FAMILY MEDICINE® COLUMN
By John C. Wolf, D.O.
Associate Professor of Family Medicine®
Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine

CHROMIUM PICOLINATE DIET PILLS NOT A GOOD WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT

Question: My wife recently started on a new diet that requires taking three tablets each morning. The tablets contain something called "chromium picolinate" as well as some special herbs. As strange as it sounds, this diet seems to be doing her some good. The brochure my wife got with the diet plan says that chromium picolinate "accelerates fat loss while helping to preserve or increase muscle." How can this substance do that? Also, is there any possible harm in taking these pills every day?

Answer: Obesity is a major health concern for our country. While there is some slight variation in the ways that different studies have defined obesity, it is clear that between one-third to one-half of adults would experience health benefits if they were leaner.

Many people, just like your wife, need help to bring about weight loss. There are a number of conditions that can cause an individual to be overweight. The most common, however, is simple overeating. This usually is a result of habit or as a response to emotional stress. The only way to lose weight is to eat foods containing fewer calories than the body actually needs. This causes your body to use up some of the energy it has stored up as fat.

Some individuals "go on a diet" by substituting lower calorie foods for the higher calorie foods they normally eat, but they don't change any other eating habits. This is usually successful in the short run but ineffective over the long haul. The extra pounds are shed, but by next year they're back again.

No diet pill has demonstrated clear benefit in producing long-term weight reduction, including those containing chromium picolinate. On this basis alone, I'd suggest that taking it is not a particularly good idea. On the other hand, chromium picolinate is an interesting substance worthy of greater scientific investigation.

Chromium picolinate has shown some ability to increase the lean body mass this is a scientific way of saying "build muscle while decreasing fat" in animals. It has also demonstrated the ability to make cells use glucose the body's sugar -- more effectively and with a lower level of insulin in the blood. The increased longevity observed in lab rats taking chromium picolinate may be a result of changes in insulin sensitivity. This sounds like the fountain of youth, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, as one study showed, the daily supplementation of college football players' diets with 200 micrograms of chromium picolinate failed to show any difference in the amount of muscle building or fat content when compared to those eating the same diet but without the supplement. Other studies on humans have failed to show weight reduction comparable to those observed with lab rats. However, levels of sugar and certain fats what doctors call triglycerides in the blood were improved in a group of individuals with diabetes.

Putting all of this together, it seems that chromium picolinate may not have as many benefits for humans as animal studies suggest. In addition, the drug can do serious damage to the liver and kidneys when taken in excess. And unfortunately, I could find no agreement on what level constitutes "excess" except the development of kidney or liver damage. That isn't any help in determining whether the diet pills your wife is taking are safe.

It is probably safe to take up to 200 micrograms of chromium picolinate every day for a period of three months, but I wouldn't take it longer than this. Although this chemical may have been of some slight help, I suspect that the weight loss you've noticed is due more to changes in her eating habits than to taking these pills.

Family Medicine® is a weekly column. To submit questions, write to John C. Wolf, D.O., Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, Grosvenor Hall, Athens, Ohio 45701.