Nutraceuticals and nootropics for anti-aging

More diabetes news: chromium-biotin supplement controls blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

A clinical trial sponsored by Nutrition 21, the manufacturer of Diachrome™ (a combination of chromium picolinate and biotin), has further confirmed what was already known from previous trials: that this combination of supplements is a safe and beneficial treatment for type 2 diabetes.

Chromium and biotin have been used separately as treatments for diabetes for several decades. The combination of chromium and biotin as a single supplement dates back only to the late 1990s.

The dosage used in Diachrome is: 300 mcg of chromium (as chromium picolinate) plus 150 mcg of biotin, twice a day. These are not large doses. Biotin has been shown to be non-toxic at doses more than a thousand times higher. The toxicity of chromium picolinate has yet to be determined despite numerous flawed attempts to measure it — however, body-builders have used much larger doses than those in Diachrome with no apparent ill effects. Thus, Diachrome is not a high-dose formula, yet it has shown significant benefit for diabetics in several well-conducted clinical studies. Going to higher doses, especially of biotin, might give even better results without incurring undue risk of toxicity. In fact, the usage patent (U.S. patent #5,789,401) from which Diachrome was developed specified dosages ranging from 1000 to 10000 mcg of chromium, and 1000 mcg to 200000 mcg of biotin.

Link to press release:

Positive Results for Diachrome Clinical Trial in People with Type 2 Diabetes

Link to manufacturer’s website:

http://www.nutrition21.com/Divisions/Therapeutic/Diachrome.aspx

Link to U.S. patent #5,789,401:

High-dose chromium/biotin treatment of type II diabetes

---

LifeLink carries Chromium picolinate in 200 mcg capsules, and Biotin in 5000 mcg (5 mg) tablets.