I have taken chromium picolinate for a few years now, both on its own and with other supplements. Just recently on the TV news here in Oz there were warnings stating that chromium supplements can be attributed to the cause of cancer.
Has anyone else seen, heard of or have literature or info on this?
Since hearing this I have been at various products to see if they contain chromium and it is scary the amount of products that contain it on the shelves.
Is there anyone else that considers this a concern or does everything cause cancer these days???
Chromium itself is not a problem. It is the picolinic acid that
has been shown to have adverse effects. Chromium
Picolinte is not a good form of chromium. Try taking
the Chromium Polynicotinate form sold as ChromeMate.
This form of chromium is bonded to Nicotinic Acid (niacin)
and is very safe.
I’m not sure if it’s even the picolinic acid that should be of concern, I think it’s more the hexavalent chromium that was the basis of Erin Brockovich’s campaign against the Hinkley Compressor Station in Southern California. That particular company used hexavalent chromium to fight corrosion in a cooling tower, and that form of chromium found its way into the drinking water of the town of Hinkley. The unusually high proportion of cancers that resulted in Hinkley formed the basis of the “chromium in drinking water causes cancer” hypothesis.
As for chromium picolinate – I think that more research needs to be done to determine if it’s carcinogenic or not.