Will chromium help depression in people with heart disease?

Q: Dear Doctor,
I had triple coronary artery bypass surgery 3 years ago and I went into a deep depression afterwards. My psychiatrist has prescribed several antidepressants, but none have helped much. After reading your book, I tried chromium and it has helped immensely. How would you explain this wonderful result?

A: Dear Sir,
Your case report sounds very much like that of a man who had a heart attack, followed by severe depression that did not respond to synthetic antidepressants. After he read Lifting Depression: The chromium Connection, he started taking chromium and his depression lifted quickly and dramatically. He describes these encouraging events in a book review. I read yet another report, in the Raleigh News and Observer, on the link between heart disease and depression.

How do I explain you positive response to chromium? Numerous studies, summarized by the National Institute of Mental Health, show that people with heart disease are more likely to become depressed than people without heart disease, and people who are depressed are more likely to develop heart disease than non-depressed people. Another important piece of the puzzle: at the 42nd annual meeting of the American Heart Association, Dr. Eric Rimm, PhD, of the Harvard School of Public Health presented the results of a study that showed that low chromium levels are associated with an increase in the risk of having a heart attack. On the other hand, subjects with higher chromium levels had less risk of a heart attacks.

How might dietary supplementation with chromium lift depression? Low chromium levels impair the ability of insulin to function normally and convert glucose (blood sugar) into energy. The pancreas tries to correct this problem by secreting large amounts of insulin. High insulin levels are associated with heart disease and, as I discovered by luck, low chromium levels also contribute to depression. Chromium improves the body's response to insulin, which results in lower insulin levels and lifts depression
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An argument can be made that chromium is very safe and it may lift depression and perhaps prevent or delay heart disease. So why not take chromium? The data are limited. So, make sure to discuss these matters with your cardiologist and psychiatrist. In the final analysis, you must make a personal decision, based on limited data, whether to continue chromium or not.

Thank you very much for bringing to my attention the connection between heart disease and depression and for telling me about the response of your depression to chromium. I hope other people will benefit as much as you have.