Chromium

A trace mineral, taken above all with blood sugar and weight in mind.

People take it for

Blood sugar
Weight and body fat
Hormones and ovulation
Cholesterol and triglycerides

A plain-English overview, not advice. Written from published reviews and trials and from what people say in public forums.

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What is chromium?

Chromium is a trace element, present in soil, in water and in food. Supplements use the trivalent form, chromium(III), which has long been tied to the way the body handles carbohydrate and fat, though whether it is strictly essential is still argued over: no clear deficiency has ever been pinned down in people. Blood levels of it come out lower in adults with type 2 diabetes and in adults carrying extra weight than in other people. It is sold on its own, most often as picolinate, and is a routine ingredient in multivitamins, fortified foods and energy drinks.

Why do people take chromium?

Blood sugar

The thinking. Blood sugar is far and away the commonest reason people reach for chromium, and it is widely sold with that in mind. The idea is that it makes cells respond more readily to insulin, so sugar leaves the blood faster; blood chromium does come out lower in adults with type 2 diabetes than in others.

What research has found. The reviews disagree with one another. Several, pooling twenty or more randomised trials, found HbA1c and fasting glucose lower on chromium than on placebo; others found one shifting and not the other, or a change only for particular forms. Trials ran from 50 to 1,000 micrograms a day. Studies here point in different directions, so this one is still being worked out; the dose, how long people took it and who took part all seem to matter.

Weight and body fat

The thinking. The rise in obesity made weight-loss supplements popular, and chromium is one of the ones people reach for. The thinking follows the same insulin thread: chromium has been put forward as a way of shifting body composition as well as insulin resistance, and the trials were run mostly in adults already carrying extra weight.

What research has found. Two reviews of trials in adults with overweight or obesity found a little more weight lost on chromium than on placebo, half to three-quarters of a kilogram on average, and both called the effect modest and its everyday relevance uncertain. A third, in adults with type 2 diabetes, found no clear difference in weight, BMI, fat mass or waist. A fair body of trials has looked at this, and most point the same way.

Hormones and ovulation

The thinking. The other group the research keeps returning to is women with polycystic ovary syndrome, where insulin resistance is common and where chromium has even been set against a prescription diabetes medicine. The thinking is the familiar one: that steadier insulin might in turn settle the hormones behind irregular periods, acne and unwanted hair.

What research has found. The picture is uneven. A review of ten trials in 683 women found fasting insulin and blood fats lower on chromium, and ovulation more frequent; an earlier review of seven found BMI and free testosterone lower but the other hormones unchanged; and a trial in 60 women found acne and unwanted hair scores down while the hormone measurements did not move. The studies disagree, so this is unsettled: dose, duration and who took part all seem to shift the result.

Cholesterol and triglycerides

The thinking. Chromium also turns up in supplements aimed at blood fats, and the reasoning is the same metabolic one: a mineral bound up in how the body handles fat as well as carbohydrate might show in the numbers on a cholesterol test. Animal work pointing that way came first; the human trials followed, nearly all of them in adults with type 2 diabetes.

What research has found. One review pooled twenty-four randomised trials. Triglycerides and total cholesterol came out a little lower on chromium and HDL a little higher, with no change in LDL, though the reviewers noted the shifts were small enough that their everyday importance is unclear. Research here is still young: a few studies so far, mostly pointing the same way.

What does chromium do in the body?

Chromium’s story is an insulin story. Trace metals of this kind take part in the everyday handling of carbohydrate and fat, and chromium is thought to act on insulin, the hormone that moves sugar out of the blood into cells, either by making cells answer to it more readily or by mimicking part of what insulin itself does.

Past that, the mechanism is still open. Review after review says the same thing: what chromium does at the level of molecules has never been worked out. What is clear is that the chemistry matters, in that the oxidation state of the metal and what it is bound to seem to shape what happens. How it travels in the blood is unsettled too: chromium appears to compete with iron for transferrin, the protein that carries iron about, and the human evidence is contradictory. One review suggests that where supplements do something, it may be a drug-like effect rather than the topping up of a nutrient.

What do people say about taking chromium?

These are anecdotes people have shared, not evidence.

What people like

Blood sugar is far and away the commonest reason given: nearly everyone on the diabetes threads took it hoping their readings would come down.
A smaller group, mostly on the parenting forum, took it for sugar cravings and appetite, and some noticed eating less in the first fortnight.
A handful report a clear change: steady control over years alongside a low-carbohydrate diet in one case, readings down within a fortnight in another.
Occasionally someone mentions something unrelated to blood sugar, such as softer skin and stronger nails after a couple of months on it.

Common complaints

Noticing nothing at all is by far the commonest report, from people who tried it for a fortnight and people who tried it for years.
Not being able to tell what did what comes up repeatedly, because most started chromium alongside diet changes, exercise or several other supplements.
Vivid, unsettling dreams were described by two people in one thread, who both stopped; no other side effect was mentioned more than once.
Several push back on taking it unprescribed at all, asking whether a blood test has shown a shortage before anyone starts buying tablets.

How people take it

Two hundred micrograms once a day is the usual figure, and several take it first thing in the morning before breakfast.
Higher amounts appear too: four hundred micrograms daily in one case, and older posts suggesting six hundred to a thousand split across the day.
Most take it alongside other things rather than on its own, cinnamon most often, and for some a long list of vitamins and minerals.
Several describe giving it a fixed run, a fortnight to a couple of months, then stopping when they could see no difference.
A couple take it twice a day, morning and evening, and say the second dose is the easy one to forget.

Read from these public discussions:

Chromium: anyone taken this to suppress appetite or lose weight? (Mumsnet, 2017)
Chromium supplements: what's your experience/opinion? (Diabetes Forum, 2014)
Chromium and/or cinnamon Does anyone take these supplements? (Diabetes Forum, 2016)
Chromium picolinate (Diabetes Forum, 2019)
Chromium picolinate advice please (Diabetes Forum, 2020)
supplements Chromium and Cinnamon (Diabetes Forum, 2012)

What forms of chromium are there?

Form	What’s different	Elemental chromium by weight	Per serving, on products we list
Picolinate	Chromium bound to picolinic acid. It is the form almost every trial of chromium used.	about 12.4 %	200 µg
Other forms	Inorganic chromium chloride, chromium bound to nicotinic acid, and labels that name no form at all.	stated on the label	not in our price tables yet

What else is worth knowing about chromium?

Labels give elemental chromium in micrograms per serving, and a serving may be more than one capsule. Trials used between 50 and 1,000 micrograms a day, most often 200, for two to six months.
Side effects were uncommon in the trials. A review of the diabetes trials found unwanted effects no more frequent on chromium than on a dummy tablet; a review of the weight trials listed watery stools, dizziness, headaches and hives among the events reported.
Almost all of the research was in adults with type 2 diabetes, in adults with overweight or obesity, or in women with polycystic ovary syndrome, so there is much less to go on for anyone outside those groups.
Chromium and iron appear to compete for transferrin, the protein that carries iron in the blood. Human data on whether that matters either way are contradictory.

If you take medication, are pregnant, or have a health condition, check with a pharmacist or GP first.

The research behind this page (26 studies)

How much does chromium cost?

That depends on the form and the pack, so we work out the price of the same dose of every chromium product we can find and rank them.

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