Interactions of chromium with other macro- and micronutrients (vital substances):
Vitamin C
In animals, it can be shown that simultaneous administration of vitamin C increases the absorption of chromium.
Iron
Chromium competes with iron for a binding site on the iron transport protein, transferrin. Nevertheless, supplementing older men’s diets with 925 µg chromium/day for 12 weeks had no significant effect on the nutritional status of iron.
In younger men, only a slight decrease in transferrin saturation with iron was found after the supplemental administration of 200 µg chromium/day for 8 weeks. The excess iron in hereditary hemochromatosis (iron storage disease) may impede chromium transport due to competition for the transferrin binding site. This fact has led to the hypothesis that in the presence of concomitant hereditary hemochromatosis, decreased chromium transport may lead to diabetes mellitus.
Carbohydrates
Diets high in simple sugars-such as sucrose-result in higher urinary excretion of chromium in adults than diets high in complex carbohydrates. This effect is due to increased insulin secretion with simple sugars compared with that with complex carbohydrates.
