A pilot study of the effects of chromium picolinate supplementation on serum fetuin-A, metabolic and inflammatory factors in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Evaluating the impact of chromium picolinate supplementation on glycemic status, lipid profile, inflammatory markers and fetuin-A in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: In present research, participants (N = 46) were randomized to (400 mcg/day, n = 23) chromium picolinate and placebo (n = 23) for 3 months. RESULTS: Glucose indices, and lipid profiles, inflammatory biomarker and fetuin-A were measured before and after the intervention. Chromium reduced triglyceride (TG), atherogenic index of plasma (AIP), very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), insulin, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin (IL) -6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and fetuin-A significantly compared to placebo group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, chromium significantly increased the quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI). There were no significant differences in total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), fasting blood sugar (FBS), Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1C), interleukin (IL)-17 between the two groups (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Chromium picolinate significantly decreased TG, insulin, HOMA-IR, fetuin-A, the number of inflammatory factors, and increased QUICKI without changing FBS, HbA1C, TC, LDL, HDL, IL-17 levels and liver steatosis intensity in patients with NAFLD. Further studies by examining the effect of different doses of chromium and mechanisms of cellular action, would help further clarify the subject.

Prevalence and predictors of atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis in hypertensive patients undergoing simultaneous coronary and renal artery angiography; a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: According to the non-specific presentation of atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS), this disease is usually an under-diagnosed in clinical conditions. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the presence study was to evaluate the prevalence of renal artery stenosis (RAS) and its related risk factors in hypertensive patients undergoing coronary angiography. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, between March 2009 and October 2010, all of hypertensive patients candidate for diagnostic cardiac catheterization, underwent nonselective renal angiography before completion of their coronary angiography procedure. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect demographics, cardiac history, indications for cardiac catheterization and angiographic data. The degree of ARAS was estimated visually by skilled cardiologist. Narrowing greater than 50% of the arterial lumen considered as arterial stenosis. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 19, and by chi-square test and logistic regression model. RESULTS: In overall 274 patients with mean age of 60.75 ± 10.92 years 108 (39.4%) were male and 166 (60.61%) were female. The prevalence of ARAS calculated 18.2%. According to the present study, heart failure and smoking were predictors of ARAS. However, old age, gender, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia and family history of cardiovascular disease were not clinical predictors of significant ARAS in hypertensive patients, candidate for coronary angiography. CONCLUSION: According to present data, we suggest to consider renal artery angiography in combination with coronary artery angiography especially in hypertensive patients who are smoker or individuals who have heart failure.