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Should I take chromium?
I had just put the finishing touches on an article which discussed the frustration so many people feel when faced with contradictory recommendations in the areas of nutrition and supplements, when what should arrive in the post but the new issue of Nutrition Reviews, a well-respected professional journal of scientific articles. It featured a special article about the effects of chromium on body composition and weight loss.
Now, chromium, as you may know, has become something of a star on the supplement playing field, touted for its supposed abilities to help us grow muscle and lose fat. It’s one of the supplements I am asked about most. I turned to the article, eager to see what the author – Dr. Richard Anderson, lead scientist of the Nutrient Requirements and Functions Lab at the Human Nutrition Research Center of the Department of Agriculture – had to say.
The study was what they call a research review that examines a lot of published studies and tries to find some patterns and draw conclusions. Here’s what this article found: Of the 14 studies this doctor surveyed, seven showed that chromium supplements significantly improved body composition (either by increasing lean body weight or decreasing body fat or both). Six showed that the supplements had no effects, and one study was equivocal.
But then Dr. Anderson did something interesting. He looked at some of the studies that showed ‘no effect’ a little more carefully. In three of those original six studies, the researchers also couldn’t find any effect on body composition from strenuous weight training. As one of my workout buddies says, that’s like not being able to find your bum if you put a bell on it. In other words, if those studies were showing that strenuous weight training didn’t make any difference in body composition, maybe the designs of the studies themselves were flawed.
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