chromium picolinate
Et2 Olsen
has a friend who is taking it and she says it's helping her with her weight
loss. My wife is already on a sensible lo-fat diet with 30-40 min walks every
day, but she wants to know if the stuff is worth taking and is there any side
effects or what. Thanks in advance.
Oley Olson
UUCP: nctams1.navy.mil!pnet16!n932m
INET: n9...@pnet16.cts.com
jp
G'day, Oley!
As far as I know, there are no side-effects with Chromium Piccolinate use
for the simple reason that there are no effects, full stop. Now I'm relating
this purely from personal experience and observation of others, so I
am very prepared to accept differing opinions. In any case, it sounds as
if your wife is doing a sensible fat-reduction routine (though you
might want to throw in some weight-training there, too) and the benefits of
this sort of Mickey-Mouse supplement will probably be only as a placdebo.
Cheers,
Jack.
Judith Haller
> >Can anyone give me some information on chromium picolinate (sp?), my wife
> >has a friend who is taking it and she says it's helping her with her weight
> >loss. My wife is already on a sensible lo-fat diet with 30-40 min walks every
> >day, but she wants to know if the stuff is worth taking and is there any side
> >effects or what. Thanks in advance.
> > Oley Olson
> As far as I know, there are no side-effects with Chromium Piccolinate use
> for the simple reason that there are no effects, full stop. Now I'm relating
> this purely from personal experience and observation of others, so I
> am very prepared to accept differing opinions. In any case, it sounds as
> if your wife is doing a sensible fat-reduction routine (though you
> might want to throw in some weight-training there, too) and the benefits of
> this sort of Mickey-Mouse supplement will probably be only as a placdebo.
Cheers,
Jack.
I'll offer that differing opinion, although with strictly anecdotal
evidence. Chromium picolinate seems to be most helpful to people with
glucose tolerance problems. Folks who never suffer raging sugar cravings
don't seem to notice any effects at all.
I come from a family prone to late-onset diabetes. Most of us suffer bouts
of unreasonable desires for sweets. I suspect that Jack and his circle have
never braved harsh weather just to lay in a supply of candy; but the
Olsons' friend probably has.
My own experience has been that if I treat sugar as a toxin and stay off it
completely, I will have almost no appetite problems, weight problems, or
other common sugar-related problems. When I fall off the wagon, it can be a
terrible ordeal to get off the sugar again. This is where chromium
picolinate is helpful. It may take about 2-3 days for the effect to fully
kick in, but the sugar cravings get substantially less intense and more
manageable, even during those cyclical phases of food craving that only we
women face. After about 6 weeks of proper diet, the _idea_ of sugar starts
getting repugnant to me and I can drop the chromium and just stay with the
diet. And any eating plan is easier when your body isn't sabotaging your
goals.
A crutch, maybe; a tool, certainly. A placebo, no way. You just need to
have the _problem_ for the solution to work.
It would be interesting to find out if people who continue to use chromium
picolinate also continue to eat sugar. How about it, Oley, does your wife's
friend still eat sugar? I'm not up on the research, but I fully expect
science to validate my experiences with this supplement. If your wife has
sugar-mania tendencies or compelling, distracting hunger, I suggest she try
it for at least a month.
As an aside, let me get on another soapbox here. A funny thing I've
noticed about placebos--no matter how much you 'believe' in your doctor,
when medical advice fails, it's due to 'biochemical individuality' or 'you
didn't follow instructions' or some other lame excuse. But when you finally
stumble on something that works and the source is vaguely suspect, it's 'a
placebo effect'. Makes me want to go back to the doctor and demand some
placebo effect for all those thou$ands I've spent demonstrating my faith.
To your health!
Judith
Trevor Bezdek
Science News last year on the effects of Chromium Picolinate. The first
was a study done in mice where the group treated with Chromium Picolinate
live about 50% longer than the controls. The second study was in football
players. The experimental group was given 200mg of Chromium Picolinate a
day and then subjected to the same food and excersise plan as the control.
After a 6 week period the experimental group had a (I'm quoting this from
memory) 6% increase in muscle mass with a 5% decrease in body fat while
the control had around 1% increase and decrease.
Trevor
Stephen Holt, CSCS
The results of the second study were:
In a six week period, the players taking c.p. gained an average of
5.7 lbs of lean body weight, while the controls gained 4 lbs. The
c.p. group lost 3.6% body fat, and the controls lost 1%.
Stephen Holt, CSCS
Thomas Griffin
some old articles from misc.fitness.
(cut here)
-----------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: Chromium Picolinate in the news
Date: 22 Oct 1992 00:08:47 GMT
Mike Coleman writes:
>There was a front-page story on the results of a pilot study on chromium
>picolinate in the LA Times today. The study found that this form of chromium
>would lengthen the lifespan of rats by 50%.......
>
>All of the quotations in the article basically suggested that getting more
>chromium would be good. That is, there were none of the usual "ignore this
>until we've studied it for 20 more years" quotes.
>
Studies on humans since 1988 have indicated that chromium plays a key role
in our biochemistry and can help: to lower cholesterol, reduce blood
sugar [high levels of blood sugar can contribute to aging and development
of diabetes], and reduce body fat while increasing muscle mass. Studies have
also found that 90% of Americans get less than the daily minimum amount of
chromium recommended by the National Research Council.
Chromium picolinate (which was developed and patented by FDA scientists)
is an excellent source for the body to derive chromium (which, in most of
its sources, is absorbed very inefficiently, at the rate of about 0.5%).
Body builders and athletes have begun to turn to chromium picolinate instead
of steroids, for the obvious reason, and some nutritionists recommend that
everyone should take a supplement of 200 mcg daily.
Doctors have generally taken the position that we don't need supplements,
just a good balanced diet, but there is some suggestion that optimal
intake (as against adequate) requires supplementation, and I recently
heard a leading Detroit vascular surgeon remark in a lecture that while
most doctors still maintain this in public, in private many of them are
popping pills! He recommends the IDN program as having the best supplements
available (it's based on research done at two leading universities, UCLA
and UTexas, and the supplements are a combination of vitamins and minerals,
including chromium picolinate, and other ingredients). I have a tape of
this lecture, which deals with health & nutritional supplements and is quite
fascinating, and I'd be happy to lend a copy to anyone who'd like to hear it.
[Non-disclaimer: I'm in the IDN program myself, so I can't claim that I'm
detached or disinterested - but the fact is that this is a terrifically good
line of nutritional products for those convinced that supplements are the way
to go, and I will gladly show anyone how to get IDN supplements at wholesale.]
Anthony Bulloch
abul...@garnet.berkeley.edu
Subject: Re: Chromium Picolinate in the news
Date: 22 Oct 92 12:56:52 GMT
Originator: young@sasquatch
In article <1c4ref...@agate.berkeley.edu>
abul...@garnet.berkeley.edu (Anthony Bulloch) writes:
[...]
>Studies on humans since 1988 have indicated that chromium plays a key role
>in our biochemistry and can help: to lower cholesterol, reduce blood
>sugar [high levels of blood sugar can contribute to aging and development
>of diabetes], and reduce body fat while increasing muscle mass. Studies have
>also found that 90% of Americans get less than the daily minimum amount of
>chromium recommended by the National Research Council.
On a related note, the following article may be of interest.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>From _SCIENCE NEWS_, Vol. 137, No. 14, April 7, 1990, page 214
(quoted without permission):
Chromium may prevent Type II diabetes onset:
"Type II diabetics produce ample insulin but can't process blood
sugar properly. In people who risk developing this non-insulin-
dependent diabetes, a chromium-rich diet can boost the insulin
response and may prevent the disease, researchers reported..."
"Chromium consumption in the new study matched the upper limit of
the [human] recommended daily allowance for this trace metal. But
most diets fall short of the recommended level, because few foods
are chromium-rich, notes study leader Richard A. Anderson, a
biochemist at the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition
Research Center in Beltsville, MD."
[description of study details deleted]
"The team previously demonstrated in humans that chromium increases
the number of cell receptors for insulin, and Anderson conjectures
that this phenomenon may explain the metal's role in boosting
insulin action and reducing glucose intolerance. A few foods,
including broccoli and some fruits, beers and wines, contain higher-
than-average levels of chromium, he notes. However, cautions
dietitian Kay Stoddard-Gilbert of Nevada's Division of Aging
Services in Reno, the body cannot readily absorb all dietary forms
of chromium. For example, much of the chromium in potatoes never
gets incorporated into the body's cells, she told _SCIENCE NEWS_."
"Rather than gorging on a few chromium-rich foods, Anderson
suggests, the best way to enhance the body's supply is to limit
simple sugars which cause the body to excrete large amounts of the
mineral."
---------------------------------------------------------------
--
Tom Griffin, University of Washington
Internet: gri...@u.washington.edu
>>>>>20 years of school and then they put ya on the day shift<<<<<
Merle Finch
In article <judith-16...@slip-1-61.ots.utexas.edu>, jud...@utig.ig.utexas.edu (Judith Haller) writes:
:[...]
:> >Can anyone give me some information on chromium picolinate (sp?), my wife
:> >has a friend who is taking it and she says it's helping her with her weight
:> >loss. My wife is already on a sensible lo-fat diet with 30-40 min walks every
:> >day, but she wants to know if the stuff is worth taking and is there any side
:> >effects or what. Thanks in advance.
:> > Oley Olson
:[...]
:> As far as I know, there are no side-effects with Chromium Piccolinate use
:> for the simple reason that there are no effects, full stop. Now I'm relating
:> this purely from personal experience and observation of others, so I
:> am very prepared to accept differing opinions. In any case, it sounds as
:> if your wife is doing a sensible fat-reduction routine (though you
:> might want to throw in some weight-training there, too) and the benefits of
:> this sort of Mickey-Mouse supplement will probably be only as a placdebo.
:Cheers,
:Jack.
:
: I'll offer that differing opinion, although with strictly anecdotal
:evidence. Chromium picolinate seems to be most helpful to people with
:glucose tolerance problems. Folks who never suffer raging sugar cravings
:don't seem to notice any effects at all.
:It would be interesting to find out if people who continue to use chromium
:picolinate also continue to eat sugar. How about it, Oley, does your wife's
:friend still eat sugar? I'm not up on the research, but I fully expect
:science to validate my experiences with this supplement. If your wife has
:sugar-mania tendencies or compelling, distracting hunger, I suggest she try
:it for at least a month.
:To your health!
:
:Judith
Hear,hear, Judith! I have reactive hypoglycemia and a sweet-tooth that wouldn't
quit. After a few weeks of supplementing with chromium gtf and/or chromium
picolinate, my murderous sugar-cravings just quit and I quit falling asleep 1/2
hour after eating lunch. I believe your assessment is right on: if you don't
have the problem, chromium picolinate won't change anything for you. If you
DO have the problem, it's a godsend. Just like antibiotics, if you don't have
an infection, there's nothing for the antibiotic to work on.
As far as "placebo effects" and opinions go, I've noticed (especially since
joining the internet) that those who don't have the problem readily and wrongly
label the solution as mickey-mouse and placebos. This is a drawback to relying
on information obtained herein. Different things work for different people. Just
because it doesn't work for you, doesn't mean it won't work for someone else.
No offense intended, of course.
Merle
--
Merle Finch me...@sas.com SAS Institute Inc, SAS Campus Dr, Cary NC 27513-2414.
J Green
jud...@utig.ig.utexas.edu (Judith Haller) wrote:
> My own experience has been that if I treat sugar as a toxin and stay off it
> completely, I will have almost no appetite problems, weight problems, or
> other common sugar-related problems. When I fall off the wagon, it can be a
> terrible ordeal to get off the sugar again. This is where chromium
> picolinate is helpful. It may take about 2-3 days for the effect to fully
> kick in, but the sugar cravings get substantially less intense and more
> manageable, even during those cyclical phases of food craving that only we
> women face. After about 6 weeks of proper diet, the _idea_ of sugar starts
> getting repugnant to me and I can drop the chromium and just stay with the
> diet. And any eating plan is easier when your body isn't sabotaging your
> goals.
>
> A crutch, maybe; a tool, certainly. A placebo, no way. You just need to
> have the _problem_ for the solution to work.
as an interesting note, i was reading a book called Maximum Metabolism
(written by a doctor, but i can't remember his name, if anyone is
interested i can get the info). i believe it was written in 1989. anyway,
he recommended chromium picolinate supplements for people whose healthy
diets normally fail due to terrible sugar cravings. which agrees with what
Judith said above.
Janice