Chromium (Cr
3+) is an essential micronutrient for humans. Its main action is thought to be the regulation of blood sugar, because chromium
deficiency is associated with diabetic-like symptoms, and chromium supplementation is correlated with increased glucose tolerance
and insulin sensivity. Some Portuguese aromatic plants are utilized as tisanes by diabetic people as medicinal plants. Their
active principle is not yet known, and the importance of their chromium content in the claimed therapeutic properties should
not be discarded. Therefore, determination of chromium in some Portuguese medicinal plants was performed by flameless atomic
absorption. All the analyzed plants contain chromium at the normal level for this element, but the plants used to prepare
tisanes to help diabetic conditions contain higher levels (2.2 μg/g dry wt ±0.88;
n=11) than the others (0.88 μg/g dry wt±0.18;
n=17).
Index Entries Chromium - concentration in plants - Portuguese medicinal plants - concentration of chromium in - antidiabetic plants - concentration of chromium in - hypoglycemic plants - concentration of chromium in