Recent Longevity News for the seven days ending 4/9/14:

Energizing sick mitochondria with vitamin B3: Effective treatment for mitochondrial disease - Science Daily, 4/7/14 - "Vitamins B have recently been turned out to be potent modifiers of energy metabolism, especially the function of mitochondria. Vitamin B3, (niacin) has been found to delay the signs of aging in animal models ... Mitochondria power up all cells in our bodies, by generating fuel, ATP, for all cellular functions ... feeding mice with food supplemented with B3 form, nicotinamide riboside, delayed their mitochondrial myopathy" - Note: It seems like you could kill two birds with one stone by taking niacin to raise the good cholesterol.  I take 1,000 mg per day.

• What Is the Difference Between Niacin & Niacinamide? - LiveStrong.com - "Your body can convert niacin into niacinamide ... Niacin and niacinamide have identical function when used as vitamins ... their pharmacologic properties differ. For example, high doses of niacin can cause skin flushing. Niacinamide, however, does not have the same vasodialating, or blood-vessel widening, effects, that niacin has, so it does not lead to skin flushing" - Note:  You'll find contradictory information on the Internet but niacinamide will not raise HDL and niacin will.  See niacin at Amazon.com.

Caffeine against Alzheimer's disease? Positive effect on tau deposits demonstrated - Science Daily, 4/7/14 - "Tau deposits, along with beta-amyloid plaques, are among the characteristic features of Alzheimer's disease. These protein deposits disrupt the communication of the nerve cells in the brain and contribute to their degeneration ... Caffeine, an adenosine receptor antagonist, blocks various receptors in the brain which are activated by adenosine"

Green tea extract boosts your brain power, especially the working memory, new research shows - Science Daily, 4/7/14 - "green tea extract increases the brain's effective connectivity, meaning the causal influence that one brain area exerts over another. This effect on connectivity also led to improvement in actual cognitive performance: Subjects tested significantly better for working memory tasks after the admission of green tea extract ... healthy male volunteers received a soft drink containing several grams of green tea extract before they solved working memory tasks. The scientists then analyzed how this affected the brain activity of the men using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The MRI showed increased connectivity between the parietal and the frontal cortex of the brain. These neuronal findings correlated positively with improvement in task performance of the participants" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

4/6/14 Crimes, deaths linked to Colorado marijuana legalization, black-market still exists - YouTube - 3:58

Impact of long-term vitamin D insufficiency on fracture risk - Science Daily, 4/4/14 - "Study participants at baseline were 1044 Swedish women, all aged 75, with 715 attending at the 5-year follow up. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) levels (nmol/l) were classified as low (<50), intermediate (50 ) and high (>75) ... the incidence of hip fractures within 10 years was significantly lower in those women who were vitamin D sufficient (≥50 nmol/l) at baseline and maintained this level at 5 years. The proportion of women sustaining FRAX fractures was 26.2% and 30% in the group which had consistently high or intermediate 25OHD levels compared to 45.6 % in the group with consistently low levels" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

11 ‘Fitness Foods’ to Help You Get in Shape Faster - ABC News, 4/4/14 - "Scientists found that the cherry juice had a significant effect on pain reduction. In addition, strength loss averaged 22 percent in the placebo group compared to just 4 percent in the cherry group" - Do we really need 500 pot houses in L.A. to do the same thing as cherry juice?

Vitamin D Concentrations, Health Conditions, and Mortality - Medscape, 4/3/14 - "Fair, poor, and very poor health; self-reported diabetes mellitus; hyperglycemia; depression; muscle weakness; poor balance; and all-cause mortality were all associated with serum 25(OH)D levels less than 50 nmol/L, even after adjustment for confounding. The findings also suggest that, in older men, for a wide range of health conditions, physical performance measures, disability, falls, and mortality, the optimum range of 25(OH)D is between 50.0 and 74.9 nmol/L, with no additional benefit for 25(OH)D levels of 75.0 nmol/L or greater" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Chowing down on watermelon could lower blood pressure, study suggests - Science Daily, 4/3/14 - "the group was divided into two. For the first six weeks, one group was given four grams of the amino acid L-citrulline and two grams of L-arginine per day, both from watermelon extract. The other group was given a placebo for 6 weeks ... consuming watermelon had a positive impact on aortic blood pressure and other vascular parameters" - See L-citrulline at Amazon.com and L-arginine products at Amazon.com.

What Is Fisetin? And Does It Slow Dementia? - Medscape, 4/3/14 - "The compound is known to have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on brain cells. They have now investigated the memory-protecting effects of fisetin in a strain of double-transgenic Alzheimer's disease (AD) mice. Three-month-old mice had fisetin added to their food. By 9 months of age, mice that had not received fisetin began performing more poorly in water mazes, a standard test of animal learning and memory. Mice fed fisetin daily performed as well as control mice without the Alzheimer's transgene at both 9 months and 1 year old. The researchers next found that in AD mice with memory impairment, pathways involved in cellular inflammation were activated. In fisetin-fed AD mice, those pathways were dampened, and anti-inflammatory molecules were activated" - See fisetin at Amazon.com or go for the broad spectrum of flavonoids like with Garden of Life, Radical Fruits Antioxidant Complex at Amazon.com.

CDC Salt Guidelines Too Low for Good Health, Study Suggests - WebMD, 4/2/14 - "researchers analyzed 25 prior studies. They found that low levels of salt consumption may be linked with a greater risk of death ... both too much salt and too little are harmful ... Salt intake above 12,000 mg [milligrams] is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality ... The safest range? Between 2,645 and 4,945 mg of salt a day ... most of the world's populations consume that amount"

Young and Fit? You'll Be Old and Sharp, Study Finds - NBC News.com, 4/2/14 - "The study started back in 1985 when the researchers recruited about 5,000 people aged 18 to 30 in Minneapolis, Birmingham, Ala., Chicago and Oakland, Calif. They did the treadmill test and got physical examinations. Many of the people had interim examinations, and more than 2,700 agreed to try the treadmill test again 20 years later ... The better people did on the treadmill test 20 years before, the better they did on the memory test. And if people had kept their fitness up in middle age, they did even better ... One reason is that the brain uses a lot of oxygen, and people who are fitter make more efficient use of oxygen ... Physical activity also benefits mitochondrial function — a measure of how well structures in the cells call mitochondria make use of energy"

Alkaline-Forming Food Chart - Bone Health - betterbones.com - I was surprised to see apple cider vinegar on it.  Google "how is vinegar alkalizing". Click here for the most thorough explanation I could find.

• New Evidence That Vinegar May Be Natural Fat-fighter - Science Daily, 6/22/09 - "Their new study showed that laboratory mice fed a high-fat diet and given acetic acid developed significantly less body fat (up to 10 percent less) than other mice. Importantly, the new research adds evidence to the belief that acetic acid fights fat by turning on genes for fatty acid oxidation enzymes. The genes churn out proteins involved in breaking down fats, thus suppressing body fat accumulation in the body"
• Dietary Strategies for Improving Post-Prandial Glucose, Lipids, and More - Medscape, 1/29/08 - "Recent studies show that 1 to 2 tablespoons of vinegar, when added to a meal containing high-glycemic-index foods such as white bread or white rice, will both: 1) lower post-prandial glucose by 25% to 35% (Fig. 5), and 2) increase post-meal satiety by more than 2-fold.[32] Thus the addition of vinegar to a standard meal can not only improve the meal-induced oxidant stress by blunting the post-prandial glucose excursion, but also can increase and prolong satiety, which should help to reduce food cravings and lower caloric intake over the subsequent 2 to 4 h"
• Vinegar may help dieters eat less - Nutra USA, 9/7/05 - "Both glucose and insulin responses were about 25 per cent lower at 90 minutes when the volunteers had consumed the highest level of vinegar compared to the reference meal ... This level of vinegar is equivalent to about two to three tablespoons"
• Vinegar as a Sweet Solution? - Science News, 12/18/04 - "2 tablespoons of vinegar before a meal—perhaps, as part of a vinaigrette salad dressing—will dramatically reduce the spike in blood concentrations of insulin and glucose that come after a meal ... vinegar cut their blood-glucose rise in the first hour after a meal by about half ... a 2-pound weight loss, on average, over the 4 weeks in the vinegar group"
• Apple cider vinegar at Amazon.com - 1 Source Natural 500 mg tablet equals 2 tsb of vinegar.  4.5 tablets equals about 3 tablespoons by my calculations.

Abstracts from this week:

Insulin-like growth factor-1 and risk of Alzheimer dementia and brain atrophy - Neurology. 2014 Apr 4 - "Mean IGF-1 levels were 144 ± 60 μg/L in generation 1 and 114 ± 37 μg/L in generation 2. We observed 279 cases of incident dementia (230 AD dementia) over a mean follow-up of 7.4 ± 3.1 years. Persons with IGF-1 in the lowest quartile had a 51% greater risk of AD dementia (hazard ratio = 1.51, 95% confidence interval: 1.14-2.00; p = 0.004). Among persons without dementia, higher IGF-1 levels were associated with greater total brain volumes (β/SD increment in IGF-1 was 0.55 ± 0.24, p = 0.025; and 0.26 ± 0.06, p < 0.001, for generations 1 and 2, respectively)" - Note:  That raises the question of whether PPI's might increase the odds of Alzheimer's.  See:

• Relationship between Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors and IGF System in Older Subjects - J Nutr Health Aging. 2014;18(4):420-3 - "the use of PPIs remained significantly and negatively associated with IGF-1 levels (β±SE=-19.60±9.83, p=0.045)"

Clinical Investigation of the Protective Effects of Palm Vitamin E Tocotrienols on Brain White Matter - Stroke. 2014 Apr 3 - "Previous cell-based and animal studies showed mixed tocotrienols are neuroprotective, but the effect is yet to be proven in humans. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the protective activity of mixed tocotrienols in humans with white matter lesions (WMLs). WMLs are regarded as manifestations of cerebral small vessel disease, reflecting varying degrees of neurodegeneration and tissue damage with potential as a surrogate end point in clinical trials ... total of 121 volunteers aged ≥35 years with cardiovascular risk factors and MRI-confirmed WMLs were randomized to receive 200 mg mixed tocotrienols or placebo twice a day for 2 years ... the mean WML volume of the placebo group increased after 2 years, whereas that of the tocotrienol-supplemented group remained essentially unchanged" - My favorite: Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.

Effect of resveratrol on glucose control and insulin sensitivity: a meta-analysis of 11 randomized controlled trials - Am J Clin Nutr. 2014 Apr 2 - "a strategic literature search of PubMed, Embase, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library (updated to March 2014) for randomized controlled trials ... Resveratrol consumption significantly reduced fasting glucose, insulin, hemoglobin A1c, and insulin resistance (measured by using the homeostatic model assessment) levels in participants with diabetes. No significant effect of resveratrol on glycemic measures of nondiabetic participants was found in the meta-analysis" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Resveratrol Attenuates High-Fat Diet-Induced Disruption of the Blood-Brain Barrier and Protects Brain Neurons from Apoptotic Insults - J Agric Food Chem. 2014 Apr 2 - "The blood-brain barrier (BBB) maintains brain microenvironment. Our previous study showed that oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) can damage the BBB by inducing apoptosis of cerebrovascular endothelial cells ... Exposure of mice to a high-fat diet for 8 weeks increased levels of serum total cholesterol (146 ± 13) and LDL (68 ± 8), but resveratrol decreased such augmentations (119 ± 6; 45 ± 8). Permeability assays showed that a high-fat diet induced breakage of the BBB (88 ± 21). Meanwhile, resveratrol alleviated this interruption (16 ± 6). Neither resveratrol nor a high-fat diet caused the death of cerebrovascular endothelial cells. Instead, exposure to a high-fat diet disrupted the polymerization of occludin and zonula occludens (ZO)-1, but resveratrol significantly attenuated those injuries. Neither a high-fat diet nor resveratrol changed the levels of occludin or ZO-1 in brain tissues. Resveratrol protected brain neurons against high-fat diet-induced caspase-3 activation and genomic DNA fragmentation" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Resveratrol inhibits glycine receptor-mediated ion currents - Biol Pharm Bull. 2014;37(4):576-80 - "These results indicate that resveratrol regulates glycine receptor channel activity and that resveratrol-mediated regulation of glycine receptor channel activity is one of several cellular action mechanisms of resveratrol for pain regulation" - Note:  Resveratrol for pain relief?  Sounds like it’s a much better choice than destroying your health (and society) and getting stoned with Mary Jane plus destroying your health just increases pain in the long run plus resveratrol has anti-aging properties.  500 pot shops in L.A.?  Do that many people really have a medical condition?  I researched it some more and here’s a good article on it.  See:

• Chronic Pain and Resveratrol: The Pleasure of Relief - Psychology Today, 2/6/12 - "resveratrol, a compound found in these foods, may be beneficial as a treatment for acute and chronic pain conditions ... resveratrol, a natural product found in the aforementioned foods, might be effective in the local treatment of post-surgical pain. They reasoned that activators of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) may represent a reasonable treatment option, because AMPK activators inhibit two important pathways involved in the sensitization of peripheral pain receptors ... resveratrol profoundly inhibited ERK and mTOR signaling in sensory neurons in a time- and concentration-dependent fashion. Further, interleukin-6 (IL-6) is felt to play a role in pain; again, resveratrol had an impact, potently inhibiting IL-6-mediated signaling to ERK in sensory neurons, blocking the perception of pain. And, resveratrol administered at the time of incision completely blocked the development of persistent pain sensitization, preventing the transition to a chronic pain state" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.

Neat Tech Stuff / "How To's":

Amazon Dash may change grocery shopping - CNET, 4/7/14 - "The Amazon Fresh service costs $300 a year and is only available to some residents in Seattle and parts of California" - Note:  They way I understand it, the $300 per year includes Amazon Prime which costs $99 per years.  So the cost is $201 if you're getting Amazon Prime anyway.

Health Focus (Chromium):

Specific Recommendations:

• Chromium supplements at Amazon.com

News & Research:

• Chromium picolinate may lessen inflammation in diabetic nephropathy; Supplement linked to decreased protein in the urine of diabetic mice - Science Daily, 9/22/10 - "mice who received the supplement had lower levels of albuminuria (protein in the urine), an indication of kidney disease ... the treated diabetic mice, who were fed the diet with chromium picolinate, excreted about half as much albumin compared to their untreated diabetic counterparts"
• Chromium ingredient may have diabetes benefits: study - Nutra USA, 6/11/08 - "This suggests that [niacin-bound chromium] is more effective form of [chromium (III) ion] in preventing vascular inflammation in diabetic rats, and thereby, can potentially reduce risk of CVD in diabetes ... ChromeMate is also highly effective in helping maintain healthy blood sugar levels and body weight, which is important for people with diabetes. Given the close link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease, ChromeMate represents a triple benefit in promoting good health" - See chromium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Chromium ingredient may lower blood pressure: study - Nutra USA, 5/15/08 - "niacin-bound chromium III (NBC) may act as an ACE inhibitor, which work by inhibiting the conversion of angiotensin I to the potent vasoconstrictor, angiotensin II, thereby improving blood flow and blood pressure" - I've been told that niacin-bound chromium is sold as ChromeMate®.  See chromium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Dangers of Chromium? - Dr. Weil, 4/21/08 - "The possibility of DNA damage was suggested by studies of chromium picolinate in cell cultures. There is no evidence of such an effect in any living organism. To follow-up on the cell culture results, researchers at New York University studied the effects of 400 micrograms of chromium picolinate over an eight week period in 10 overweight women and found no sign of DNA damage"
• Get the diet scoop: 6 promising supplements, 6 to avoid - CNN, 2/16/07 - "promising ... Caffeine ... EGCG ... Chromium ... Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) ... 5-HTP ... L-dopa or L-tyrosine"
• Research Affirms the Benefits of Combination of Chromium Picolinate and Biotin for Improving Blood Sugar in People with Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 1/8/07 - "A significant decrease in fasting glucose levels of 4.67 mmol/L and postprandial glucose levels of 5.77 mmol/L was seen in patients taking chromium picolinate. The study showed that blood glucose levels continued to improve each year throughout the six years of the study"
• Research Affirms the Benefits of Combination of Chromium Picolinate and Biotin for Improving Blood Sugar in People with Type 2 Diabetes - Doctor's Guide, 12/20/06 - "The 30-day study examined 36 overweight or obese poorly controlled patients with type 2 diabetes taking Diachrome who were already receiving oral anti-diabetic drug(s). The results also showed a significantly greater reduction in the total area under the curve for glucose (AUCg) during the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) for the treatment group (mean change -9.7%) compared with the placebo group (mean change +5.1%)"
• Chromium Picolinate Supplements Improve Glycemic Control - Physician's Weekly, 11/13/06 - "Patients who received 1,000 µg CrPic demonstrated significant improvements in insulin sensitivity and glucose control when compared with placebo. Patients in the CrPic arm also gained less weight (0.9 kg vs 2.2 kg) than those in the placebo arm and had a smaller increase in body fat (0.12% vs 1.17%)"
• Chromium for Diabetes: Evidence of Benefits Grows - New Hope Natural Media Online, 10/23/06 - "Compared with those who took glipizide and placebo, people taking glipizide plus chromium (500 mcg twice a day as chromium picolinate) experienced multiple benefits, including significantly improved insulin sensitivity, less weight gain, less abdominal fat, lower percent body fat, and lower glycohemoglobin (an indicator of sugar-induced damage to tissues caused by diabetes)"
• Supplementation With Chromium Picolinate Improves Glycemic Control, Attenuates Weight Gain - Doctor's Guide, 8/9/06 - "Blood sugar levels of study participants taking chromium picolinate in combination with the antidiabetic medication dropped significantly compared to the group taking the medication plus placebo ... Study participants taking chromium picolinate also experienced significantly lower abdominal body fat accumulation than the group taking medication and placebo, and experienced less overall weight gain" - See chromium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Chromium Improves Glycemic Control When Sulfonylurea Is Insufficient - Medscape, 8/3/06 - "By the end of the randomized treatment period, mean fasting glucose had decreased by 31.0 mg/dL in the CrPic group, which was significantly superior to the mean 11.3 mg/dL decrease in the placebo group ... Participants receiving placebo gained weight and percent body fat during the randomized treatment period, whereas subjects receiving CrPic experienced an increase in fat-free mass vs baseline. Only subjects receiving placebo had increases in total abdominal, visceral, and abdominal subcutaneous fat"
• Chromium supplement offers diabetes hope – animal study - Nutra USA, 2/7/06 - "Obese rats treated with chromium picolinate had significantly improved glucose disposal rates"
• Chromium Picolinate Linked With Reduced Carbohydrate Cravings in People With Atypical Depression - Doctor's Guide, 9/29/05 - "65% of the chromium picolinate patients with high carbohydrate craving versus 33% of those receiving placebo had significantly greater improvements on total HAM-D-29 scores (p < 0.05). HAM-D-29 is a standard tool commonly used in assessing severity of symptoms in depressed patients"
• Study Results Show Diachrome(R) Improves Poorly-Controlled Blood Sugar Levels for People on Antidiabetic Prescription Medications - Doctor's Guide, 9/13/05 - "Study participants taking Diachrome with one or more antidiabetic medications saw an average range of 0.7 - 1.9% point reduction in HbA1c levels. The study also showed that insulin resistance was significantly reduced (P<0.05) in those taking thiazolidinediones and Diachrome ... Diachrome is a nutritional supplement specifically formulated for people with diabetes. It contains 600 mcg of chromium as Chromax(R) chromium picolinate and 2 mg of biotin" - See chromium supplements at Amazon.com and biotin at Amazon.com.
• Supplemental Chromium Picolinate and Biotin Appear to Decrease Blood Glucose and Lipid Levels in Type 2 Diabetics: Presented at ADA - Doctor's Guide, 6/17/05 - "Our most important finding is that chromium picolinate and biotin help to decrease hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c] values in poorly controlled diabetics ... 600 mcg chromium picolinate and biotin 2 mg/per day" - See chromium supplements at Amazon.com and biotin at Amazon.com.
• New Trial Shows Chromium Picolinate Reduces Weight Gain Associated with Diabetes Medication - Doctor's Guide, 6/16/05 - "The study participants who took 1,000 mcg of Chromax(R) chromium picolinate in combination with the antidiabetic medication experienced significantly lower body fat accumulation (0.12%) than the group taking medication and placebo (1.1%), particularly in the abdomen area. The study also found those taking chromium gained less weight"
• Chromium Supplementation May Not Improve Impaired Glucose Tolerance - Medscape, 3/1/05 - "We found no beneficial effect of chromium supplementation in the treatment of people with IGT despite increases in serum chromium levels, which suggested an adequate dosage regimen"
• Novel Fiber Limits Sugar Absorption - Life Extension Magazine, 9/04 - "Life Extension recommends that people seeking to lose weight consume the following supplements: ... Chromium polynicotinate 600-1000 mcg daily ... Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) 3000-4000 mg daily ... PGX™ highly viscous fiber blend 1000-3000 mg 5-10 minutes before each meal with 8-16 ounces of water ... Consider asking your doctor to prescribe 500 mg two to three times daily of the insulin-normalizing drug metformin"
• Low Chromium Linked to Heart Disease Risk in Patients With Diabetes - Medscape, 9/3/04 - "Our results suggest that diabetic men with CVD have lower toenail chromium than healthy control subjects"
• Chromium: An Element Essential to Health - Life Extension Magazine, 8/04 - "By interacting with proteins and nucleic acids, excess glucose molecules wreak havoc with tissue elasticity and normal function.33 Thus, controlling blood sugar may actually put the brakes on the aging process, and should be an essential component of any life-extension strategy"
• Chromium Picolinate Supplementation Linked With Reduced Chromium Picolinate Supplementation Linked With Reduced Carbohydrate Cravings Associated With Atypical Depression - Doctor's Guide, 6/2/04 - [WebMD]  "daily supplementation with 600 mcg of chromium as chromium picolinate, significantly reduced carbohydrate cravings compared to placebo, and improved other symptoms such as mood swings, fatigue and weight gain perception"
• What You Don’t Know About Blood Sugar - Life Extension Magazine, 1/04 - "it now appears that optimal fasting blood glucose levels should probably be under 86 mg/dL ... Chromium supplements have been shown to reduce blood glucose significantly.70-74 The dose used in human studies ranges from 200 to 1000 mcg of elemental chromium a day, with best results occurring when 400 mcg or more of chromium is taken daily"
• The Chromium Connection - Natural Foods Merchandiser, 9/03 - "The body requires certain nutrients to control glucose metabolism, especially chromium, zinc and vitamins B and C ... Diabetes is devastating because of its consequences. The condition often leads to hypertension, lipid disorders, cardiovascular disease, blindness, skin problems, nerve damage, kidney disorders and loss of limbs. Although it appears chromium picolinate may benefit your customers with type 2 diabetes, supplementation represents just one facet of treatment"
• Chromium Supplements Appear to Improve Glucose Sensitivity in Diabetics - Medscape, 8/29/03 - "We think that chromium picolinate can influence a person's diabetic treatment so that levels of insulin required may be reduced ... HbA1c levels decreased from 9.5% to 9% during a six-month period in patients receiving a higher dose of the supplement, a difference that was statistically significant ... The study also showed a significant reduction in cholesterol levels and trends for improvement in triglycerides in both chromium picolinate groups as well as a reduction in blood pressure in all groups"
• Chromium Effective for Common Type of Depression - New Hope Natural Media, 4/10/03 - "15 people suffering from atypical depression, who had been off of antidepressant medication for at least seven days, were randomly assigned to receive chromium picolinate or a placebo for eight weeks. The dose was 400 mcg per day for the first two weeks, then 600 mcg per day for the remainder of the study ... Seventy percent (7 of 10) of those receiving chromium responded to the treatment, whereas none of the five individuals in the placebo group had a positive response. Although the number of participants in the study was small, the difference in outcome between the chromium and placebo groups was highly statistically significant. Moreover, in 60% of those receiving chromium, the depression went into remission"
• Octacosanol Beats Statins - Dr. Janson, 4/02 - "Chromium supplements in the range of 200 to 400 mcg daily reduce total cholesterol and raise HDL levels, and up to 1000 mcg also help control blood sugar levels"
• Can a Mix of Chromium and Biotin Help Diabetics Control Blood Sugar? - WebMD, 10/15/01 - "when chromium and biotin are present together, they have more of a response than what would be expected by adding their effects separately. "As soon as you put those two together, you get a much greater increase in glucose metabolism,""

Abstracts:

• Systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy and safety of chromium supplementation in diabetes - J Clin Pharm Ther. 2014 Mar 17 - "Overall, chromium mono- and combined supplementation significantly improved glycaemic control (mean difference for HbA1c -0.55% ... chromium monotherapy significantly reduced triglycerides and increased HDL-C levels. The effects on glucose and triglycerides levels were shown especially with chromium picolinate. Glycaemic control may improve with chromium monosupplementation of more than 200 μg daily. HbA1c and FPG also improved in patients with inadequate glycaemic control at baseline. The risk of adverse events did not differ between chromium and placebo" - See chromium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Chromium supplementation in overweight and obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials - Obes Rev. 2013 Mar 18 - "Electronic searches were conducted in Medline, Embase, Amed and The Cochrane Library ... A meta-analysis of 11 studies showed a statistically significant difference in weight loss favouring chromium over placebo (mean difference (MD): -0.50 kg; 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.97, -0.03). There was a high statistical heterogeneity. Adverse events included watery stools, vertigo, headaches and urticaria. The evidence from available RCTs shows that chromium supplementation generates statistically significant reductions in body weight"
• Chromium attenuates high-fat diet-induced nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in KK/HlJ mice - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2010 May 27 - "Chromium supplementation prevented progression of NAFLD and the beneficial effects were accompanied by reduction of hepatic triglyceride accumulation, elevation of hepatic lipid catabolic enzyme, improvement of glucose and lipid metabolism, suppression of inflammation as well as resolution of oxidative stress, probably through enhancement of insulin signaling. Our findings suggest that chromium could serve as a hepatoprotective agent against NAFLD"
• Improved cognitive-cerebral function in older adults with chromium supplementation - Nutr Neurosci. 2010 Jun;13(3):116-22 - "In a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial, we randomly assigned 26 older adults to receive either chromium picolinate (CrPic) or placebo for 12 weeks ... Although learning rate and retention were not enhanced by CrPic supplementation, we observed reduced semantic interference on learning, recall, and recognition memory tasks. In addition, fMRI indicated comparatively increased activation for the CrPic subjects in right thalamic, right temporal, right posterior parietal, and bifrontal regions. These findings suggest that supplementation with CrPic can enhance cognitive inhibitory control and cerebral function in older adults at risk for neurodegeneration"
• Phenotype of subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus may determine clinical response to chromium supplementation - Metabolism. 2007 Dec;56(12):1652-5 - "Sixty-three percent of the subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus responded to the Cr treatment as compared with 30% with placebo ... Subject phenotype appears to be very important when assessing the clinical response to Cr because baseline insulin sensitivity was found to account for nearly 40% of the variance in the clinical response to Cr"
• Effect of Chromium Supplementation on Glucose Metabolism and Lipids: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials - Diabetes Care. 2007 May 22 - "There was no benefit in individuals without diabetes ... Chromium supplementation significantly improved glycemia among patients with diabetes"
• The Effect of Chromium Picolinate and Biotin Supplementation on Glycemic Control in Poorly Controlled Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blinded, Randomized Trial - Diabetes Technol Ther. 2006 Dec;8(6):636-643 - "randomized to receive 600 microg of chromium as chromium picolinate and biotin (2 mg/day) ... supplementation with a combination of chromium picolinate and biotin in poorly controlled patients with diabetes receiving antidiabetic therapy improved glucose management and several lipid measurements. Chromium picolinate/ biotin supplementation may represent an effective adjunctive nutritional therapy to people with poorly controlled diabetes with the potential for improving lipid metabolism"
• Chromium picolinate supplementation attenuates body weight gain and increases insulin sensitivity in subjects with type 2 diabetes - Diabetes Care. 2006 Aug;29(8):1826-32 - "1,000 mug Cr as CrPic ... CrPic supplementation in subjects with type 2 diabetes who are taking sulfonylurea agents significantly improves insulin sensitivity and glucose control. Further, CrPic supplementation significantly attenuated body weight gain and visceral fat accumulation compared with the placebo group" - See chromium supplements at Amazon.com.
• The influence of chromium chloride-containing milk to glycemic control of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - Metabolism. 2006 Jul;55(7):923-7 - "one group to receive chromium-containing milk powder (chromium 200 mug/20 g milk powder) and the other to receive placebo twice a day for 16 weeks ... The chromium group demonstrated a lower FPG and fasting insulin (-38.1 +/- 9.2 vs 63 +/- 8. 5 mg/dL and -1.7 +/- 0.2 vs 1.9 +/- 0.3 muU/mL, respectively"
• Effect of chromium on the insulin resistance in patients with type II diabetes mellitus - Folia Med (Plovdiv). 2005;47(3-4):59-62 - "We found a significant decrease of the immune-reactive insulin and the insulin resistance index after a two-month application of chromium 30 microg daily (1 tablet of chrome picolinate) ... Chromium included early in the complex therapy of diabetes is beneficial in the reduction of the degree of insulin resistance"
• Effect of chromium supplementation on blood glucose and lipid levels in type 2 diabetes mellitus elderly patients - Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 2004 May;74(3):178-82 - "study group received 200 microg of chromium twice a day for a three-week period ... Significant differences in the fasting blood level of glucose compared to the baseline (190 mg/dL vs 150 mg/dL, p < 0.001) were found at the end of the study. HbA1c also improved from 8.2% to 7.6% (p < 0.01). Total cholesterol was also reduced from 235 mg/dL to 213 mg/dL (p < 0.02). A trend towards lowered triglyceride levels was also observed (152 mg/dL vs 136 mg/dL)"