Cinnamon lowers blood sugar. the blood lipid level. Further triglyceride levels, total and LDL cholesterol. This can help prevent the metabolic syndrome. Preventing type 2 diabetes.Cinnamon is an effective natural remedy. Because cinnamon lowers blood glucose. Blood lipid levels. Cinnamon is also a warming spice that stimulates the metabolism. Thus, the spice can also support in losing weight. In principle, cinnamon is an excellent and tasty spice for many ailments and diseases. Because it can achieve positive additive effects in various therapies. It is even thought to have a positive effect on stroke and Alzheimer's dementia. Against cancer, for example, it influences numerous apoptosis-related signaling pathways in cancer cells.
Cinnamon lowers blood sugar in type 2 diabetics
The best known and probably most important property of cinnamon is its blood sugar lowering effect: about half a teaspoon of cinnamon leads to a significant reduction in blood sugar levels in diabetics. These findings from a well-known U.S. study, about a decade old, have lost none of their validity. Even the addition of a cinnamon stick to the tea achieves a good effect.
The discovery was based on a coincidence. Because researchers had actually generally studied the effects of widely eaten foods on blood glucose. The scientists then found what they were looking for in a tasty apple pie spiced with lots of cinnamon. Because in comparison to apple pie without cinnamon, the increase in blood glucose levels was very moderate.
Blood Sugar Cinnamon Pilot Study
The researchers wanted to test this observation scientifically and launched a pilot study that included patients with type 2 diabetes who received one, three or six grams of cinnamon in capsule form daily after meals as a dietary supplement.
Within a few weeks, blood glucose levels in the cinnamon group were on average 20 percent lower than those in the control group, and triglyceride levels, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol in the blood were lower. Some participants even achieved normal blood glucose levels. After the end of the study, blood glucose levels rose again.
Another study confirmed the results. However, as in the first study, there was no effect on HbA1c, the long-term blood glucose level.
Basically, according to the current state of knowledge, cinnamon extract can be considered a herbal dietary supplement. for adjuvant therapy in diabetes type 2 or. can also be useful in metabolic syndrome.
A profile of one of the world's oldest spices
When one speaks of cinnamon, in most cases one is thinking of the bark of the tropical cinnamon tree, which nowadays is cultivated in huge plantations. For cinnamon harvesting, the branches of the cinnamon tree are cut off, so that the trees usually do not grow to their potential size. Cinnamon can sprout new branches from the cane, and a tree can be harvested after its third year. After harvesting, the bark is dried, resulting in the cinnamon sticks, which are then ground to produce the cinnamon powder.
Cinnamon is sold ground as a typical brown powder, whole as a rolled-up, tubular cinnamon stick, or as cinnamon flowers in stores. Smaller branches and also the leaves are used to obtain cinnamon oil, and this essential oil is used in perfumery and liqueur production. But recent research suggests cinnamon oil has insecticidal and microbicidal effects.
Cinnamon is a very tasty spice for us as an addition to coffee, various desserts and especially to Christmas gingerbread.
The active ingredient of cinnamon is the water-soluble polyphenol compound MHCP (methylhydroxy-chalcone polymer). In test tube experiments, MHCP mimicked insulin, activating its receptor and working synergistically with insulin in cells.
Cinnamon and its side effects: Ceylon cinnamon to be preferred
Cinnamon contains coumarin, which is considered harmful to health. Especially in the cheaper cassia cinnamon, which comes from China, Indonesia or Vietnam and is also called Chinese cinnamon. Whereby he is contained above all in finished products often in very high doses.
Ceylon cinnamon differs considerably from cassia cinnamon: the coumarin content of cheap cassia cinnamon is 100 times higher and is about 2 g coumarin per kilogram, while Ceylon cinnamon contains only about 0.02 g coumarin in the same amount.
The TDI value (tolerable daily intake) of 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day, which is valid in our country, can actually only be exceeded if large quantities of foods containing cinnamon were consumed daily. For young children with a body weight of 15 kg, a daily consumption of 6 cinnamon stars or 100 g of gingerbread would exhaust the TDI, according to one calculation.
Alleged hazardousness of coumarin not confirmed to date
The alleged danger of coumarin in normal use of coumarin-containing spices, however, could not be proven or even observed until now. Because in all studies a health damaging effect occurred only after extreme overdoses in experiments on rats. In these animal studies, it was found that coumarin can cause headaches in overdoses and even liver damage, liver inflammation and cancer in extreme overdoses. However, there have been no similar studies in humans.
Nevertheless, for home use it is recommended to use the more expensive Ceylon cinnamon, which is considered safe due to its low coumarin content. The food industry, on the other hand, mainly uses cassia cinnamon – also because of its allegedly excellent taste. In addition, according to the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), the typical cinnamon flavor of Chinese cinnamon is said to survive the baking process better.
Mahdavi A, Bagherniya M, Mirenayat MS, Atkin SL, Sahebkar A. Medicinal Plants and Phytochemicals Regulating Insulin Resistance and Glucose Homeostasis in Type 2 Diabetic Patients: A Clinical Review. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2021;1308:161-183. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-64872-5_13. PMID: 33861444.
Bolin Qin, Kiran S. Panickar, Richard A. Anderson. Cinnamon: Potential Role in the Prevention of Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome, and Type 2 Diabetes. Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology. Volume 4, Ie 3, May 2010.
Khan et al. Cinnamon Improves Glucose and Lipids of People With Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care 2003 Dec; 26 (12): 3215-3218. https://doi.org/10.2337/diacare.26.12.3215
Anderson RA. Chromium and polyphenols from cinnamon improve insulin sensitivity. Proc Nutr Soc. 2008 Feb;67(1):48-53. doi: 10.1017/S0029665108006010.
Sadeghi et al. Anti-cancer effects of cinnamon: Insights into its apoptosis effects. Eur J Med Chem.