The supplement chromium picolinate may help people with type 2 diabetes better control their blood sugar and possibly avoid the weight gain common with some diabetes drugs, according to a very small study reported in the journal Diabetes Care.

While chromium supplements are widely marketed as a way to improve the body's use of insulin, research has produced conflicting results and their use by diabetics is controversial.

Dr. William Cefalu, a researcher at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, enrolled 29 diabetic adults in a study of whether chromium supplements were useful in combination with a sulfonylurea drug -- an older diabetes medication.

The participants were randomly assigned to take either the medication plus 1,000 micrograms of chromium picolinate per day or the drug plus a placebo for 6 months.

Study participants who took the supplement showed greater improvements in insulin sensitivity and long-term blood sugar control and also gained less weight and body fat than those on the medication alone, the researchers reported.