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Lack of Chromium Linked to Diabetes in Some Adults

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From Associated Press

A chromium deficiency may help cause diabetes in some adults, says a government researcher who found a sugary diet makes people excrete more of the metal.

“Maturity-onset diabetes is due to many causes, and one of those apparently is chromium deficiency,” said nutritionist Richard A. Anderson of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Human Nutrition Research Center.

Anderson presented a study last week during the annual meeting of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. He said it shows how it would be possible for a diet high in refined sugar to cause a chromium deficiency that could lead to adult-onset diabetes, the form which usually affects people over 40.

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Evidence ‘Very Unclear’

Dr. Harvey Gonick, director of the trace elements laboratory at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, cautioned existing evidence “is really very unclear” on whether a chromium deficiency can help cause adult diabetes.

But Anderson’s study “will strengthen the case,” said Dr. Orville Kolterman, a diabetes expert at the UC San Diego campus. “He’s demonstrated a way a deficiency could develop.”

While heredity is a factor in most adult-onset diabetes, “there are some tantalizing observations that suggest chromium deficiency may play a role,” Kolterman said. “Once the disease begins to evolve, chromium deficiency could aggravate the situation.”

Unlike juvenile diabetics who require insulin injections, people with adult-onset diabetes can produce their own insulin. But they tend to overeat and be overweight, putting more sugar in their blood than their insulin can handle.

Urinary Loss of Chromium

Anderson and other USDA nutritionists in Beltsville, Md., found 27 of 37 people significantly increased their urinary loss of chromium when they were fed a diet in which 35% of calories came from refined sugar. The typical American gets about 25% of calories from refined sugar, Kolterman said.

Chromium, a metallic element, is removed during food processing, so sources include multimineral tablets and most unprocessed foods, including whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables such as asparagus and mushrooms, Anderson said.

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