Chromium Supplements for Weight Loss: You Don’t Say…

Did you know that chromium is said to reduce body fat and increase lean muscle mass? Well I know this. I know it all too well!

Pills

Guess how I reacted when a friend of mine suggested I tried a chromium supplement to aid weight loss. I tried it of course!

This was maybe 6-7 months ago… I remember the little plastic bottle and the reassuring text on the label. Chromium supplement promised to:
• Reduce body fat
• Increase muscle mass
• Suppress appetite
• Treat diabetes
• Lower blood lipid levels

I took the tiny pill every morning, but I can’t say I remember getting anything out of it. It did reduce my appetite, but that could have the placebo effect or the stress of incoming exams. Who knows?

As far as my weight loss is concerned, I can argue neither for nor against it. Like any supplement, its purpose is to assist you in a diet. I wasn’t making any effort at that time, so it might have worked if I were on a diet.

My experience didn’t enlighten me in any way about the truth to chromium claims, so I did a bit of research. It turns out that not only all who have tried it are clueless about its effects, but most of the tests have almost nothing to show for it.

Researchers experimented with it over and over again. They thought it could be good for diabetes (tested on 1000 people give or take). They tried it for weight loss too (numbers are the same). But they didn’t get much out of this either. A single test presented results, and that was in China (they suspect the Chinese have a slight chromium deficiency, and that’s why they reacted to it.)

What is known is that in the case of Chromium deficiency, taking these supplements will surely help with all the promises I mentioned earlier.

However, you get all the chromium you need from your diet. So there is no use in taking a pill for a problem you are unlikely to have. (Just to make sure you don’t get me wrong, note that there are some very rare exceptions!)

Conclusions?
Chromium supplements might just be your most irrelevant effort yet!