AOR Multi Vit. seem to contain Chromium Picolinate which has been found to damage DNA. Is that so?
I would prefer the polynicotinate version, if only because it's cheaper. I can live with the picolinate version, since I've only seen evidence for harm under non-physiological conditions.
Food Chem Toxicol. 2007 Jul;45(7):1097-106. Epub 2006 Nov 22.
Evaluation of the potential genotoxicity of chromium picolinate in mammalian cells in vivo and in vitro.
Andersson MA, Petersson Grawe KV, Karlsson OM, Abramsson-Zetterberg LA, Hellman BE.
Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Division of Toxicology, Box 594, Uppsala University, SE-751 24 Uppsala, Sweden.
Chromium picolinate (CrPic) is a synthetic nutritional supplement primarily used for weight loss and muscle building. Recent studies have indicated that CrPic might be genotoxic and these findings together with the wide-spread consumer use, have increased the concern about its safety. In the present study we investigated the potential genotoxicity of CrPic in mice given a single intraperitoneal injection (up to 3mg/kgb.wt.) by evaluating the frequency of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes (fMNPCE) in peripheral blood, and DNA damage in lymphocytes and hepatocytes. The fMNPCE was evaluated after 42h and DNA damage after 16h. Using the Comet assay DNA damage was also monitored in extended-term cultures of human lymphocytes and in L5178Y mouse lymphoma cells that had been exposed for 3h to 500muM CrPic under different exposure conditions. A slight, but significant CrPic-induced increase in DNA damage (P<0.001) was observed in the human lymphocytes, but only when these cells were exposed in the absence of serum. In all other experiments CrPic was found to be without genotoxic effects, both in vivo and in vitro. Taken together, our results suggest that a high concentration of CrPic might be DNA damaging, but only under non-physiological conditions.
PMID: 17418471
Eur J Epidemiol. 1998 Sep;14(6):621-6.
Effect of supplementation with chromium picolinate on antibody titers to 5-hydroxymethyl uracil.
Kato I, Vogelman JH, Dilman V, Karkoszka J, Frenkel K, Durr NP, Orentreich N, Toniolo P.
Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, New York, USA.
Recent in vitro studies have shown that chromium (III) compounds such as chromium picolinate, a popular dietary supplement among people trying to lose weight, produce chromosome damage. We monitored levels of DNA damage in a chromium picolinate supplement trial by measuring antibodies titers to an oxidized DNA base, 5-hydroxymethyl-2'-deoxyuridine (HMdU), by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Ten obese volunteer women completed a 8-week course of 400 micrograms chromium picolinate per day. In either absolute titers or percent of the baseline value, there were no changes in antibody titers at 4 or 8 weeks. The titers were very stable within individuals and those of one individual rarely crossed over others, which was reflected in an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.99 (95% confidence interval: 0.96-1.00). There were no effects on glucose and lipid metabolism in this period. The results of this trial suggest that chromium (III) picolinate in a dose typically used for nutrient supplementation dose not increase oxidative DNA damage, as measured by anti-HMdU antibody levels.
PMID: 9794131
