Does chromium (+3) decrease the glucose concentration in epileptic children?

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder. It affects 50 million people worldwide, over half of which are children. Many children who suffer from epilepsy are also affected by metabolic disorders, characterized by obesity as well as intolerance and deficient transport of glucose. Recently, many researchers have indicated chromium (+3) as an essential trace mineral which probably plays an important role in metabolism of glucose and insulin. There are no data about chromium alterations in the body of epileptic patients. The purpose of this study was to find possible correlation between chromium (+3) concentration and the glucose level in children with epilepsy. Material and methods: Twenty-three untreated epileptic children with idiopathic generalized tonic-clonic seizures (9 girls and 14 boys) aged 13.4±2.7 years and 25 healthy children (sex-age-matched) served as a control were recruited to this study. The chromium blood and serum concentrations were determined as well as serum glucose level. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between epileptic and healthy children in the mean chromium (+3) blood concentration as well as according to sex in both analyzed groups of children. The mean serum chromium concentration in epileptic children was significantly lower than in healthy subjects generally (p<0.001), as well as in boys group (p<0.001) and girls (p<0.001). Although, the negative statistically significant correlation between serum glucose and chromium concentrations was found in epileptic children (p<0.01), we have not found so associations in whole blood and in healthy children. Conclusions: Our research has shown that during epilepsy the concentration of serum chromium was lower than in healthy subjects what was associated with glucose abnormalities. These preliminary results suggest that the detail research on the chromium in epilepsy are necessary.