Effect of chromium on glucose tolerance, serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels in occupational exposure to trivalent species in type 2 diabetic patients and in control subjects

Aim: In this work, effect of chromium on glucose, insulin, cholesterol and triglyceride variables in serum was studied in three experimental groups characterized by different serum chromium levels, namely tannery workers, patients with type 2 diabetes, and control subjects. Results: The results obtained in the group of tannery workers (higher serum chromium, lower serum insulin, cholesterol, better glucose tolerance with respect to controls) were similar to those reported in studies on supplementation with different trivalent chromium species. Conclusion: The relationship between serum chromium levels and relative changes of glucose and insulin during oral glucose tolerance test was studied and the obtained results indicate that the mechanism of chromium action was altered in diabetic patients. Moreover, we postulated that elevated chromium concentration in serum (0.6 - 0.8 mu gx1(-1)) could assure similar effect of chromium in diabetic patients as compared with non-diabetic subjects.