does chromium picc. cause cancer?
Steven B. Harris
MADRIGAL <afn4...@afn.org> writes:
>
>x-no-archive: yes
>
>about 2 years ago chromium piccolinate was a hot supplement. now it
its not
>in fashion. I read somewhere that chromium was carcinogenic. any truth
to
>this?
>
Yes and no. Chromium in the +6 valence form is a nasty oxidant, and
like most oxidizing things that irritating to tissues, is carcinogenic.
Chromium in the +3 form, however, is not carcinogenic or in the least
toxic (absorption problems limit its toxicity, and most forms you could
eat like mashed potatoes). And, indeed, Cr+3 is a required nutrient.
And that's the form you find it in, in yeast, foods, and supplements
(including picolinate). The +6 is mostly an industrial product, and
you worry about it in water from chemical and chrome plating
factories-- that kind of thing. Not in uncontaminated foods. Or in
stuff from health food stores.
I once fed chromium picolinate (which is better absorbed than most
forms of Cr+3) to mice in a concentration of 1 part per thousand
chromium in the dry diet (which is about 8 parts per thousand
Cr-picolinate) for years, until they died of old age. It didn't do a
thing to them. Good or bad. Which is why I haven't published the
experiment yet. But that experiment did do its part to convince me the
stuff is pretty benign. One part per thousand in the diet is about 750
mg Cr+3 a day for a human. When 0.2 mg = 200 mcg Cr is the standard
supplement dose. That's a factor of 3750, and still no sign of
toxicity. Most impressive for a mineral. I really don't know of any
other mineral, in fact, with as wide a nutrient dose--toxicity dose
range.
Steve Harris, M.D.
Steve Harris, M.D.
Steven B. Harris
MADRIGAL <afn4...@afn.org> writes:
>
>x-no-archive: yes
>
>about 2 years ago chromium piccolinate was a hot supplement. now it
its not
>in fashion. I read somewhere that chromium was carcinogenic. any truth
to
>this?
>
Answer: