The Hemp Connection [Search results for chromium] 

Chromium is a commonly used (or at least recommended) supplement in PCOS. What is it, why is it recommended, and should you be taking it?

Chromium is a metal, just like iron and copper. It's not really needed in large amounts to do its job, which in the body, is to help metabolize sugar and fats.

Some researchers have suggested that chromium supplementation in PCOS can help insulin function. There are two articles in the National Library of Medicine database looking specifically at the use of chromium supplementation in PCOS. One study, using a dose of 200 mcg per day, resulted in improved glucose tolerance but not fertility. The second study bumped the dose up to 1000 micrograms per day, resulting in a 38% better ability to remove glucose from the blood.

BEFORE YOU RUSH OUT AND BUY A YEAR'S SUPPLY…

There are more than a few articles in the very same database connecting chromium picolinate to DNA damage. The earliest one, for someone writing so much about infertility, really caught my eye, as it was entitled, "Chromium(III) picolinate produces chromosome damage in Chinese hamster ovary cells." Another study reported that offspring of pregnant mice who were given chromium picolinate had an increased incidence of skeletal defects.

In the United States, dietary chromium recommendations have actually been LOWERED.

Because this is such a popular supplement recommendation and I'm sure at least some readers will question this, I've put all the references I found at the bottom of this post.

What I did notice was that over time, articles started to appear that countered this finding. I'm not sure if that means that earlier studies were wrong, if study design was manipulated to generate a different outcome, or if nutrition scientists are still trying to figure out how chromium works in the body.

What I know is, there were enough reports of potential toxicity to cause concern, and I do my best not to make recommendations that future research might force me to backpedal on. The entire model of PCOS intervention promoted by inCYST is about preventing oxidative stress and its associated damage. Chromium picolinate was referred to as an oxidative stress agent in more than one of the cited references, so to encourage readers to supplement with it seemed counterproductive.

WHAT TO DO?

First of all, understand what it is that chromium does. The clue lies in the fourth sentence of this post, in which I mentioned that chromium is needed to metabolize sugar and fats. If you're eating less sugar and fat, you need less chromium! So…perhaps one very important thing you can do is create less of a need for chromium by working to reduce your sugar and fat intake. We've talked a lot about strategies for reducing sugar cravings and binge eating, which could be two of your most important chromium-balance strategies.

Know your dietary sources. What you CAN do about the deficiency that previous dietary choices may have created, is to be savvy about what foods naturally contain trace amounts of chromium. These include brewer's yeast, whole grains, liver, bran cereals, potatoes, romaine lettuce, onions, and tomatoes.

Skip the refined foods Part of the reason we may have so much trouble getting chromium in the diet is our love of processed foods. It's especially problematic when we eat a food (such as bread) that is eventually going to require chromium to be metabolized, that has had the chromium processed right out of it.

It's kind of like if your car is running inefficiently. It's blowing through gasoline at a rapid rate. You can keep the car running by putting more and more gasoline in it, or you can get a tuneup to increase your fuel efficiency. Both will work, but one is more likely to cause long term problems.

Lucidi RS, Thyer AC, Easton CA, Holden AE, Schenken RS, Brzyski RG. Effect of chromium supplementation on insulin resistance and ovarian and menstrual cyclicity in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Fertil Steril. 2005 Dec;84(6):1755-7.

Stearns DM, Wise JP Sr, Patierno SR, Wetterhahn KE. Chromium(III) picolinate produces chromosome damage in Chinese hamster ovary cells. FASEB J. 1995 Dec;9(15):1643-8.

Stearns DM, Belbruno JJ, Wetterhahn KE. A prediction of chromium(III) accumulation in humans from chromium dietary supplements. FASEB J. 1995 Dec;9(15):1650-7. Review.

Bagchi D, Bagchi M, Balmoori J, Ye X, Stohs SJ. Comparative induction of oxidative stress in cultured J774A.1 macrophage cells by chromium picolinate and chromium nicotinate. Eur J Epidemiol. 1998 Sep;14(6):621-6.

Kato I, Vogelman JH, Dilman V, Karkoszka J, Frenkel K, Durr NP, Orentreich N, Toniolo P. Effect of supplementation with chromium picolinate on antibody titers to 5-hydroxymethyl uracil. Chem Res Toxicol. 1999 Jun;12(6):483-7.

Speetjens JK, Collins RA, Vincent JB, Woski SA. The nutritional supplement chromium(III) tris(picolinate) cleaves DNA. Mol Cell Biochem. 2001 Jun;222(1-2):149-58.

Bagchi D, Bagchi M, Stohs SJ. Chromium (VI)-induced oxidative stress, apoptotic cell death and modulation of p53 tumor suppressor gene. Mutat Res. 2002 Jan 15;513(1-2):135-42.

Vincent JB. The potential value and toxicity of chromium picolinate as a nutritional supplement, weight loss agent and muscle development agent. Sports Med. 2003;33(3):213-30.

Bailey MM, Boohaker JG, Sawyer RD, Behling JE, Rasco JF, Jernigan JJ, Hood RD, Vincent JB. Exposure of pregnant mice to chromium picolinate results in skeletal defects in their offspring. Birth Defects Res B Dev Reprod Toxicol. 2006 Jun;77(3):244-9.

Stallings DM, Hepburn DD, Hannah M, Vincent JB, O'Donnell J. Nutritional supplement chromium picolinate generates chromosomal aberrations and impedes progeny development in Drosophila melanogaster. Mutat Res. 2006 Nov 7;610(1-2):101-13.
Kim M, Lim JH, Ahn CS, Park K, Kim GT, Kim WT, Pai HS. Mitochondria-associated hexokinases play a role in the control of programmed cell death in Nicotiana benthamiana. Plant Cell. 2006 Sep;18(9):2341-55.

Andersson MA, Petersson Grawé KV, Karlsson OM, Abramsson-Zetterberg LA, Hellman BE.
Evaluation of the potential genotoxicity of chromium picolinate in mammalian cells in vivo and in vitro. Food Chem Toxicol. 2007 Jul;45(7):1097-106.

Hininger I, Benaraba R, Osman M, Faure H, Marie Roussel A, Anderson RA. Safety of trivalent chromium complexes: no evidence for DNA damage in human HaCaT keratinocytes. Free Radic Biol Med. 2007 Jun 15;42(12):1759-65.

Bailey MM, Sturdivant J, Jernigan PL, Townsend MB, Bushman J, Ankareddi I, Rasco JF, Hood RD, Vincent JB. Comparison of the potential for developmental toxicity of prenatal exposure to two dietary chromium supplements, chromium picolinate and [Cr3O(O2CCH2CH3)(6(H2O)3]+, in mice. Birth Defects Res B Dev Reprod Toxicol. 2008 Feb;83(1):27-31.
Komorowski JR, Greenberg D, Juturu V. Chromium picolinate does not produce chromosome damage. Toxicol In Vitro. 2008 Apr;22(3):819-26.

Komorowski JR, Greenberg D, Juturu V. Chromium picolinate does not produce chromosome damage. Toxicol In Vitro. 2008 Apr;22(3):819-26.

Tan GY, Zheng SS, Zhang MH, Feng JH, Xie P, Bi JM. Study of oxidative damage in growing-finishing pigs with continuous excess dietary chromium picolinate intake. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2008 Winter;126(1-3):129-40.

Tan GY, Bi JM, Zhang MH, Feng JH, Xie P, Zheng SS. Effects of chromium picolinate on oxidative damage in primary piglet hepatocytes. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2008 Dec;126 Suppl 1:S69-79.

There are three reasons you may have a deficiency in your diet.

1. Your dietary choices are not providing you with adequate levels of a nutrient, or are increasing your need for a nutrient.

With PCOS, for example, if you're eating a lot of processed carbohydrates, you're increasing your needs for chromium, which is needed to metabolize carbohydrates. The problem is not really that you're lacking in chromium, but rather that your dietary choices have caused your body to use more chromium than it would lke to.

2. Medications you are taking may be increasing your need for certain nutrients.

Metformin, for example, has been found to increase your need for vitamin B12. If you are using metformin, (especially if you are a vegetarian), you may need to increase your current intake of this vitamin.

3. The disease itself may create its own unique metabolic needs.

For example, some women with PCOS are thought to have a variation in the way their bodies manufacture d-chiro-inositol that can be overridden with supplementation.

But throwing the supplemental kitchen sink at your PCOS is not the answer! There are a few supplements on the market that are"PCOS-friendly" combinations. But they're expensive, and they don't really look at you as an individual. Everyone's PCOS is different. It's going to respond to different treatments. It's important to have a game plan to avoid spending unnecessary money and depriving yourself of the effect you were hoping to have.

Here is my checklist for supplement game planning to be sure you're being a properly scientific detective about the process.

1. Take a look at your diet. Do a diet analysis and see where your most common dietary deficiencies fall. Is it vitamin D? Iron? Omega-3 fats? Is the deficiency caused by your voluntary dietary choices? Then do your best to correct the deficiency with food. This is important for two different reasons:

--You're likely going to need less supplement down the road if the environment you choose to put the supplement in is best able to benefit from having it.
--A supplement will never replace good nutrition. Yes, we do know a lot about the biochemistry of PCOS, but that doesn't mean we know everything about it! So you can supplement away based on what is known, and completely be missing the boat with what you need. Foods have lots of things in them we understand. Some of the ways they deliver nutrition and interact with each other, we don't. When you isolate, and separate, until breakfast is a lineup of colored capsules instead of a variety of textures, flavors, colors, and nutrients…

2. Identify what it is that you're trying to change. Better skin? Enhanced ovulation? Improved moods? Research how long it is going to take, with a supplement, to notice that kind of change. When you DO decide to take that supplement…take it consistently enough and long enough so that you can be scientific about how well it's working for you.

3. Identify the dose you're going to need. I cannot emphasize this enough! Even physicians are guilty of this. I'll ask a client how much fish oil she's taking and she knows how many capsules, but not the strength of the capsule or the dose of DHA. And that is what her physician advised her to do. Even if you're using food, you need to have an idea of where you're trying to go, if you're ever going to get there.

4. Add one supplement at a time. If you take one of these multi-component supplements and you kind of feel better, but not all the way there…worse yet, if you take one and have a reaction, you have so many possible culprits to try to identify that sorting through the possibilities is an impossible task. Pick one, dose it correctly, take it long enough to evaluate if it's working or if it's causing trouble, or doing nothing at all…and once you've determined what's happening, then think about whether or not another layer of supplements is necessary.

5. Don't base your dose on what your friend is doing for HER PCOS. Don't recommend to your friend what you're doing for YOUR PCOS. Everyone's situation is different, it is the farthest thing from one size fits all. You may be hurting more than helping.

I'm not anti-supplement at all. I just sense sometimes that it's easier to keep the responsibility for the symptoms outside of yourself if you can position the problem as being a deficiency. Owning that your own food habits may be a significant part of the problem takes a little more humility…even courage…but it may be where the most effective answers lie.

I spent Friday and Saturday in the popular sports medicine workshop hosted by Nancy Clark, MS, RD, and William Evers, PhD. Both are well respected in their fields, and their even has been attended for years by hundreds of sports professionals.

Dr. Evers brought up chromium and I asked him what he thought of its use to curb carbohydrate cravings. Turns out, he has actually studied it firsthand in his lab…and has far as he could actually measure, the vast majority of it is not even absorbed by the body. Like 99.99 percent!

So what explains the commonly reported effect that it helps to reduce cravings? Placebo. Meaning if you believe something can happen, you can often give it the mental power to do so.

Food…or should I say…supplement…for thought?

I don't know about you, but mushrooms just aren't my top priority when I'm writing my grocery list. They're fungus, right? They just can't have much to offer with regards to nutrition, with that neutral color and different texture!

Was I ever wrong! Last week I learned that mushrooms contain two nutrients with healing potential for women with PCOS. They contain chromium, a metal that can be helpful with cravings. You may have read earlier on this blog, chromium in large doses may damage DNA. So the wiser choice may be to include foods in your diet that provide this metal in a dose that Mother Nature has provided.

Mushrooms, surprisingly, also contain vitamin D! It's one of the few non-animal sources of this vitamin, so vegetarians take notice! Your pizza is a great place to sneak in some 'shrooms. You may have read that some mushroom producers are experimenting with a technology to increase the vitamin D content of mushrooms using light exposure. Even if you get the regular button mushrooms at the store that have not been processed in this fashion, they'll still contain vitamin D.

I spent last night looking at how different mushrooms vary in nutritional value. Regardless of what the type…portabella, shiitake, button…there was something valuable about each and every one of them.

So put them in your omelets, add them to your salads, toss them into your pasta sauce! Mushrooms, for PCOS, can be pretty marvelous!

If you'd like more specific help planning menus including mushrooms, our new inCYSTem menu planning/coaching program features mushrooms this coming week. If you sign up before October 23 and help us beta test this program, you pay half price ($7.50 for a month of ongoing menus and can continue to subscribe at that price for the following 5 months). Contact me directly at marika@google.com for more information.

Yesterday I wrote about Vegemite, an Australian yeast-based food with a whole lot of nutritional power.

Can't wrap your brain around that? Consider nutritional yeast, a cousin to this food that is more readily available and equally as nutritious.

This type of yeast is cultured with sugars for about a week, then packaged to sell.

What may interest many of you: it's gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free. Long-time vegans will tell you it also contains that vitamin so elusive to vegans, vitamin B12. Be careful, however, the only reason it appears in nutritional yeast is because it is fortified and not all brands include it. Read your label!

Interestingly, nutritional yeast also contains chromium, something that is thought to be deficient in PCOS and again, is not easy to find in food.

Nutritional yeast is also a complete protein. One ounce has 14 grams, 80 calories, and just 1 gram of fat.

It tastes a little bit like parmesan cheese; I've enjoyed it on popcorn and I can see it being used in a lot of ways where parmesan is traditionally used.

I found a great nutritional yeast product at Natural Products West that is perfect for you vegans who miss your cheese! It's called Queso, by Food for Lovers, and it's just like nacho cheese, only made with nutritional yeast. Two tablespoons contains 20 calories and 2 grams of protein. A great improvement on the old nacho stuff!

Heads up, however, this product DOES contain wheat so it is not gluten-free.

Food for Lovers is based in Texas, and can be found in quite a few stores there, as well as a few locations in other parts of the country. Here's an ordering link where you will soon be able to get it. Amazon has set up a signup so you can be notified when the product is ready to order.

Malnutrition is another cause of low progesterone. If you automatically assume that this can't apply to you, your loved one or a patient, because sitting in front of you they are"overweight", consider the many ways someone can be malnourished.

You can be malnourished if you eat a lot of calories without nutritional value. Eating a lot of junk food, and very few fruits and vegetables, for example, can deplete the body's supplies of important vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

You can be malnourished if you eat so much of one kind of food that in the process of metabolizing it, you burn through important nutrients. That can happen if you eat a lot of carbohydrates, for example, it uses up a lot of chromium.

You can be malnourished if the list of foods you eat is very narrow--even if all of them show up somewhere on the Internet as the"world's healthiest". You need variety in order to get all the nutrients that makes your hormones work.

You can be malnourished if you take certain medications. The list of nutrients that can be depleted on certain medications is long. If your physician or dietitian have never checked yours, maybe it's a good service to request on your next visit.

You can be malnourished if you only consider"nutrition" to be what you weigh and you starve yourself in order to change that number. That happens a lot with PCOS. It is an erroneous belief that overweight causes PCOS. PCOS is worse if your weight is too high, but your weight does not cause it. Eating healthfully will steer your weight down, if you need to lose some, but starving yourself may keep you stuck at a weight you'd rather not be at.

You can be malnourished if you yo-yo diet. That is what happens when you put all of the above together in one scenario. Eating disorders and PCOS go hand in hand. Most of the women I work with are soooooo afraid of food on our first visit. They don't eat anything because they're scared that one indiscretion will elevate their blood sugar, prevent that pregnancy, make the scale go up…and then when they can't take it anymore, they binge on all the foods they tried to avoid.

That is simply no way to live!

I had the most enjoyable visit with a client a few days ago who was exactly like that when we first met. I was so surprised when, in the middle of our visit, she took me into her kitchen and showed me her refrigerator, loaded with all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Then she cooked me some green beans in red chile that she'd created. We finished the visit over mango slices sprinkled with chile powder. (For another post!) It was such a turnaround, and I was so happy to see that the focus had become all of the wonderful things you can DO with food, instead of all of the sacrifices you have to make if you want to"eat healthy".

She's pregnant now. At one point she rubbed her belly and said,"Thank you, baby!" That little miracle we are all extremely excited to meet did her mama a huge favor by introducing her to food as something fun, and something to enjoy.

I am hoping that all of you enjoy your Thanksgiving dinners and think about what you eat as how you NOURISH, not what you DEPRIVE yourself of. It may prove to be an important part of pumping up your progesterone.

Going to the doctor after some lab work and being told that you’re pre-diabetic is enough to cause a major freak-out in most patients. For some, though, it comes as no surprise, because they’re been on the edge of diabetes or pre-diabetes for a long time. Regardless of whether you were expecting it or not, it’s kind of scary. Visions of diabetics who have gone blind or had amputations may pop into your head. But you’re not there yet – and hopefully, never will be!
Getting scared can send you into a tailspin, or it can send you into ostrich mode, where you’re hiding your head in the sand. Or, you could express your distress, and then get into fighting mode. By getting proactive, you take some power back in a situation that feels kind of powerless (the numbers are just getting worse and worse, and it feels like you can’t control it).
How do you become proactive about addressing pre-diabetes?
· Take some time to absorb the diagnosis. · Do a little research on the subject, from reputable sources like the Mayo Clinic or WebMD. · Don’t spend too much time on chat boards; reading about symptoms of long-term poorly treated diabetes can be discouraging and fear-inducing. · Go back to your doctor armed with questions. · Ask your doctor for a blood glucose monitor, and learn how to use it. It’s simple, and typically free. What can be costly are the test strips. If you have insurance, they may be covered. If not, use the strips judiciously – but do you use them to periodically track on your blood sugars. That way you can see the impact of what you’re doing with your food and exercise. · Make a plan to step-up your exercise. This may mean getting help such as an accountability buddy, a walking group, a personal trainer, or physical therapy to fix the injury that’s keeping you from becoming active. Or you may need to join a gym, so that the weather is no longer an excuse. · Commit to reducing your intake of unhealthy carbs, processed foods, and most sugars. Get help from a dietician, a weight loss group, or tech gadgets like the FitBit so that you can monitor your progress. · Enlist the support of friends and family members in embracing a healthier lifestyle; you can do this alone, but it’s so much easier if you have cooperation and support. · Seek the services of a psychologist who can help you address poor self-care habits, lack of sleep that may be contributing to blood sugar increases, eating disordered behavior, or self-destructive behaviors and beliefs. · Go back to your doctor when you’re supposed to go back, and make sure you have your lab work done before you go, so that the appointment is productive. · Thoughtfully consider prescription medication such as metformin, the most common prescription for PCOS without diabetes or pre-diabetes. · Research selected supplements, such as chromium or cinnamon, and discuss them with your dietician and/or doctor. · Be patient, as lifestyle changes take time to implement. Results take time too, especially when you have PCOS.
Gretchen Kubacky, Psy.D. is a Health Psychologist in private practice in West Los Angeles, California. She has completed the inCYST training. She specializes in counseling women and couples who are coping with infertility, PCOS, and related endocrine disorders and chronic illnesses.
If you would like to learn more about Dr. HOUSE or her practice, or obtain referrals in the Los Angeles area, please visit her website at www.drhousemd.com , or e-mail her at AskDrHouseMD@gmail.com. You can also follow her on Twitter @askdrhousemd.

I have been taught that 50% of what influences PCOS is genetic, 25% is nutrition, and 25% is lifestyle.

I have observed that when a person is told they have a"genetically" influenced issue, they tend to view that as a"get out of jail free" card when it comes to making healthy lifestyle choices. In other words, why should you have to worry about lifestyle if genes have so much control?

It is not that simple.

Yes, DNA programs disease risk. But did you know that nutrition can influence DNA? The foods you eat can influence how your DNA expresses itself. So even though the major things we know how to measure with regards to nutrition and PCOS look to be about 25% of the answer, nutrition has an indirect influence on another 50% of what is going on.

The area of study that looks at the influence of diet on genetics is called nutrigenomics. One example you've seen here in this blog is our caution of excessive chromium use and its potential to cause DNA damage.

Too much of a nutrient, too little of a nutrient, imbalances between nutrients…all can be important influences.

The most important thing to NOT do is stop taking good care of yourself and assuming there is nothing that can be done until genetics researchers discover a cure. Chances are, they're going to still encourage you to make many of the same choices you can make right now to help those genes be healthy.