Chromium Picolinate: Helper or Harmful?

Chromium picolinate is a compound that was patented by the USDA. This chemical is advertised to help encourage the creation of lean muscle mass while decreasing body fat. Basically, chromium picolinate was seen as possibly a silver bullet for weight loss and muscle gain, helping to promote and encourage both. The claims are made that this is exactly what chromium picolinate does: reduce body fat and build muscle. While studies seem to indicate that those two specific advertisements are probably true, the recent concerns about chromium picolinate come for different reasons.

Studies that began to come out around 1999 and have been confirmed since indicate that chromium picolinate, while assisting in fat loss and the building of muscle, may also be a cancer risk. This has broad possible repercussions since chromium picolinate is used in everything from supplemental pills to sports drinks. In addition to this discovery that it might be a cancer risk, chromium picolinate has also been shown to cause breaks in the natural human DNA.

The problem here is that chromium picolinate has been shown to have positive effects, but no one is completely sure what the negative effects are. Damage to DNA can never be a good thing, though scientists are still at a loss for what the noticeable side effects of this could end up being. While lab animals who ingested large amounts of chromium picolinate had no obvious side effects, there is no knowing what the longer term ramifications might be.

That being said, nothing has proven that chromium picolinate causes cancer-though the DNA damage is apparent. Does this substance help to build muscle and lose fat? Yes, it does, but without knowing what the long term side effects might be, you should think very carefully about pros and cons before using this supplement.

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