Many diabetes-related nutritional products or drinks contain chromium, which is emphasized to control blood sugar. What exactly is chromium? What are the benefits for diabetes? Can eating chromium really lower blood sugar? This article will reveal them all for you!

What is Chromium?

Chromium (element code: Cr) is a natural mineral and one of the essential trace elements for the human body. Because the body cannot synthesize it by itself, it must be supplemented by the outside world.

In nature, chromium mainly comes in the following 2 forms:

1. Trivalent chromium (Cr 3+):
   It has biological benefits and can help the human body. It is commonly found in food and is also added to nutritional supplements.
   
2. Hexavalent chromium (Cr 6+):
   Mainly formed by the oxidation of trivalent chromium, it is toxic and carcinogenic. It is widely used in industry today. If inhaled in large amounts, it can cause respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Accidental consumption can cause gastrointestinal damage and gastric cancer.

Are chromium supplements good for diabetes? Understand the functions of chromium

The efficacy of chromium can be traced back to the 1950s. At that time, animal studies found that supplementing chromium to chromium-deficient mice could increase insulin sensitivity, help glucose enter cells for utilization, and thus achieve the effect of lowering blood sugar. Subsequently, other studies found that long-term permeability Patients who have received total intravenous nutrition injections are more likely to develop diabetes due to chromium deficiency; if timely supplementation is given, blood sugar, lipid metabolism and body fat can be improved.

Later studies confirmed that chromium can increase the number of insulin receptors, promote insulin receptor phosphorylation, and enhance insulin activity, allowing extracellular glucose to actively enter cells to provide energy.

Can chromium supplementation lower blood sugar and improve diabetes?

Although past studies have pointed out that chromium can improve blood sugar, subsequent research results in the medical community have been divergent; some studies have found that chromium can reduce glycated hemoglobin and fasting blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes, but for people with abnormal glucose tolerance (pre-diabetes) or blood sugar Normal subjects have no effect; other studies have found that chromium can increase high-density cholesterol (good cholesterol) in patients with type 2 diabetes, but has no significant effect on reducing low-density cholesterol or triglycerides.

It can be seen that more clinical studies are still needed to confirm the effectiveness of improving blood sugar and diabetes; therefore, it is not recommended to use chromium-containing nutritional products to replace drugs or reduce dietary control; dietary and life adjustments and drug treatment are still treatments. Main approach to diabetes.

Do diabetics need additional chromium supplements?

Basically, as long as you eat a balanced diet, chromium deficiency is unlikely to occur. Therefore, diabetics can first check whether their nutrition is balanced, whether they have taken in the following chromium-containing foods in a timely manner, or whether they have insufficient chromium intake through blood tests, and then Decide if supplementation is needed.

According to the National Institutes of Health, the recommended daily intake of chromium is 30 to 35 micrograms for adult men and 20 to 25 micrograms for women; the intake for pregnant and breastfeeding women needs to be adjusted to 30 and 45 micrograms.

What foods contain chromium? Top 10 Foods Containing Chromium