Ingredia Highlights Chromax as Approved Safe Ingredient for Weight Management.

Many chromium picolinates are available on the market, offering wide variations in quality. According to Ingredia, unlike other chromium based compounds, Chromax purity is assessed by quality control procedures.

Jul 20 2011 --- While consumers are becoming more and more concerned about the safety of drug-based treatments for weight management, Ingredia Nutritional has released Chromax, which provides both strongly documented safety and clinically proven efficacy.

Chromax is a patented salt of trivalent chromium (Cr3+) and tri-picolinic acid, also known as chromium picolinate. Chromium increases the sensitivity to insulin, thus regulating blood sugar levels and limiting sugar storage in the body. The picolinate form of chromium provides the highest chromium bioavailability.

Many chromium picolinates are available on the market, offering wide variations in quality. In fact, one can find anything from the less-expensive mixtures, whose quality is assessed by mathematical calculation rather than quality testing, to the purest compounds such as Chromax, which requires a more expensive manufacturing process. According to Ingredia, unlike other chromium based compounds, Chromax purity is assessed by quality control procedures.

The EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) actually worked with Chromax to establish higher standards for the approval of chromium compounds. Its high dose and long-term safety were established based on more than 140 studies, some of which were conducted by the National Toxicology Program (USA). Chromax is now considered as a quality reference and is the only approved product among chromium picolinate preparations for sale. According to the recent EFSA safety assessment in Europe, Chromax can now be used in foodstuffs including functional foods and dietary supplements, both for particular uses and for the general population, at the chromium trace element maximum dosage of 250µg/day.

Chromax efficacy on weight management was also assessed on a large scale: 15 clinical studies were performed on a total of 1800 volunteers. Those demonstrated significant results on weight and fat mass loss, while preserving lean mass. Moreover, one study showed the positive impact of Chromax on satiety and high-carb food cravings, resulting in a reduction of food intake.

Besides, Chromax is a ready-to-use ingredient adapted for incorporation into many dietary supplements such as tablets, capsules, softgels, gums etc…. It is also water-soluble at the recommended dosage, thus suitable for application in beverages. Indeed, Ingredia Nutritional presented an end-product concept formulated with Chromax at Vitafoods 2011: a fruit-flavored shot containing the recommended Chromax daily dose of 2mg.

At a time when many weight management products do not offer the safety guarantees one is entitled to expect, Chromax is the first and only chromium picolinate approved by the EFSA.  This flexible ingredient which provides both strongly documented efficacy and indisputable safety offers strong market potential for effective weight management nutritional products.

Ingredia Nutritional, as a division of the dairy industrial group Ingredia, is dedicated to the development, manufacturing and marketing of innovative, scientifically grounded nutritional ingredients and turnkey solutions for the health and nutrition industries worldwide. With an annual growth of about 40% since its creation in 2007, Ingredia Nutritional has become a major player in the nutritional ingredients sector.