Nutritional supplement chromium picolinate causes sterility and lethal mutations inDrosophilamelanogaster

Abstract

The nutritional dietary supplement chromium picolinate, [Cr(pic)3], has gained much notoriety as a safe supplement that supposedly promotes fat loss and muscle enhancement in humans. Thus, a significant industry has materialized around the incorporation of [Cr(pic)3] in many sports foods and drinks and a variety of weight loss products. However,in vitrostudies have suggested that low levels of [Cr(pic)3] in the presence of biological reducing agents can catalytically generate reactive oxygen species, and recentin vivostudies have detected oxidative damage in rats receiving the supplement. The potential deleteriousin vivoeffects of this activity were examined by usingDrosophila melanogaster. [Cr(pic)3], but not CrCl3, at levels of 260 μg Cr/kg food or less were found to lower the success rate of pupation and eclosion and to arrest development of pupae in a concentration dependent fashion. X-linked lethal analysis indicates that the supplement greatly enhances the rate of appearance of lethal mutations and dominant female sterility.