Several people have requested this information and I
thought it appropriate to post here as well. I just
received this clinical trial in the mail today as well as a
summary printed in the  FASEB Journal, Volume 9, Number 3
on March 8, 1995.  The following is their summary
concerning a recent trial on cellular damage from non-toxic
doses of Chromium Picolinate.  I now have the actual trial
on hard copy and am in the process of converting it onto
disk so that I can post it here or email it if requested.  
I won’t try to interpret this for anyone, leaving the
"experts" on this group to do so.  I can tell you all tho,
that this report and trial has alarmed some labs and
manufacturers of products containing Chromium Picolinate
who are considering very quickly substituting Chromium
nicotinate. The following is quoted from FASEB:

"THE DIETARY SUPPLEMENT CHROMIUM PICOLINATE INDUCES
CHROMOSOME DAMAGE IN CHINESE HAMSTER OVARY CELLS.
D.M. STEARNS; J.P. WISE, S.R. PATIERNO; AND K.E. WETTERHAHN
(SPON: Thomas A. Spencer, Jr.) Department of Chemistry,
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755; and Department of
Pharmacology, George Washington University, Washington, DC.
20037

Chromium (III) has been proposed to be an essential trace
mineral in animals and humans, functioning in the
maintenance of normal levels of glucose and lipid
metabolism. Chromium supplements available to consumers
include chromium (III) chloride (CRC13), chromium (III)
nicotinate (CrNic) (U.S. Patent 5194615) and chromium (III)
picolinate (CrPic) (U.S. patent 4315927). We are interested
in the ability of chromium supplements to cause DNA damage.
Chinese hamster ovary AA8 cells were treated with varying
amounts of particulate CrPic or CrNic for 24 hours.
Cytotoxicity was determined by measurement of colony
formation.  Chromosome damage was measured as
clastogenicity observed for cells in metaphase. Results
were compared to those obtained in cells treated with
ligands alone or with CrC13.  CrPic was found to cause
significant chromosome damage at a non-toxic dose, and
damage was dose-dependant.  Treatment with CrPic producing
91 +/- 12% colony survival resulted in 32 +/- 2% of
metaphases with chromosome damage.  CrNic, CrC13 and
nicotinate did not cause chromosome damage at equivalent
doses.  Chromosome damage induced by CrPic was inferred to
arise from the ligand since picolinate alone caused damage
at a non-toxic dose.  This study raises the question of the
safety of chromium picolinate as a human dietary
supplement.
(Funded by PHS Grants #CA 34896 and # CA 59292 National
Cancer Institute)"

I hope this is helpful.  If there’s enough interest, I’ll
be happy to post the trial when its converted.

Leslie Taylor