Chromax chromium better absorbed than other nutritional chromium supps

A new study shows that Chromax, the brand of chromium picolinate marketed by US firm Nutrition 21, is better absorbed by the body than other forms of this compound used as nutritional supplements and in foods. The results of the study, conducted by Ohio State University Department of Nutrition, USA, were presented at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology annual meeting held earlier this month.

The trial compared the absorption of four different types of nutritional chromium at a dose of 200mcg, in the form of: Chromax chromium picolinate, chromium chloride, chromium niacin amino acid chelate and chromium nicotinate. The researchers found that women who consumed chromium supplements absorbed a significantly higher amount of chromium picolinate, as compared with the other three types, based on 24-hour urine content analysis.

Absorption of chromium from chromium chloride was found to be very low and not much different than baseline. Chromium chloride is commonly used in multivitamin and mineral formulations for consumption as supplements and is also widely utilized in vitamin and mineral pre-mixes for food fortification.