It was known by the 1950s that chromium was needed in humans to control blood
sugar, but it wasn't until the 1970s that chromium's main role in humans was
found out. It came accidentally, as a result of a new procedure that had been
introduced to nourish hospitalized patients who could not take in food by
eating. This method of nourishment was designed to give patients all the things
people need to maintain health until they could eat normally and get these
nutrients from food. Some of the patients who had been fed intravenously for
months developed a high blood sugar level just like diabetics (even though they
weren't). Then the doctors had to start insulin therapy to treat this
diabetes-like condition and even then the insulin didn’t work right! People
already knew that Chromium was needed to keep normal blood sugar levels, so when
they added the Chromium to the food solutions, there was an immediate
improvement! The people didn’t need insulin injections, and their blood sugars
and other problems went back to normal. After a while doctors everywhere figured
out that Chromium was needed in humans and they didn’t make the old mistakes
anymore. Trivalent chromium works with insulin to move glucose into cells, we
don’t know how else it works but we think it has to do with the insulin
binding to their receptor sites. Chromium and Diabetes Three of the 17 good
studies showed that there wasn’t any benefit of chromium with diabetics, 14
did show blood glucose improvements in the patients. The results were
impressive: blood glucose, insulin levels, and cholesterol all decreased, with
the higher dose (but not always). No one knows how tiny amounts of chromium
could have such big effects on insulin’s actions and no one knows why this is
so but they believe that chromium strengthens some things that happen between
insulin and the body. In other words, it doesn't work by making the body make
more insulin, but instead chromium makes the insulin that is there work better
in the peoples cells. For all the Health Nuts! An area of interest lately is the
possible effect of chromium on body composition; or, how chromium affects the
relative amounts of lean body mass (mainly muscle) compared to the amount of
body fat. There have been positive results from studies with four separate
animal species, pigs, lambs, rats and chickens. They were given chromium
picolinate. In all of these species, there were increases in muscle mass and
decreases in fat. And, in the case of pigs, the results have been confirmed by
many other studies. Unfortunately, for humans, the evidence was not as clear
until just recently. Earlier Studies were not even conducted properly so we
could not go by their results. But later studies used a large group of about
average people and conducted a controlled experiment. After a while there seemed
to benefits to the control group and it showed to be a result of the extra
Chromium intake! (I wish this was, totally the case because I myself am kind of
a health nut) Humans Daily Intake of Chromium Info from U. S. government shows
that most Americans get less chromium a day than the amount recommended by
nutrition experts (the RDA Committee recommends 50-200 mcg of chromium/day; the
vast majority of Americans get less than 50 mcg/day). Not many foods have a lot
of chromium. The best foods are organ meats, mushrooms, wheat germ, broccoli and
processed meats. It is thought that Stone Age people ate more chromium than
modern people because they might have always eaten organ meats from the animals
they hunted. And it is most likely that they lost less chromium in their pee
than we do. This is probably because Stone Agers didn’t eat nearly as much
simple sugars as modern people and simple sugar intake causes chromium to be
lost in the urine. Americans consume about 120 pounds of sugar per year from
regular eating! Another interesting thing is that in large numbers of people in
the U.S.-- chromium levels in our tissues lower over our lifetimes. In fact, the
highest chromium levels are found in babies! Conclusion Chromium is an essential
trace mineral for humans, as far as we know chromium deficiency might have
direct effects on a societies obesity, diabetes, abnormal blood lipids,
hypertension, and even coronary artery disease. Even though it is all
controversial, many sources show that this information is correct. Other Uses -
To harden steel, manufacture stainless steel, form alloys. - Used in plating to
form a hard, beautiful surface that is corrosion proof - Used to give glass an
emerald green color (responsible for the green in Emeralds and the red in
Rubies!). - Use as a catalyst - Tanning leather - Pigment (lead chromate [as
chrome yellow]). - Compounds are used in the textile industry as Mordants. ß? -
Used in the manufacturing of aircraft to anodize aluminum. - The refractory
industry ß? uses chromite for forming bricks and shapes (it has a high melting
point, moderate thermal expansion, and a stable crystal structure).

Bibliography
- elements.nb.ca/index1.htm/ - chemicalelements.com/ - dayah.com/periodic/ -
library.thinkquest.org/3659/pertable/