Chromium is a trace mineral that may help insulin work, and chromium picolinate is the form most used in supplements. It is marketed for blood sugar control and weight loss, and has been studied in people with type 2 diabetes and in people with overweight.
Also known as: chromium picolinate, chromium nicotinate, chromium polynicotinate.
There is no RDA. ODS lists an Adequate Intake of 35 mcg a day for men 19 to 50 and 30 mcg from age 51, and 25 mcg for women 19 to 50 and 20 mcg from age 51 (30 mcg in pregnancy, 45 mcg while breastfeeding). No upper limit was set. Chromium-only supplements commonly provide 200 to 500 mcg and some up to 1,000 mcg; multivitamins typically have 35 to 120 mcg. The label lists elemental chromium, which is 12.4% of the weight of chromium picolinate.
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling. FDA allows only a qualified health claim for chromium picolinate: that one small study suggests it may reduce the risk of insulin resistance and possibly type 2 diabetes, but that FDA concludes the relationship is highly uncertain.
On blood sugar, ODS says chromium used alongside diabetes treatment lowered fasting glucose and HbA1c slightly in some analyses, a 2016 review found insufficient reason to recommend it for type 2 diabetes, and a 24-week trial of 1,000 mcg a day found no effect on insulin sensitivity, fasting glucose or HbA1c. The American Diabetes Association does not recommend it. On weight, a 2019 meta-analysis of 21 trials found 0.75 kg more weight loss than placebo and no change in waist size; a Cochrane review called the effect of debatable clinical relevance and the evidence low quality.
Safety, per ODS: no adverse effects are linked to high intakes from food or supplements, but people with kidney or liver disease might be more sensitive, and isolated case reports link chromium supplements to anemia, low platelets, liver and kidney damage, muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis), skin reactions and low blood sugar. Taking chromium picolinate at the same time as levothyroxine reduced levothyroxine absorption in a small study. If you take insulin or other diabetes medicines, tell your prescriber.
We could not find a single published half-life or time to peak for chromium that applies to a supplement dose, so we do not list one. ODS says only about 0.4% to 2.5% of dietary chromium is absorbed (about 1.2% from chromium picolinate), and urine chromium is used as a marker of absorption.
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