President George W. Bush signed into law an appropriations bill that provides an $800 million increase in the National Institutes of Health budget.

Among other provisions, the bill recognized that "chromium picolinate can restore normal glucose metabolism by enhancing insulin sensitivity. ? In clinical studies in people with type 2 diabetes, chromium supplementation has been shown to significantly reduce elevated blood sugar levels and improve long-term blood sugar control.? It also acknowledged that chromium supplementation is a safe, effective and low-cost nutritional therapy for type 2 diabetes. The bill also has language that encourages the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to expand its chromium research program.

Currently the NIH has three ongoing clinical trials studying chromium picolinate, and a fourth study has been approved. The current NIH trials are using Chromax chromium picolinate.

?We anticipate that continued government research will validate our findings that low chromium status is a causal factor in diabetes and other health conditions associated with insulin resistance,? said Gail Montgomery, president and CEO of Nutrition 21, manufacturer of Chromax.

?The government support of chromium research was in part the result of having spent considerable money independently to develop a ?proof of concept? research—and I think other supplement companies will need to do the same if they are seeking financial support from government agencies.?

The American Diabetes Association estimated that in 2002 there were 18.2 million people?or 6.3 percent of the population—with diabetes. NIH estimates that of the people with diabetes, 90 percent to 95 percent have type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is generally acquired as a result of dietary and lifestyle practices; type 1 is genetic.

Natural Foods Merchandiser volume XXVI/number 2/p. 8, 10