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0:00
Hello. My name is Susan
Fairweather-Tait.
I'm a professor of
human nutrition in
the Norwich Medical School at
the University of East
Anglia in the UK.
I'm going to be talking
to you about chromium.
0:13
Chromium, as trivalent chromium,
is a trace element that is
naturally present in many foods,
and it's also available
as a dietary supplement.
Chromium does also exist
as hexavalent chromium,
which is a toxic byproduct
of stainless steel
and other manufacturing
processes.
Trivalent chromium is involved
in the efficacy of insulin
in regulating the metabolism of
carbohydrates,
lipids and proteins.
A circulating complex
of chromium and
an oligopeptide of aspartate,
glycine, cysteine,
and glutamate, which
is named chromodulin,
has been proposed as
the means by which
chromium mediates
responses to insulin.
There are case reports
of patients on
long-term total parenteral
nutrition who developed
metabolic and neurological
defects that were
reported to respond to
chromium supplementation.
However, the case for
chromium to be classed as
an essential
nutrient is unclear,
and I will discuss this
a bit further later on.
1:07
The amount of chromium
in many foods
varies widely depending on
local soil and water
conditions, as well as
agricultural and
manufacturing processes
used to produce them.
For example, the amount
of chromium can vary
50-fold in samples
of oatmeal because
of growing and
processing differences.
Foods which are rich in chromium
include meat and meat products,
oils and fats,
breads and cereals,
fish, pulses and spices.
Most dietary chromium is
actually derived from
processing foods with
stainless steel equipment,
so it's hexavalent chromium.
In Europe, the main food
groups contributing to
daily chromium intake include
milk and dairy products,
bread and rolls, chocolate
that's cocoa products,
and non-alcoholic beverages.
The estimated
intake in Europe is
about 57-83 micrograms per day.
The absorption of chromium
from food is very low,
