EFFECTS OF CHROMIUM PICOLINATE SUPPLEMENTATION ON BODY-COMPOSITION - A RANDOMIZED, DOUBLE-MASKED, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED STUDY

To examine the effect of chromium picolinate (CrP) on body composition , a randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled study was conducted, A total of 154 patients received either a placebo or 200 mu g or 400 mu g of CrP per day, Subjects were asked to consume at least two servi ngs of a protein/carbohydrate nutritional drink a day that contained t he different amounts of CrP, Subjects were free-living and were not pr ovided with weight loss, dietary, or exercise guidance, Body compositi on was measured before and after the 72-day test period by using under water testing (displacement method) with residual lung volumes determi ned by helium dilution, On completion of the posttest, a body composit ion improvement (BCI) index was calculated for each subject by adding the loss of body fat and gain in nonfat mass and subtracting fat gaine d and lean lost, Analysis of the prestudy data revealed that there wer e no significant differences in body composition between the three gro ups, After the test period, both the 200-mu g and 400-mu g groups had significantly higher positive changes in BCIs compared with placebo, A single-factor analysis of variance weighted linear trend was also hig hly significant, No significant differences in BCI were found between the 200- and 400-mu g groups. Supplementation with a minimum of 200 mu g/d of chromium (as CrP) can lead to significant improvement in body composition.