The hypoglycemic activity of chromium methionine (CrMet) in alloxan-induced diabetic (AID) mice was
investigated and comparedwith those of chromiumtrichloride hexahydrate (CrCl3·6H2O) and chromium
nicotinate (CrNic) through a 15-day feeding experiment. The acute oral toxicity of CrMet was also inves-
tigated in ICR (Institute for Cancer Research) mice by a single oral gavage. The anti-diabetic activity of
CrMet was explored in detail from the aspects of body weight (BW), blood glucose, triglyceride, total
cholesterol, liver glycogen levels, aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels.
The obtained results showed that CrMet had beneficial effects on glucose and lipidmetabolism, andmight
possess hepatoprotective efficacy for diabetes. Daily treatmentwith 500 and 1000g Cr/kg BWof CrMet
in AIDmice for 15 days indicated that this low-molecular-weight organic chromiumcomplex had better
bioavailability and more beneficial effects on diabetics than CrCl3·6H2O. CrMet also had advantage over
CrNic in the control of AST and ALT activities. Acute toxicity studies revealed that CrMet had low toxicity
potential and relatively high safetymargins inmice with the LD50 value higher than 10.0 g/kg BW. These
findings suggest that CrMet might be of potential value in the therapy and protection of diabetes.