InterHealth launches ‘next generation’ chromium for diabetes control
The new ingredient has been given the brand name Zychrome, and has been in development for over five years, said the California-based company. The chromium is in the form of chromium dinicocysteinate, which is a combination of chromium, niacin and L-cysteine, said the company.
Paul Dijkstra, CEO of InterHealth, said that the chromium market has not seen anything new for about 20 years and the new ingredient would “reinvigorate the blood sugar market as the next generation in chromium supplementation.
“The clinical results we’ve seen as well as the published preclinical data is very promising,” he added.
“This is a step in the right direction in managing insulin function and ultimately blood sugar control for millions of Americans.”
At the SupplySide East trade show in Secaucus, New Jersey this week the company presented data from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
According to the company, supplements of chromium dinicocysteinate for three months were associated with a significant decrease insulin resistance and fasting insulin levels by 30 percent in diabetic subjects.
The data has not yet been published in a peer-review journal and NutraIngredients-USA.com has not seen the full data.
Pre-clinical data
The human study adds to data from a rat study, published last fall in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research (Vol. 54, pp. 1371-1380). For that study, diabetic rats were divided into five groups, and had their standard diet supplemented with placebo, or chromium (400 micrograms per day of chromium per kilogram of body weight) in the form of chromium dinicocysteinate (Zychrome), chromium dinicotinate or chromium picolinate or an equal amount of L-cysteine.
“This study demonstrates that supplementation with a novel chromium compound chromium dinicocysteinate markedly reduced circulating levels of glucose and glycated hemoglobin,” reported researchers from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
The researchers added that levels of various inflammatory markers were also reduced following chromium dinicocysteinate supplementation.
The chromium dinicocysteinate supplementation regime was also associated with benefits superior to the other forms of chromium and the L-cysteine tested.
“The beneficial effect ofchromium dinicocysteinate supplementation was also significant in the lowering of blood levels of creatinine compared with control-placebo in [diabetic] rats,” they added. “This is a novel finding.”
