Urinary Chromium and Dyslipidemias: A Cohort Study of Urban Adults in China

Abstract

Background: Chromium is recognized as a nutritional enhancer and necessary for normal carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. However, the health effects of chromium exposure on lipoprotein metabolism have not been well evaluated.Objective: To investigate the cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of urinary chromium concentration on lipids levels or risk of dyslipidemias in a general Chinese population from the Wuhan-Zhuhai cohort study.Methods and Results: Serum lipids levels and urinary chromium concentration were measured at baseline and follow-up. Associations of urinary chromium concentration with lipids levels or risk of dyslipidemias were analyzed by generalized linear and binary logistic regression models, respectively. We found significant associations of increased urinary chromium concentration with reduced serum triglycerides (TG) level and elevated high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level at baseline and follow-up. With adjustment for covariates, each one-unit increase in log-transformed urinary chromium concentration was associated with a 0.25 mmol/L decline in TG, and a 0.05 mmol/L ascend in HDL-C (all P < 0.05). Downward trends of dyslipidemias (hyperTG and hypoHDL-C) were significantly associated with increasing quartiles of urinary chromium concentration (all P trend < 0.05). Our results also suggested that urinary chromium levels were associated with coarse grain intake in both male and female participants.Conclusion: This study provides evidence that elevated urinary chromium concentration was associated with decreased risk of dyslipidemias in a general Chinese population. These findings warrant replication in other studies with adequate sample sizes.