Heavy Diet

You ingest chromium all the time without knowing it. The metal is an essential mineral found in cheese, prunes, brewer's yeast, wheat germ, and broccoli. It sounds harmless enough, and it is. But Dartmouth College chemistry grad student Diane Stearns, professors Karen Wetterhahn and Joseph BelBruno, and colleagues at George Washington University warn that chromium picolinate, sold as a dietary supplement for trimming fat and building muscle, causes genetic damage in animal cells.

The Dartmouth researchers, who carried out their studies on cells from the ovaries of Chinese hamsters, say that the genetic damage raises questions for humans, including whether long-term or excessive use of chromium supplements could lead to tissue-level accumulations high enough to damage human chromosomes and eventually cause cancer.

Immediately after the press release on the research came out, the chromium picolinate supplement industry flexed its muscles, insisting in a national ad blitz that the substance, which is unregulated by the FDA, is safe even at 10,000 times the recommended dose. The researchers maintain that they were just reporting scientific results. "It is a study of metal toxicity," says Stearns, who did the bulk of the work. "I knew that it was controversial and that there's a great deal of money involved, but we were surprised by the response."

So, are chromium picolinate pills safe? "Everyone asks us that, but it's notour place to advise people whether they should or should not take dietary supplements, "Stearns replies. Her caveat: More research is needed to better understand what happens when chromium accumulates in people's bodies.

Until then, it seems, let the buyer beware.

AdditionalContributors:Ann Shaifstein '99, TylerStableford '96, ChristinePuled '96, HeatherKillebrew '89, andJennifer Saunders.