Does chromium raise blood pressure? What the research does and doesn't show

The evidence doesn't support chromium meaningfully raising or lowering blood pressure. The largest meta-analysis built specifically to answer this question — 10 trials, 624 people — found no significant change in either systolic or diastolic pressure. A broader, more recent review found a small increase in blood pressure alongside other cardiometabolic changes, so the picture isn't perfectly settled, but neither points to a clear effect worth acting on.

What the evidence doesn't support

It doesn't support chromium as something that lowers blood pressure — nobody has tested it as a blood-pressure treatment, and the best evidence available found no benefit. It also doesn't clearly support the opposite, that chromium raises blood pressure to a meaningful degree: the largest purpose-built review found no significant change at all, in trials up to several months long and across a range of doses.

What the trials found

A 2022 systematic review and meta-analysis in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition pooled 10 randomized controlled trials (624 participants total) that measured chromium's effect on systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Chromium supplementation did not significantly change systolic pressure (weighted mean difference −0.64 mmHg) or diastolic pressure (weighted mean difference −0.10 mmHg) compared with placebo. Subgroup analysis by dose and by trial duration also found no significant change. The authors' conclusion was direct: this body of evidence does not show a beneficial effect of chromium supplementation on blood pressure in adults.

A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis took a broader look at chromium's effect on cardiometabolic risk factors in overweight and obese adults across 20 trials. Alongside reductions in fasting glucose, HOMA-IR and insulin, it reported a slight increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure in the chromium groups compared with control, along with a small rise in HDL cholesterol and liver enzyme (ALT) levels. This runs in the opposite direction from the larger, blood-pressure-specific review above, and the authors themselves describe the pooled sample as small (1 to 137 people per included trial) — it's a signal worth noting, not a settled finding, and it doesn't overturn the null result from the dedicated blood-pressure meta-analysis.

Questions people ask

Does chromium raise blood pressure?

The largest review built specifically to answer this found no significant change in systolic or diastolic pressure across 10 trials and 624 people. A more recent, broader review found a small increase alongside other changes in overweight and obese adults, so the evidence isn't unanimous, but neither review shows a large or consistent effect in either direction.

Can chromium picolinate cause high blood pressure?

No trial has documented chromium picolinate causing clinically high blood pressure. The signal from the most recent broader review was small and ran alongside several other changes measured at once, which makes it harder to isolate as a chromium-specific effect.

Is chromium safe for someone with high blood pressure?

No trial has tested chromium specifically in people already diagnosed with hypertension, and chromium is not a blood-pressure treatment. Anyone with high blood pressure, especially on medication for it, should talk to a doctor before adding any supplement — see chromium and medications: what to check.

When to talk to a doctor

High blood pressure is a medical condition best managed with a doctor, through monitoring and, where needed, medication — not through a supplement search. Chromium is not a treatment for high blood pressure, and no trial above supports using it on purpose for either direction of change. If you take blood-pressure medication or any other prescription drug, or you're pregnant or nursing, talk to a doctor before adding chromium.

Related reading: chromium side effects, who should not take chromium, and chromium and medications: what to check.