Chromium(III) in Hypoglycemia and in Impaired Glucose Utilization in Kwashiorkor

Abstract

Thirty-four children with kwashiorkor were admitted to the children’s ward, Ein Shams Medical School, Cairo, Egypt. Intravenous glucose tolerance curves done on admission showed impaired glucose utilization in all but one. The curves were repeated in nine patients after the oral administration of 250 µg of chromium(III) daily for 1–3 days. Curves were also repeated in 13 patients before and after milk feedings for 3 days and before and after complete dietary and therapeutic management. The chromium contents of foods, medicines, and plasma were determined. Ample amounts of chromium were found in some of the foodstuffs consumed by the patients prior to admission to the hospital, and variable, but sometimes quite large, amounts in therapeutic agents employed. The chromium content of the plasma was within normal limits in eight infants. The diabetic glucose tolerance curves returned to normal following treatment with a high-protein, high caloric diet for 1–2 weeks. Chromium deficiency did not appear to be responsible for the rapidly reversible impaired glucose utilization seen in patients with kwashiorkor in Cairo, Egypt, United Arab Republic.