1. Overview of study populations.

Characteristic Study ID	Intervention(s) and control(s)	[N] Screened / eligible	[N] Randomised	[N] Safety	[N] ITT	[N] Finishing study	[%] Randomised finishing study	Follow‐upa
1. Kaats 1996	I1: CrP 200 μg/day	233	33	33	‐	33	100	72 days
	I2: CrP 400 μg/day		66	66	‐	66	100
	C: placebo		55	55	‐	55	100
total:			154	154	‐	154	100
2. Kaats 1998	I: CrP 400 μg/day	130	62	62	‐	62	100	90 days
	C: placebo		60	60	‐	60	100
total:			122	122	‐	122	100
3. Joseph 1999	I: CrP 1000 μg/day + RT	35	17	17	‐	17	100	12 weeks
	C: placebo + RT		15	15	‐	15	100
total:			32	32	‐	32	100
4. Kleefstra 2006	I1: CrP 500 μg/day	60	19	19	‐	17	89	6 months
	I2: CrP 1000 μg/day		17	17	‐	14	82
	C: placebo		17	17	‐	15	88
total:			53	53	‐	46	87
5. Iqbal 2009	I: CrP 500 μg/day	153	33	33	28	28	84	16 weeks
	C: placebo		30	30	29	29	96
total:			63	63	57	57	90
6. Volpe 2001	I: CrP 400 μg/day + weight training	44	22	22	‐	20	91	12 weeks
	C: placebo + weight training		22	22	‐	17	77
total:			44	44	‐	37	84
7. Anton 2008	I: CrP 400 μg/day	99	28	28	‐	19	68	8 weeks
	C: placebo		28	28	‐	21	75
total:			56	56	‐	40	71
8. Campbell 1999	I: CrP 1000 μg/day + RT	23	9	9	‐	9	100	13 weeks
	C: placebo + RT		9	9	‐	9	100
total:			18	18	‐	18	100
9. Yazaki 2010	I: CrP 400 μg/day	156	40	40	‐	30	75	24 weeks
	C: placebo		40	40	‐	28	70
total:			80	80	‐	58	72
Grand total	All interventions		346			320	93
	All controls		276			256	93
	All interventions and controls		622			576	93

^aDuration of intervention and/or follow‐up under randomised conditions until end of study

"‐" denotes not reported

C: control; CrP: chromium picolinate; I: intervention; ITT: intention‐to‐treat; RT: resistance training