Chromax is the brand name under which Nutrition 21 now sells a supplement called chromium picolinate, which it has been supplying to other diet supplement companies for well over than a decade.

Chromium supplements are often sold for weight loss. With no studies actually showing such benefits, the Federal Trade Commission in 1997 forced Nutrition 21 to enter into a consent order agreeing to no longer advertise that chromium picolinate causes weight loss, reduces body fat, builds muscle, and increases metabolism.

But that order hardly even slowed Nutrition 21, which in 2003 petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for permission to claim that chromium picolinate may reduce the risk of:

• Insulin resistance;
• Cardiovascular disease when caused by insulin resistance;
• Abnormally elevated blood sugar levels;
• Cardiovascular disease when caused by abnormally elevated blood sugar levels;
• Type 2 diabetes;
• Cardiovascular disease when caused by Type 2 diabetes;
• Retinopathy when caused by abnormally high blood sugar levels;
• Kidney disease when caused by abnormally high blood sugar levels.

In a finding on August 25, 2005, the FDA ruled that there was "no credible scientific evidence" for six of the eight proposed claims, and said "the FDA concludes that the existence of a relationship between chromium picolinate and reduced risk of either insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes is highly uncertain."

Nevertheless, the FDA agreed to let Nutrition 21 say: "One small study suggests that chromium picolinate may reduce the risk of insulin resistance, and therefore possibly may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. FDA concludes, however, that the existence of such a relationship between chromium picolinate and either insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes is highly uncertain."

The other good news was the FDA's conclusion that "use of chromium picolinate in dietary supplements as described in the qualified health claims. . . is safe."

These two concessions by the FDA were immediately seized on by Nutrition 21 as a breakthrough. What we are left with at present is a supplement still being presented in many health stores as a weight-loss aid -- and a company marketing it more aggressively than ever as an FDA-approved tool in battling Syndrome X (metabolic syndrome), the same constellation of metabolic disorders addressed by the pending novel prescription drug Acomplia.