Supplement
Chromium (Picolinate)
Glycemic control in type 2 diabetes: three meta-analyses A study that pools the numbers from several trials into one combined estimate. disagree, and the signal sits in chromium picolinate above 200 mcg/day in poorly controlled diabetes.
Grade C: human trials exist, but they are small, mixed or not yet repeated. This is not a finding that it does not work. How to read a grade →
Chromium is a trace mineral involved in how the body handles sugar. In people with type 2 diabetes, three reviews of studies disagree. The best results come from chromium picolinate at more than 200 micrograms a day, in people whose diabetes was poorly controlled. So any benefit may be limited to that group.
- Dose studied
- 200 μg/day
- Form graded
- Chromium picolinate
- Cited PMIDs PubMed ID: the permanent number the US National Library of Medicine gives a published paper. Each one links to that paper's record on PubMed.
- PMID 24635480 →
A letter describes the human evidence, not the product, the manufacturer, or the ingredient's worth.
See the full evidence record →Who responds: this record's trial reading reports no subgroup that identifies who responds.
Chromium picolinate for glycemic markers, graded on human trial evidence.
Commercial disclosure
EBL earns no commission on any supplement it grades. A purchase made through the dispensary link below pays EBL nothing, the practitioner discount goes to you in full. The dispensary is Fullscript, a practitioner dispensary, and many of the professional-grade brands in it are sold mainly through practitioners rather than in health food stores. Grades are assigned by published rubric before any commercial relationship exists and are never influenced by one. Full disclosure.
No dose is published here. This record carries no authored dose, because the cited trials do not converge on a single figure. Each trial cited on this page states the dose it used, and EBL has not turned those into a recommendation.
Standardized forms were used in the cited trials; product quality varies.
The cited review pools trials and does not report when doses were taken (PMID 24635480).
Checked against the published summary; the full paper could not be read. What the cited trials did, not a schedule. Every supplement, by trial timing →
Kidney disease: chromium is renally cleared and case reports of renal injury exist at high supplemental doses.
Diabetes medication, including insulin: chromium lowers fasting glucose and HbA1c A blood test that reflects average blood sugar over the previous two to three months. in pooled randomized evidence, so the effect is additive. Levothyroxine: chromium binds it in the gut and reduces absorption, which is a separation-in-time problem rather than a do-not-combine one. Antacids and proton pump inhibitors reduce chromium absorption.
Chromium lowers fasting glucose and HbA1c. Pooled randomized evidence shows chromium supplementation lowers fasting glucose and HbA1c in type 2 diabetes, so the effect is additive to glucose-lowering drugs. Asbaghi et al. (Pharmacological Research, 2020; PMID 32730903): systematic review A review that searches for every study on a question using a method set in advance, then assesses them together. and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials People are assigned to the treatment or a comparison by chance, so the groups differ only in what they received. It is the design that can show cause and effect. of chromium supplementation on glycemic control in type 2 diabetes.
Fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and HOMA-IR at baseline and 12 weeks. HbA1c at 12 weeks for longer-term glycemic control. Effect size How large a difference the treatment made, as distinct from whether the difference could be detected at all. in RCTs Randomized controlled trial: people are assigned to the treatment or a comparison by chance, so the groups differ only in what they received. It is the design that can show cause and effect. has been modest and predominantly in insulin-resistant subjects. Picolinate is the most bioavailable form; other chromium salts have weaker evidence and different pharmacokinetics.
Primary evidenceThree papers, each linked to its PubMed record.
Suksomboon et al. (Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 2014; PMID 24635480): meta-analysis of 25 randomized trials, 22 of chromium alone; HbA1c fell 0.55 percentage points (95% CI 0.22 to 0.88) and fasting glucose 1.15 mmol/L; the effect concentrated in chromium picolinate, doses above 200 mcg/day and patients with poor baseline control. Asbaghi et al. (Pharmacol Res, 2020; PMID 32730903): meta-analysis of 28 studies in type 2 diabetes; HbA1c fell 0.71 points (95% CI 0.23 to 1.19), with extreme heterogeneity How much the results of the pooled trials differ from each other. High heterogeneity makes a combined estimate less reliable. on fasting glucose (I-squared 99.8 percent). Yin and Phung (Nutr J, 2015; PMID 25971249): meta-analysis of 14 randomized trials analyzed by chromium form; chromium picolinate, chromium yeast and brewer's yeast showed no significant effect on HbA1c. Grade C: a pooled glycemic signal in two meta-analyses that a third, analyzing picolinate on its own, did not find.
Educational use only · Not medical advice · Starting, stopping or changing any supplement or medication is a decision for your physician
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. The grade on this page describes the strength of published human trial evidence in the populations studied. It is not a recommendation for any individual and is not medical advice. Starting, stopping or changing any supplement or medication is a decision for your physician.
This page carries a letter. EBL takes no commission, referral fee or payment of any kind on anything it grades. No letter has been bought and none is for sale.
How this is enforced
That is not a promise, it is a build condition. Two checks run on every deploy: one refuses to publish if a commission is claimed on anything graded, the other refuses if a page names a commercial relationship that is not declared in the register. If either fails, this page does not go live. You can read how the checks work, and what they do not cover, on the evidence integrity page.
Grades move when new trials publish. A free monthly email lists every grade EBL moved, with the reason and the trial behind it: the sign-up is on the Evidence Log →