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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BHNRC) » Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center » Diet, Genomics and Immunology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #214170
Title: Safety, absorption, and antioxidant effects of chromium histidine

Author
item Anderson, Richard
item Bryden, Noella
item Polansky, Marilyn
item HININGER-FAVIER, ISABELLE - J.FOURIER U.,GRENOBLE,FR
item BENARABA, RACHIDA - J.FOURIER U.,GRENOBLE,FR
item ROUSSEL, ANNE - J.FOURIER U.,GRENOBLE,FR

Submitted to: International Society For Trace Elements Research In Humans
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/5/2008
Publication Date: 1/23/2008
Citation: Anderson, R.A., Bryden, N.A., Polansky, M.M., Hininger-Favier, I., Benaraba, R., Roussel, A. 2008. Safety, absorption, and antioxidant effects of chromium histidine. International Society For Trace Elements Research In Humans.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Supplemental chromium has been shown to be involved in the alleviation of the metabolic syndrome, glucose intolerance, polycystic ovary syndrome, depression, excess body fat, and gestational, steroid-induced, and type 2 diabetes. Chromium amino acid complexes that contained histidine displayed consistently higher absorption compared with other chromium complexes tested in human subjects and a complex of chromium tri-histidine displayed the highest absorption. Previous studies have shown, using purified DNA, that chromium histidine displayed significantly lower DNA damage (similar to control cells) than other commercially available chromium nutritional supplements. We used human cultured HaCaT keratinocytes and also were unable to find any signs of toxicity of the chromium histidine complex. The trivalent forms of chromium tested exhibited protective antioxidant effects when cells were exposed to hydrogen peroxide-induced stress. In chromium histidine treated cells, transcripts related to the antioxidant family were upregulated. When HaCaT keratinocytes were preincubated with chromium histidine before peroxide, there was increased expression of genes implicated in oxidative repair (POLD2) and antioxidant defense (GSS), whereas the SOD2 transcript was down regulated. These results demonstrate that chromium histidine is a safe form of chromium that is absorbed by humans better than any of the known chromium complexes and functions as an antioxidant.