Cinnamon has additional benefits. It also lowered blood levels of fats and “bad” cholesterol, which are also partly controlled by insulin. And in test tube experiments, it neutralized free radicals which are elevated in diabetics. 4
Active ingredients
Anderson’s team found that cinnamon contains antioxidants called polyphenols that boost levels of three key proteins. Those proteins are important in insulin signaling, glucose transport, and inflammatory response. In another study, the scientists investigated cinnamon’s chemistry and found that proanthocyanidin—a type of polyphenol—may have insulin-like properties. 2
“The researchers concluded that cinnamon might be a valuable candidate for a new anti-diabetic drug. 5” |
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Additionally, a group at the University of Calgary, Canada, found that phenolic acids, which are a major component of cinnamon extract, lowers blood glucose levels by enhancing glucose transport. The researchers concluded that cinnamon might be a valuable candidate for a new anti-diabetic drug. 5
Scientific studies:
Anti-diabetic
Insulin resistance—also called Syndrome X—is a silent condition that increases the chances of developing diabetes and heart disease. After you eat, the food is broken down into glucose, the simple sugar that is the main source of energy for the body’s cells. But your cells cannot use glucose without insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, which directs cells to remove excess glucose from the bloodstream. Insulin helps the cells take in glucose and convert it to energy. When the pancreas does not make enough insulin or the body is unable to use the insulin that is present, the cells can’t use glucose. Excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream, setting the stage for diabetes.
Diabetes can go undetected for up to 40 years, or until serious complications begin to surface and the pancreas just can’t keep up with the demand for insulin. Some people produce two, three, or four times the normal amount of insulin. Yet, because the cells have lost their sensitivity to the hormone, they require even more of it to maintain normal glucose levels. The end result is often type II diabetes.
Type II diabetes kills 100 million people prematurely each year. In patients with the condition, fat and muscle cells gradually lose their ability to respond to insulin. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood, causing symptoms such as fatigue, weight loss, blurred vision and neuropathy (resulting in numbness in extremities), and circulatory problems.
The good news is that cinnamon extract dramatically helps to reduce risk of insulin resistance and type II diabetes.
In addition to the studies already mentioned, other recent studies found that:
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Cinnamaldehyde, a fat soluble cinnamon compound, decreased blood glucose levels and total cholesterol and triglyceride levels in diabetic laboratory animals. 6
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Cinnamon bark extract improved glucose metabolism in animals that were fed fructose. 7
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Cinnamon extract given at different doses to diabetic animal models for six weeks had a regulatory role in blood glucose level and lipids, and it may have also exerted a blood glucose-suppressing effect by improving insulin sensitivity or slowing absorption of carbohydrates in the small intestine. 8
Anti-bacterial
In an evaluation of the antibacterial activity of 21 plant essential oils against six bacterial species, cinnamon came out on top. The selected essential oils were screened against six bacteria: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus. Cinnamon oil was found to inhibit all of them, even at low concentrations, and was determined to be a good source of antibacterial agents. 9
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When cinnamon extract was tested against a resistant Candida species in five patients with HIV infection and oral candidiasis, three of the five patients exhibited improvement of their Candida infection. 10
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A recent Chinese study of cinnamon extracts found they were effective in inhibiting the growth of various bacteria including: Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Samonella typhymurium, and fungi including yeasts (four species of Candida, C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. glabrata, and C. krusei), and molds. 11
Anti-inflammatory
As an anti-inflammatory agent, cinnamon may be useful in preventing or mitigating arthritis as well as cardiovascular disease. And as scientists increasingly understand the relationship between inflammation and insulin function in Alzheimer’s (causing some to refer to the neurodegenerative disease as “type 3 diabetes”), cinnamon’s ability to block inflammation and enhance insulin function may make it useful in combating that disease as well. 12
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“As an anti-inflammatory agent, cinnamon may be useful
in preventing or mitigating arthritis as well as
cardiovascular disease.” |
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Helps regulate blood pressure
Many nutrients and nutraceuticals—including cinnamon extract—that enhance insulin sensitivity and/or reduce circulating insulin concentrations are capable of lowering blood pressure. When cinnamon was added to the diets of laboratory animals that included sucrose for 3-4 weeks, their blood pressure was reduced to the same levels as the animals that ate a non-sucrose diet. 13
Conclusion:
Cinnamon is found in household spice racks around the world, and you’ve probably enjoyed its flavoring all your life. Now, thanks to scientific research and the nutritional supplement industry, you can also reap its full spectrum of health benefits in the form of an easy to take daily supplement that provides a concentrated form of cinnamon’s water-soluble and fat-soluble phytochemicals.
Serving Suggestions:
We hand grind cinnamon using our Porkert LSA Oily Seed & Nut Grinder. Sprinkle some cinnamon on your herb teas, smoothies, cereal, desserts, hot chocolate, fruit salads, sliced apples.
We use this cinnamon in our Buckola - raw organic sprouted buckwheat cereal.
References
