Chromium Polynicotinate

Chromium polynicotinate is trivalent chromium coordinated to nicotinic acid: chromium(III) trinicotinate, CAS 64452-96-6, formula Cr(C6H4NO2)3, that is C18H12CrN3O6, molecular weight 418.31. EFSA's description of the commercial article belongs in any incoming specification, because it explains why the material is bought on assay rather than on stoichiometry - marketed chromium polynicotinate is a mixture of the trinicotinate and the dinicotinate, with the trinicotinate dominating. Thovek's standard grade is a dark purple-grey crystalline powder assaying 98.0 to 102.0 percent on the dried basis with not less than 10.0 percent chromium; the pure trinicotinate would carry 12.4 percent chromium and roughly 88 percent bound nicotinic acid by mass. Loss on drying is not more than 6.0 percent, and heavy metals are held to 3 ppm lead, 1 ppm arsenic and 0.1 ppm mercury. The practical formulation fact is insolubility. Unlike chromium chloride or the picolinate in solution, this complex is practically insoluble in water and in ethanol, so it is dispersed rather than dissolved. It goes cleanly into direct-compression tablet blends, capsule fills and dry premixes, and into beverages only as a fine, well-wetted dispersion or after dilution onto a carrier. Because the dose sits in micrograms while the blend sits in kilograms, most buyers order a diluted trituration - commonly 0.5 to 1.0 percent chromium on a declared carrier - to hold content uniformity, and the carrier is then declared on both the specification and the finished label. Chromium is supplied in the trivalent state; hexavalent chromium testing is available on request and is a sensible line to add to the purchase specification. Market access differs by geography and should be settled before a formula is locked. In the United States, FDA responded with no questions to GRAS Notice 614 for chromium polynicotinate as an ingredient in enhanced water beverages at a maximum use level of 575 micrograms per litre, and the Daily Value used for chromium in US nutrition labelling is 35 micrograms. The EU position is narrower: Annex II of Directive 2002/46/EC lists chromium(III) chloride, chromium-enriched yeast, chromium(III) lactate trihydrate, chromium nitrate, chromium picolinate and chromium(III) sulphate as permitted chromium sources, and nicotinate forms are not among them, so EU-bound supplements use a listed source. EFSA's 2014 opinion on dietary reference values for chromium (EFSA Journal 2014;12(10):3845) concluded that no average requirement and no population reference intake could be defined, which shapes what may lawfully appear on pack in Europe. The material is synthetic, contains no animal-derived input and is suitable for vegan and vegetarian products; it is free from milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, gluten, peanut, tree nut and sesame, and is neither bovine, porcine nor marine.