Can a Person with Kidney Disease Take Chromium?

QUESTION:

Hello,

I have many of the symptoms of atypical depression and am interested in taking chromium picolinate but I read somewhere that you should not take it if you have a kidney disease - which I have. Is that correct or could I take it maybe even at a low dose?

Thank you,
N. C.

ANSWER:

Dear N.C.:
I am not aware of the study that shows people with kidney disease should not take chromium. I would like to know your source. There are several causes. Probably type II diabetes is the most common. Whether you take chromium or not may depend on your type of kidney disease.

A caveat: I am not a specialist in kidney diseases. I recommend that you consult a nephrologist — a physician who specializes in diseases of the kidney — and obtain his or her opinion about taking chromium.

Sorry I can’t be more definite. Please let me know what your nephrologist says.

Malcolm N. McLeod, MD

Dosage of New Chromax

hi dr. mcleod,
i stumbled upon your research and blog online today and am praying Chromax will help me in my 20 year battle with depression, pmdd, sad and 3 bouts of ppd. All of which run on both sides of my family along with diabetes.i noticed the 500 mg capsules of Chromax have 250mg of chromium picolinate and 250mg of chromium histidinate? If I need 1000mg of Chromium Picolinate according to your blog, should I take 2 or 4 of these pills each day? Have you studied both forms of Chromium? Think this is a new formulation of Chromax.....Thanks!

Answer:

Yes, this is a new formulation of Chromax. The hope is that absorption of chromium will be increased by adding chromium histidinate to chromium picolinate. You should take 2 pills each day.

Please let me know if this helps.

Malcolm McLeod

WHAT IS THE PROPER DOSAGE OF CrPic?

Dr. McLeod:

After reading your book, I started taking chromium almost five years ago. It had a profound impact. I am wondering about dosage. I believe I have been taking 200 mcg after breakfast, and then again, at around 10:30 am. Odd as this might sound, I wonder if I initailly was taking 500 mcg, and then somehow purchased the 200 mcg. What is the proper dose? If I should increase, what is the best way to build up to the higher dose? I have gained weight in the last year, and wonder if that is because I changed accidentally from 500 to 200.

Thanks!

Best,

R H

ANSWER:

Dear RH

I usually recommend that people start taking 3 micrograms per pound of body weight of chromium picolinate daily. If that dosage does not curb appetite, give more energy, and lift depression within one week, I suggest increasing the dosage to 5 micrograms per pound of body weight daily. That 'translates" to a maximum dosage of 1000 micrograms per day for a person who weighs 200 pounds.

If increasing the dosage does not achieve the desired effect, you may want to consider switching to another brand of chromium picolinate. Not all formulations are made with equal atttention to quality control.

Thank you for contacting me. Please let me know if increasing the dosage helps.

Malcolm N. McLeod, MD

CrPic in Canada

Dr. McLeod,

I have just finished reading your book Lifting Your Depression and am interested in adding chromium picolinate to my diet to see what effect, if any, it may have on my depression. However, I'm a young woman located in Canada and am wondering if there is a brand that I can purchase here that you know is similar in effectiveness as the one you recommend. Is there a product that can be purchased from a Canadian retailer? I do not make much of a salary and would so appreciate your advice.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely,

N V

ANSWER
CHROMIUM PICOLINATE (CrPic) is still pending approval in Canada. So you will not be able to buy it in Canada. I, however, have contacted Nutrition21, US maker of CHROMAX, a reliable brand of CrPic, and they have agreed to send you some bottles. Simply send me your physical mailing address and I will forward it to Nutrtion21, Inc.

Thank you for contacting me. Please let me know what effect CrPic has.

Malcolm N. McLeod, MD

Chromium histidinate?

QUESTION

I have been taking Chromax Ultra for my chromium picolinate. At the drug store I noticed that they have changed their formulation to half chromium picolinate and half chromium histidinate. In your book you mentioned that other chromium formulations were not effective, but I don't recall the hisidinate form being mentioned. Icelandic Health doesn't seem to offer the regular picolinate only formula any longer. Is the new formulation effective or do I need to switch brands? Thanks!

ANSWER:Your assumption is correct. Chromium histidinate became available after publication of Lifting Your Depression.
A few words about chromium histidinate: Histidine is an essential amino acids and is found in protein-containing foods. When combined with chromium, it improves chromium's absorption. There is some evidence that -- when combined with chromium picolinate -- it increases absorption, based on http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15564651">research conducted by research chemist Dr. Richard A. Anderson and colleagues at the USDA.

The object of Dr Anderson’s study was to find a complex of chromium that was better absorption than any of the existing forms. The research group made and tested several new complexes of chromium and gave them to three males and three females. They measured the amount of chromium excreted in their urine, the logic being that the more that is absorbed, the more excreted. They found that the greatest level of urinary chromium excretion occurred in those subject who had taken chromium histidinate.

The study was approved by the Human Nutrition Study Committee, US Department of Agriculture, and the Internal Review Board, Clinical Section of Georgetown University, Washington, DC.

The evidence is meager at this point, but I plan to take the preparation that contains both chromium picolinate and histidinate and also to recommend it to my patiens.

Analysis of Study of 113 Patients

QUESTION:

Dear Dr. McLeod,

I read about the study of 113 depressed patients who received either chromium or placebo for 8 weeks. Why didn’t more of them benefit from from chromium? I find this surprising since chromium has helped curb my appetite, has allowed me to lose weight (because I have more energy to exercise), and it has lifted my depression. It has been wonderful for me. Will you explain why more people in the study didn't benefit from chromium?

ANSWER:

Yes, I'll certainly try to.

Dr. John P. Docherty was the lead investigator of the study to which you are referring. At the time he was CEO of Comprehensive NeuroScience Inc., and Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, NY.

One hundred thirteen patients were enrolled in study, which was double-blinded. It was conducted at multiple centers across the US, and lasted for 8 weeks. The plan was to give 600 micrograms daily of chromium picolinate (CrPic) to 75 of the patients; 38 were to receive a placebo or “dummy” pill. The patients’ responses were to be assessed by the 29-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D-29) and the Clinical Global Impressions Improvement Scale (CGI-I).

Of the 113 patients who were enrolled in the study, 3 dropped out before taking a single dose of the capsules that contained either CrPic or placebo. Another 35 did not comply with the study design, that is, they failed to take at least 80% of the capsules, and therefore were excluded from analysis of the data. This left only 75 of the original 113 who completed the study. Of the 75 who completed the study, only fifty (50) received CrPic, while 25 received placebo.

TheCrPic group reported more benefit than placebo in reducing appetite, reducing eating, decreasing carbohydrate craving, and “smoothing out” daily mood swings. As measured by the overall HAM-D-29 scores, both groups improved. However, CrPic was no better than placebo. This may have been because not everyone is this group craved carbohydrates and not everyone was overweight. In other words, not all patients suffered from atypical depression.

Let us look at only those 41 patients who were overweight and who craved carbohydrates: twenty six, (26) received CrPic and 15 received placebo. Those who received CrPic had significantly greater improvement, as measured by the total HAM-D-29 scores, than did those receiving placebo (65% vs 33%). Moreover, those receiving CrPic reported significantly greater improvement in terms of appetite control, reduced eating, and reduced carbohydrate craving.

To look at the results in round numbers, analysis of the study results suggests that 2 in 3 depressed people who are overweight and chronically hungry will respond to chromium while only 1 in 3 will respond to placebo. This analysis of the data supports my observation that chromium lifts depression and curbs appetite in overweight, depressed people.

Thank you very much for your question.

Malcolm N. McLeod, MD

Does Chromium Reduce Craving for Alcohol?

Dear Dr. McLeod,

I take chromium for 2 weeks as part of my diet to avoid crave for sugar.
Everything works fine but yesterday when I went for a party and had 5 pear ciders I started be aggressive like never before.
I do not understand the symptoms and my friends are not very happy about that what happened.
Could it be because any alcohol connection with chromium?
Could it be a sugar-chromium side effect?
Pear cider has got 210 kcal.

Regards
M.J.

Dear M.J.,

My knowledge of chromium's effects on metabolism of alcohol by the human body is very limited, but I can tell you this. I posted a blog in December of 2005 on this topic. George, the first patient I described in Lifting Your Depression, reported that chromium definitely changed the way his body responded to alcohol.

To briefly summarize George's response, in his own words, to alcohol after he started taking chromium:
"Both my parents were alcoholics. I saw the harm alcohol did to them and to our family, so I have always been very careful to limit my consumption of alcohol. In the past - on those rare occasions when I drink - I gulp alcohol, get drunk very fast, and have a terrible hangover the next day. As you know I started taking chromium picolinate about a month ago. This past weekend my reaction to alcohol was very different. I drank two beers, slowly, and got pleasantly tipsy. I didn't feel a need to gulp alcohol as I have in the past, and I didn't drink too much. When I woke the next morning, I did not have any trace of a hangover. Chromium has definitely changed the way my body reacts to alcohol."

Thank you for contacting me, M.J. I wish I could offer more case histories, but my experience with alcohol and chromium is limited. Please let me know if you have any further observations and thoughts.

By the way, do you think pear cider might contain any toxins that contributed to the change in your behavior? Or might pear cider contain too much sugar?


Malcolm N. McLeod, MD