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Deficiency Diseases and Good Nutrition
Chromium
Cr
Chromium is a trace element found in tiny amounts through out the body. It's main function deals with glucose metabolism. Although it is not well understood, there are some things we do know.

Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas. Insulin moves the glucose in your blood to your cells. This hormone cannot work properly without GTF (glucose tolerance factor). This factor can either be eaten in brewer's yeast or manufactured by your intestines. At the center of this molecule is the chromium atom. Without chromium, you could not produce GTF or insulin. This means that your body would not be able to metabolize glucose or benefit from it. Your brain is mainly nourished on glucose, and without it, you suffer serious mental disturbances. If your body cannot metabolize glucose, your liver cannot make glycogen, which is the energy for your muscles.

Chromium has functions other than the role it plays in GTF. It is a vital ingredient in lecithin, which helps the body keep fat in small particles. When the fat globules get too large, they get stuck on the walls of arteries and can cause atherosclerosis. Your body requires chromium when producing protein. If it can't produce the amount it needs, you can suffer from premature aging. Large amounts of chromium are found in your adrenal glands, indicating its importance in the production of their stress coping hormones. White blood cells contain quite a bit of chromium. When you don't consume enough of the mineral, your white blood cells cannot function properly. This is one of the reasons you are more susceptible to illness when under stress. Chromium activates vitamin C, and is therefore needed to reap the full benefits from it.



ESADDI = Estimated 
Safe and Adequate 
Daily Dietary Intakes

  Age            ESADDI
0.0-0.5        10-40 mcg
0.5-1.0        20-60 mcg
1-3            20-80 mcg
4-6           30-120 mcg
7-10          50-200 mcg
11 +          50-200 mcg

Chromium content in food, and the amount we need in our bodies, is difficult to measure. You'll need to eat more chromium when you are pregnant because much of it goes to build the baby's store. Most of the time infants are born with high concentrations of trace elements in their bodies. A healthy baby will have enough chromium in their body to last them until age 10. After that the child will need to ingest chromium to uphold their 6 milligram store.

Eating a lot of refined carbohydrates is detrimental to your pancreas and chromium stores. Not only do refined carbohydrates require chromium for metabolism, but they supply no chromium of their own. White rice contains 25% of the chromium found in brown rice. White flour is even worse, containing only 13% of the chromium found in wheat. Replacing complex carbohydrates for refined simple carbohydrates (white flour and sugar) will eventually wear out your chromium supply and possibly cause you diabetes. Many people are deficient in chromium because they consume too many refined foods. The chromium content in food is hard to measure and can only be estimated. Good sources of the mineral are brewer's yeast, oysters, liver, nuts, potatoes, whole wheat flour, black pepper, and cheeses. It is hard for you to get a toxicity, because your body only absorbs what it needs of the mineral. If you inhale a lot of smoke from coal burning plants or from cigarettes, you run the risk of a chromium toxicity. If you load your body up with chromium from your foods, you can also get a toxicity.

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Revised: 14 Sep 99