Diabetes is one of the most costly health problems in America and the seventh leading cause of death Chromium has been implicated in the regulation of insulin metabolism and a number of the signs and symptoms of diabetes are shared in common with demonstrated chromium deficiency These include impaired glucose tolerance, fasting hyperglycemia, glucosuria, hypoglycemia, elevated circulating insulin, decreased insulin receptor number, and peripheral neuropathy The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) have invited applications for basic and clinical studies of the role of chromium as adjuvant therapy in type 2 diabetes and/or impaired glucose tolerance Studies report that chromium supplementation may improve diabetes control but one of the major obstacles in evaluating the biological effects of chromium involves assessing chromium status by a simple, readily available analytical method BioPAL, utilizing neutron activation analysis (NAA), proposes to develop a nonradioactive, convenient, and standardized commercial assay for chromium in biological tissues and fluids free of the problems of complicated sample preparation and potential contamination encountered with presently used techniques Our long-term goal (Phase II) is to develop advanced technology to significantly, improve the lower-limits of sensitivity for chromium as compared to current methods, including current NAA methods The assessment of chromium levels and their relationship to insulin sensitivity as well as the possible value of chromium in the control of hypoglycemia and various other symptoms associated either with diabetes or related pathologies would be not only a valuable tool in research but a means for determining individual chromium levels by a routine, non-destructive and non-invasive technique Ultimately these methods could be developed into a simple kit for use by clinicians or even individuals Similar methods can be adapted for the determination of other trace metals from the same sample in a single analysis.
