Chromium Picolinate May Be Worth Another Look In Atypical Depression

April 4, 2013 · Posted in Potential Treatments · Comment 
tall stack of hamburgers

Atypical depression is characterized by overeating and oversleeping.

Atypical depression is characterized by overeating and oversleeping compared to the loss of appetite and early morning awakening associated with melancholic depression. A recent placebo-controlled study of chromium picolinate (600?g of elemental chromium) for atypical depression was not initially successful, but researcher Maurizio Fava and colleagues re-analyzed the data using a “population-enrichment strategy” to control for excessively high or low placebo response rates. Their analysis looked more positive than the initial analysis, but remained non-significant, possibly due to the small size of the study. However, the positive trend they saw made the researchers think that chromium picolinate is still worthy of future study.

Editor’s Note: Chromium picolinate had previously been shown (in one study by John Docherty et al.) to have positive effects in reducing carbohydrate craving when compared to placebo. If it only did that, it would still be useful for those struggling with overeating, even if it failed to improve other aspects of atypical depression.