06.01.07
Nutrition 21, Inc., Purchase, NY, has obtained an exclusive license for pharmaceutical uses of chromium histidinate and one of only two licenses being granted for other uses of chromium histidinate. The licenses were granted by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The company subsequently applied for patents for use of chromium histidinate as a dietary supplement, both alone and in combination with chromium picolinate. Certain uses of chromium histidinate are also covered by patents already owned by the company for chromium generally. The existing and applied for patents cover all known nutritional uses of chromium histidinate as a dietary supplement. The new formulation is a complex of the mineral chromium and the amino acid histidine—one of the essential amino acids found in protein-containing foods.