In view of the relationship of chromium and the glucose tolerance factor (GTF) to diabetes with over 8 million diabetics in the U.S.A. and in view of its potential relationship to atherosclerosis which is involved in two-thirds of all deaths in the United States, chromium and the glucose tolerance factor relate to the most important public health problems that exist today. Our goal is the validation of the role of volatile chromium in the form of GTF (glucose tolerance factor) in diabetes mellitus by correlating analyses of chromium in body fluids with pathophysiological status. Analytical methodology for the direct measurement of serum and urinary volatile and total chromium will be developed and applied to normal and diabetic patients under various metabolic conditions to establish and define this role.