What is chromium?

Chromium is an essential trace mineral. French chemist Louis-Nicholas Vaquelin discovered it in 1797. Many years later, Walter Mertz, an American physician and research scientist, discovered that chromium played a key role in carbohydrate metabolism. Later researchers agreed that chromium may be the most active component in a group of nutrients that play an important role in blood sugar balance, including nicotinic acid (a version of vitamin B3), and the amino acids that make up glutathione (glutamic acid, cysteine, and glycine).