The fitness press had a field day with it. "Chromium causes DNA damage!" they trumpeted. The anti-supplement contingent nodded sagely, as if to say, see, we told you to be careful with those newfangled supplements.

And, of course, since I have long recommended chromium picolinate to my readers, my board was flooded with posts: "What's the story?" "Is chromium picolinate dangerous?"

And the answer is ...

Absolutely, positively not. Chromium picolinate is and always has been one of the safest and most useful supplements on the market, shown to be of value in dozens and dozens of studies by distinguished researchers, and is perhaps one of the least toxic substances you can ingest.

Then where did the media get this "DNA damage" story?

Well, pull up a chair.

The first thing you have to understand is the difference between in vivo and in vitro studies. In vivo means "in the living body or organism." In vitro means "in glass, as in a test tube." An in vitro test or experiment is one done in the laboratory, usually involving isolated tissue, organ or cell preparations (Taber's Medical Dictionary). As even a non-scientist can imagine, there is a world of difference in how things behave in these two distinct environments.

The study that was so badly reported and misunderstood by the media was a study done on hamster cells in vitro. In other words, large amounts of chromium picolinate were applied directly to the unprotected cells of hamsters in a glass tube. Now here's what you need to know about that: Virtually any trace element if directly applied in huge concentrations to a basically unprotected cell in a test tube is going to be a catalyst for reactions and cause a lot of mischief. That's true whether the trace element is chromium, copper, iron, zinc, you name it. And that is exactly what was done in this "experiment." This is entirely different from what happens in a living mammal, where the organism is greatly protected.