Effect of Chromium Supplementation on Glucose Metabolism and Lipids: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Response to Kleefstra, Houweling, and Bilo
- Ethan M. Balk, MD, MPH1,
- Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSC2 and
- Anastassios G. Pittas, MD, MSC3
- 1Evidence-Based Practice Center, Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
- 2Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory, Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts
- 3Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Tufts–New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
- Address correspondence to Ethan Balk, MD, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Box 63, 750 Washington St., Boston, MA 02111. E-mail: ebalk{at}tufts-nemc.org
We thank Kleefstra et al. for their comments (1) on our review (2), and we appreciate the opportunity to respond. We agree that the available trials on chromium supplementation are of poor quality and have heterogeneous results. Our approach toward systematic review is to not exclude studies based on what are inevitably subjective decisions about quality, applicability, or heterogeneity.
A subanalysis of the chromium picolinate trials excluding Anderson et al. (3), because of its …
