Role of Chromium in the Severity of Diabetic Retinopathy

Abstract

Trivalent chromium has been known to be of biological importance as a micronutrient for mammals. This study aims to investigate the role of chromium on the development of diabetic retinopathy by studying the relationship between the levels of chromium and each of fasting plasma glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, serum insulin, fructosamine, lipid profile and malondialdehyde. The study was carried out on 40 cases with type II diabetes complaining from diabetic retinopathy (DR) treated with different routes of management and 20 healthy controls. Patients were classified according to clinical manifestation into: a) Normal Fundus (NF), b) Non-proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (NPDR), c) Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy (PDR) and d) Exudative Diabetic Retinopathy (EDR). After twelve hours fasting, blood samples were withdrawn from patients and controls. Samples were analyzed to determine all the biochemical parameters. Also, a dietary recall was done for each patient and control. All diabetic retinopathy patients were found to have significantly high levels of fasting plasma glucose, serum insulin, glycosylated hemoglobin, serum fructosamine, all serum lipids and malondialdehyde. The levels of chromium and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol were significantly reduced. The analysis of nutritional data showed that, chromium intake was highly significant deficient in all types of diabetic retinopathy comparing with control values. In addition to the animal protein, carbohydrate, calcium, phosphorous, animal ferrous, sodium, potassium, zinc, magnesium, vitamin A, vitamin B1, niacin, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 were significantly lower in all diabetic retinopathy patients than normal control subjects. It may be concluded that diabetic retinopathy patients are suffering from chromium deficiency in serum and dietary intake, so they are advised to take supplementary chromium even before the aggravation of the disease.