ChromeMate® is a niacin-bound form of chromium that promotes normal insulin function. To determine the safety of ChromeMate®, a wide range of standard toxicity studies were conducted. In acute oral testing, the LD₅₀ of ChromeMate® in male and female rats was found to be greater than 5,000 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of body weight. The acute dermal LD₅₀, determined by exposing the test animal’s skin to ChromeMate®, was higher than 2,000 mg/kg. Both acute oral and skin LD₅₀ values are relatively high, indicating that the ability of ChromeMate® to cause harm when exposed to a single high dose is relatively low. Additionally, ChromeMate® was only slightly irritating to the skin and practically non-irritating to the eye. ChromeMate® did not cause any genetic changes when tested for mutagenic effects in five bacterial strains and in mouse lymphoma cells. Blood, clinical chemistry and microscopic tissue evaluations did not show any adverse effects in organs after a 90 day sub-chronic toxicity study of ChromeMate® administered in increasing doses. ChromeMate® did not damage lipids in the liver or cause fragmentation of DNA over the course of the sub-acute study. These results from a wide array of toxicity testing, demonstrate and support the broad spectrum safety of ChromeMate®.

Source: M. Shara, T. Yasmin, A.E. Kincaid, A.L. Limpach, J. Bartz, K.A. Brenneman, A.Chatterjee, M. Bagchi, S.J. Stohs and D. Bagchi. Safety and toxicological evaluation of a novel niacin-bound chromium (III) complex. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 99: 2161-2183 (2005).