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17.8: Chromium

  • Page ID
    58204
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    Chromium promotes insulin action and is essential in glucose metabolism. A deficiency can produce diabetes-like symptoms, as seen in some patients who were being fed only by an intravenous solution that lacked chromium. An adequate chromium intake corrects the symptoms if—and only if—they are due to a chromium deficiency.

    Brewer’s yeast is a particularly rich source of chromium. This yeast comes from brewing beer— making some beers a good source. (Different brands of beer vary a lot in chromium content.)8 Other good sources include whole grains, nuts, and some red wines.

    Chromium is poorly absorbed from the diet, making toxicity from dietary sources highly unlikely. Toxicity from chromium (of a different form than that normally in the diet) has been caused industrially both through breathing and direct skin contact, resulting in skin ulcers, and liver damage and lung cancer. (This industrial form of chromium is called hexavalent chromium.)


    This page titled 17.8: Chromium is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Judi S. Morrill.

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