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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 #63060
Title: DIETARY CHROMIUM EFFECTS ON TISSUE CHROMIUM CONCENTRATIONS AND CHROMIUM ABSORPTION IN RATS

Author
item Anderson, Richard
item Bryden, Noella
item Polansky, Marilyn
item GAUTSCHI, KURT - INST CLIN CHEM, ZURICH

Submitted to: Journal of Trace Elements in Experimental Medicine
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/7/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Chromium nutrition is an important human health problem and the chromium status of a significant portion of the population is suboptimal. Chromium absorption is low and it is not known what forms of chromium are the most usable. This study measured the incorporation of chromium into the tissues of rats fed nine different forms of chromium. Study demonstrated that there was a large effect of form of chromium on tissue incorporation and that stable forms of chromium containing natural complexes were utilized the best. These results are of benefit to scientists working on the effects of chromium on health and disease and to the lay public who want to improve their chromium nutritional status and overall health.

Technical Abstract: Chromium (Cr) absorption is low (usually less than 1%) and there is a need to find Cr compounds that are absorbed better than inorganic Cr salts. Therefore, the incorporation of nine different chromium (Cr) compounds on tissue Cr of 6-week male Wistar rats was investigated. Chromium compounds tested were Cr chloride (Cr chloride), Cr acetate (Cr acetate), Cr potassium sulfate (CrAlum), Cr trihistidine (Cr histidine), Cr triglycine (Cr glycine), Cr trinicotinic acid (CrNA), Cr dinicotinic acid dihistidine (CrNA-HIS), Cr tripicolinic acid (Cr picolinate) and Cr dinicotinic acid diglycine cysteine glutamic acid (CrNA-AA). Complexes were fed to weanling rats for three weeks at 5000 ng of Cr/g of diet. Basal control diet was a cornstarch based diet containing 30 ng Cr/g. Chromium incorporation into the kidney was greatest for CrNA-AA complex (850 ng/g dry wt) followed by CrAlum (407 ng/g), Cr acetate (397), CrNA-HIS Schloride (74), CrHIS (49) and control (23 ng/g). Chromium concentration of the liver was greatest for the Cr picolinate compound (50 ng/g) followed by CrNA-AA and Cr acetate. Liver Cr concentrations of remaining complexes were not significantly different from those of the control animals that received no added Cr. Absorption of radioactive forms of Cr did not explain the differences in tissue Cr concentrations. These data demonstrate that Cr concentrations are greatest in the kidney and that the form of dietary Cr significantly effects tissue Cr concentrations.