GTF also controls certain parts of the immune reaction - e.g. the interferon activity against vira. It is known to counteract the sensation of hunger by affecting the appetite centre in the brain.
If you want to avoid yeast-based chrome you should use chrome polynicotinate; a chromium salt made from nicotinic acid which is the precursor for the formation of the GTF molecule. In the body, the nicotinate and the glutamine acid is transformed into GTF.
