According to recent statistics from the CDC, nearly half of American adults have either diabetes or prediabetes!¹ To make matters worse, the presence of diabetes confers a 2- to 4-fold increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.²

Needless to say, excess blood sugar is highly toxic. But higher than normal blood sugar becomes toxic long before it reaches diabetic and even prediabetic levels!³ The longer your blood sugar is elevated, the more time it has to inflict extensive damage to your cells and tissues.

The importance of keeping your blood sugar under control cannot be overemphasized. Besides diabetes and heart disease, cancer^4,5 and Alzheimer’s disease⁶ are likewise linked to chronically high blood sugar. That pretty much covers every major killer disease of our modern world!

With our carb-centric American diet, it’s no easy task to maintain a tight grip on your blood sugar levels. Consider that a prominent national health and nutrition survey determined that thirteen percent of the population (or roughly 43 million people) consumes added sugars in an amount greater than 25% of their daily calories!⁷

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to snuff out those over-powering carb cravings and get your blood sugar under control…

Chromium: The Natural Insulin-Sensitizer

Chromium is an essential mineral that we require for the metabolism of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Chromium works to keep your blood sugar levels in check!

Although its exact mechanism of action is uncertain, studies indicate that chromium acts as an insulin sensitizer. Basically, chromium improves insulin sensitivity by facilitating the binding of insulin to its receptors (“insulin docking stations”), which are present on the surface of nearly all cell membranes. This enhanced affinity of insulin for its receptors amplifies its signaling action to remove excess glucose from the bloodstream for uptake by the body’s cells.^8,9 Thus, as an insulin sensitizing agent, chromium helps reverse insulin resistance.

Chromium Lowers Risk of Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease

When chromium is in short supply, blood glucose can become chronically elevated (hyperglycemia). As your body floods itself with insulin to help balance blood sugar levels, chronically elevated insulin (hyperinsulinemia) leads to insulinresistance. This is a situation where the body stops responding to insulin, so more and more is needed to signal to your cells to take up sugar and convert it to energy.

Insulin resistance in turn further promotes hyperinsulinemia, and a vicious cycle ensues^10-12 Insulin resistance is a hallmark of diabetes and a huge risk factor for cardiovascular disease.¹³

Diets deficient in chromium as well as low levels of plasma chromium are associated with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.^9,11,14-16 Low chromium concentrations in toenails (an indicator of long-term intake) increases the risk of heart attack in men.¹⁵

While a lack of chromium makes you more susceptible to diabetes and heart disease, supplementation with chromium helps to prevent and improve these conditions. In an analysis of U.S. adults who consumed dietary supplements, those individuals who regularly supplemented with chromium had substantially lower odds of having diabetes.¹⁷ Evidence from a systematic review of 22 studies suggests that chromium supplementation may lower average blood glucose and triglycerides while increasing HDL cholesterol in people with type 2 diabetes.¹⁸

Bonus: Chromium Curbs Carb Cravings and Burns Body Fat

Beyond its impressive benefits in disease prevention, chromium comes with some nice bonus effects: it helps fight carb cravings and excess body fat.

Carbohydrate and sugar craving is a form of addiction mediated by the opioid system and associated feelings of pleasure. In fact, sugar-bingeing rats – but not fat-bingeing rats – exhibited opiate-like withdrawal symptoms when given a drug that blocks opioid receptors.^19,20

For many years, integrative physicians have been helping their patients manage sugar cravings with chromium supplements.

So how exactly does chromium help you curb those persistent carb cravings?

You guessed it….Excess insulin triggers carbohydrate cravings too!¹² Higher circulating insulin resulting from low levels of chromium cause blood sugar to drop too low, driving the urge for sugars and starches. Even insulin itself, independent of blood glucose levels, stimulates hunger.²¹ Not surprisingly, experimental suppression of insulin secretion significantly decreased carbohydrate cravings in obese adults.²²

Scientific evidence demonstrates that chromium supplementation is a safe and effective way to help control carbohydrate and sugar cravings. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, adult subjects who received a daily supplement of 600 mcg of chromium for eight weeks showed significant improvements in carbohydrate cravings and appetite regulation.²³

Similarly, when compared to a placebo group, overweight women with carbohydrate cravings who took 1,000 mcg of chromium daily for eight weeks reported reduced food intake and hunger levels.²⁴ Chromium is also effective for reducing binge eating.²⁵

As for body fat…

Since chromium helps insulin to function more efficiently, less of the hormone is needed and serum levels decrease. While high insulin levels favor fat storage, low insulin enables fat burning. Successful long-term weight loss strongly correlates with enhanced insulin sensitivity.²⁶ Current evidence indicates that chromium supplementation is associated with significant reductions in body fat percentage in overweight/obese individuals.²⁷

The Critical Need for Chromium Supplements

Although chromium is found in a great variety of foods (e.g., meats, whole grains, broccoli, grape juice) and is needed in only trace amounts, many people still do not get enough chromium. This may be due to poor chromium absorption (0.4% – 2.5%) and substantially decreased content of the mineral in foods resulting from agriculture and food processing. Furthermore, excessive sugar, as well as exercise, stress, and advancing age, increase chromium losses in the urine.²⁸

Adults in the U.S. take in an average of only 31 to 42 mcg of chromium per day from food.²⁸ In contrast, most clinical studies demonstrating the health benefits and safety of chromium use supplements that contain 200 to 400 mcg.

When you consider its important health benefits, widespread deficiency, and poor bioavailability, chromium should clearly be included in everyone’s arsenal of supplements.

While a variety of chromium products are commercially available, one unique and advanced formulation has important advantages over the rest…

Crominex 3+ – A Cutting-Edge Chromium Complex

Crominex 3+ is a synergistic formulation that blends a bioactive form of chromium with two standardized herbal extracts: amla (or Indian gooseberry) and shilajit (a sticky organic substance found primarily on rocks high up in the Himalayan mountains). Since chromium is highly reactive and susceptible to oxidation into a toxic form, the addition of these two herbal extracts with protective antioxidant properties helps to stabilize chromium, as well as enhance its effects.²⁹

[Note: The “3+” refers to trivalent chromium – the biologically active form of chromium found in food].

Amla extracts, derived from the fruit of the Emblica officinalis plant, are powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents.³⁰ Like chromium, amla possesses antidiabetic activity. By blocking the action of various digestive enzymes that convert starch to sugar in the gut, amla extract helps to prevent spikes in blood sugar following meals. Amla also protects cells and tissues against glycation – the bonding of sugars to proteins and fats resulting in the formation of toxic compounds that damage cells and tissues throughout the body.³¹ 

Shilajit is a mineral-rich, gummy substance found mainly among the layers of rocks in the Himalayas. It has been used for thousands of years in Ayurvedic medicine as a potent tonic and natural remedy for various ailments including diabetes.³² Through its antioxidant activity, shilajit has been shown to minimize drug-induced hyperglycemia in rats.³² It also enhances the efficient metabolism of blood sugar in the mitochondria (“energy factories”) of the cell.³³

Placebo-controlled clinical trials in patients with type 2 diabetes^29,34,35 and metabolic³⁶ syndrome provide evidence of the efficacy of Crominex 3+. In one of the trials, treatment with 400 mcg of Crominex 3+ for 12 weeks helped lower hemoglobin A1c 111% better than placebo in type 2 diabetic patients.³⁴ In a separate study, type 2 diabetic patients who took Crominex 3+ as an adjunct therapy along with conventional antidiabetic drugs experienced a 51% better reduction in A1c than patients who were treated with the drug only.²⁹

Importantly, 400 mcg of Crominex 3+ for three months was more effective in improving several health biomarkers in type 2 diabetics than other forms of chromium including chromium picolinate, chromium polynicotinate, and chromium dinicocysteinate, as well as the combination of alma and shilajit extracts (the two other components in Crominex 3+).³⁵ These improvements in health biomarkers included:

• Reduction in hemoglobin A1c (reflects average blood sugar over 2-3 months)
• Increase in nitric oxide (promotes circulation)
• Reduction in C-reactive protein (marker of inflammation)
• Improvement in endothelial function (marker of vascular health)[MK1] 
• Reduction in oxidative stress (excess free radicals)
• Increase in glutathione (critical antioxidant)

Also noteworthy, the results from the treatment with Crominex 3+ were much more significant than the sum of the results from the individual components of Crominex 3+.³⁵ This finding substantiates the exceptional synergistic activity of Crominex 3+.

This unique and powerful synergy of chromium with amla and shilajit enables Crominex 3+ to optimize blood sugar control and its favorable effects on diabetes, cardiovascular disease, carbohydrate cravings, and body composition.

Complementary Compounds for Blood Sugar Control

Many nutrients and herbs work more effectively as supplements when teamed up with other natural compounds with similar properties. Different nutrients utilize different mechanisms to achieve the same outcomes. In addition, some people may respond better to a particular nutrient and less favorably to others. Lastly, a lower dose of each individual nutrient may be needed to attain the same effect that would be achieved with a higher dose when used alone.

Berberine, Gymnema sylvestre extract, and alpha-lipoic acid are natural compounds that may be used to complement the blood sugar controlling benefits of chromium.

Berberine is an alkaloid compound derived from the ancient Chinese herb, Coptis chinensis Franch, which has been used as a natural remedy for diabetes for thousands of years.³⁷ In a study in type 2 diabetics, berberine’s effect on lowering blood sugar was similar to that of metformin – the first choice medication for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.³⁷ Berberine is also effective at decreasing triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and total cholesterol in diabetic patients.^37,38

Like berberine, extracts of the Gymnema sylvestre plant have been used to treat diabetes for centuries.³⁹ Research shows that treatment of type 2^39,40 and even type 1⁴¹ diabetics with Gymnema sylvestre results in significant reductions in blood glucose and increased plasma insulin levels. These effects induced by Gymnema may in part be attributed to regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. Five of 22 diabetic patients in one study were able to come off their drug therapies and maintain control of blood sugar with Gymnema alone.⁴⁰

Alpha lipoic acid is a naturally occurring compound and potent antioxidant. In diabetes, it enhances glucose uptake and increases insulin sensitivity.^42,43 In one study, supplementation with 400 mg/day of alpha-lipoic acid for four weeks significantly reduced a marker of oxidative stress and improved HDL cholesterol levels.⁴⁴ Alpha-lipoic acid may also slow the development of free radical-induced diabetic complications, particularly peripheral neuropathy.⁴⁵

Summary

Chronically elevated blood sugar is associated with adverse health consequences. While high blood sugar is characteristic of diabetes, it also likely plays a role in cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Chromium is an essential trace mineral that enhances the actions of insulin in controlling blood sugar levels. However, suboptimal dietary intake of chromium is common and high-sugar diets promote loss of chromium in the urine. Studies have shown that chromium supplementation is beneficial in the prevention and treatment of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Chromium is also proven to diminish carbohydrate and sugar cravings, and help burn body fat.

Crominex 3+ is a superior synergistic blend of chromium and two antioxidant herbal extracts that help to enhance and stabilize the chromium. Crominex 3+ was clinically tested to be more effective than other forms of chromium including chromium picolinate and chromium polynicotinate.

Furthermore, the greater efficacy of Crominex 3+ can be given an additional synergistic boost by teaming it with other potent blood sugar controlling compounds such as berberine, Gymnema sylvestre, and alpha-lipoic acid. So don’t wait until your blood sugar gets out of control. Be proactive and capitalize on the impressive benefits of Crominex 3+.

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Last Updated: April 23, 2020