Chromax® Declared Safe

PURCHASE, N.Y.—Chromax® chromium picolinate does not produce chromosomal aberrations in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells, per results of a study slated for publication in the Journal of Mutation Research, Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis, according to Nutrition 21 (www.nutrition21.com), supplier of the ingredient. The study, conducted by BioReliance Corp. and monitored by ENVIRON Health Sciences, is the second of two genetic toxicology studies conducted at the request of the United Kingdom (UK) Food Standards Agency (FSA) to assess the safety of chromium picolinate, the company said. The sale of chromium picolinate is permitted in the UK following FSA’s approval in late 2004.

The first study was published in August 2005 and found chromium picolinate did not damage DNA or cause gene mutations. The study showed no statistically significant increases in structural or numerical chromosome aberrations in CHO cells at any test dose level. The studies were conducted in compliance with the ICH guidelines, applied Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) Standards, and used chromium picolinate as Chromax, a commercially available form of nutritional chromium.

“When chromium picolinate was tested using the internationally accepted guidelines, no chromosome damage was seen, even at test doses as high as approximately 770 mcg/mL, a concentration that precipitated in the culture medium,” said Ronald Slesinski, Ph.D., DABT, senior scientist at ENVIRON Health Sciences. “These findings are consistent with previous studies that showed no genotoxic effects from chromium picolinate in CHO animal cell cultures, living animals or humans and should put to rest lingering safety concerns about the safety of Chromax chromium picolinate.”

Share this article: Email, Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Yahoo!MyWeb, Windows Live Favorites, Furl
Add this article feed to: RSS, My Yahoo, Newsgator, Bloglines