While walking down (my favorite ?) supplementals aisle, I came across a bottle of "Cinnamon pills". Wondering what the benefits could be, other than the sweet/spicy flavor, I took a closer look to read what it said on its container! To my surprise, it claimed that cinnamon helps control or cure diabetes, lower cholesterol etc., There began my short quest to find out the truth behind the health benefits of cinnamon...
Before elaborating on the health benefits of Cinnamon, here's the summary of what i found:
Cinnamon does seem to have the ability to reduce blood sugar and LDLs. What is not known are its long-term effects or how much can become "too much". So, including as little as 500 mg (1/2 or 1/4 tsp) of cinnamon will definitely help. For diabetes patients, Cinnamon is being prescribed for people who can control their sugar by using only Cinnamon regularly.
In addition, just 1 tsp of Cinnamon is also a good source of fiber providing 5% of DV (what do you expect from tree bark ? ;-)), calcium (3%), manganese (19%) and iron (5%) [1][2] .
And for the bad side, Cinnamon has a compound called Coumarin, which is thought to be carcinogenic and toxic to liver and the kidneys when taken in large doses for a long time. It is also found in licorice, lavendar, strawberries, apricots and cherries. And here are two ways to avoid any possible harmful effects of this chemical from Cinnamon:
(1) Use water-soluble extracts of Cinnamon, or boiling the Cinnamon stick and using it will give you only the beneficial compounds of Cinnamon.
(2) Avoid large doses of Cinnamon (though no one defines how much is too much, a generally accepted or recommended dosage seems to be, anything less than or equal to 1 gm of Cinnamon. Also avoid taking Cinnamon regularly for a long time. If taking Cinnamon supplements, I think it might be a good idea to stop taking Cinnamon once in a while.
and here's the long story...
The claim that Cinnamon helps diabetes patients is supported by some studies, and researchers are now beginning to understand the chemistry of how Cinnamon helps lower blood sugar level... This is better than lot of other
supplements for which there are no studies at all, like the popular "
Wheat grass" diet for diabetes
[3] for which it seems we have only anecdotal evidence :-(
How Cinnamon helps diabetes ?
Based on the
research done by USDA, Cinnamon has a compound called MHCP, a type of polyphenol or flavonoid, which in test tube and animal studies not only stimulates insulin receptors, but also inhibits an enzyme that inactivates the insulin receptors, thus significantly increasing cells' ability to use glucose and thereby lowering the blood sugar level.
According to Don Graves, an adjunct professor of biochemistry at the University of California in Santa Barbara, here's how it happens :
"An active, water-soluble ingredient in cinnamon, proanthocyanidin, part of a family of chemicals called polyphenols that are often found in plants, somehow worms its way inside cells.
Once inside, it helps to phosphorylate, or activate, the part of the insulin receptor that sticks into the cell. The other end of the receptor sticks out through the cell membrane into the bloodstream to catch molecules of insulin, which escort sugar to cells.
Then, once the receptor is activated, whether by insulin or proanthocyanidin, a cascade of chemical reactions occurs so that the cell can use energy from sugar."
As a evidence to this effect of Cinnamon on Diabetes, the most famous and the most often quoted study is the study made in Pakistan that was published in the
diabetes care journal. In this study, they had 60 people (who had type 2 diabetes but not on any insulin therapy) divided in 6 groups, with 3 groups taking cinnamon capsules (1gram, 3 grams and 6 grams) and other taking placebo for 40 days. And here are some inferences from their publication (for those who are averse to reading these long journal publications :-))
- Fasting serum glucose levels reduced almost 18% to 29% in the groups taking the Cinnamon pills.
- The group taking 6 gms observed a more shaper decrease in serum glucose levels at the end of 20 days than the other groups. but, after 40 days, the difference was similar between all the 3 groups taking Cinnamon pills. Also, in the whole period, decrease in serum glucose levels was similar in the groups taking 1 or 3 grams. Also, no decrease was observed in the placebo groups not taking any Cinnamon.
So, the in vitro research and some animal studies made by ARS, USDA and the study in pakistan seem to be the pillars of all the other cinnamon-diabetes based studies and looking at these two, it seems very possible that Cinnamon does seem to have a positive effect on the blood sugar level! But since research on Cinnamon is still in its nascent stages, more studies need to be made to come up with more data on how much of Cinnamon is most beneficial and how much can be detrimental and whether there are any long term side-effects of taking significant doses (like 1 tbsp a day ?) of Cinnamon. Till then, moderation should be the key ?
- Effect on Triglyceride and Cholesterol levels
Below are some inferences about the effect of cinnamon on Triglycerides from the same study in Pakistan :
- This study also indicated that Triglyceride levels also reduced in all 3 groups taking cinnamon ranging from 23% to 30%. Surprisingly, the 1 gm and 3 gms intake group saw better decrease than the 6 gms group. And the decrease continued even during the 20 days after stopping the cinnamon intake! Also, the decrease was not significant during the first 20 days which seems to indicate that a continuous intake of cinnamon for more than 20 days might be needed to affect the Triglyceride levels ?
- LDL levels also decreased significantly in the 3 gms (24%) and 6 gms (10%) group, while there was some decrease observed in the 1 gm (5%) group. And it continued to decrease in the 20 day washout period after stopping the cinnamon intake too!
- There was not much changes seen in HDL levels.
Other health benefits that are attributed to Cinnamon are
- Anti-Clotting action due to the presence of Cinnamaldehyde that prevents clumping of platelets.
- Anti-Microbial action due to its oils, have been found to prevent the growth of bacteria (even for bacterias that can thrive in refrigerator), fungi and the yeast Candida.
And finally, there was one funny study that tested if sniffing Cinnamon or just chewing Cinnamon flavored gum can make people think or remember better. You can guess what they would have found ?! Indeed, they concluded that it did! So, don't forget to :
Sniff your Cinnamon as you eat it! :-)
- Possible harmful effect of Cinnamon intake
And in all my search the only negative thing about Cinnamon is that, it belongs to the genus Cassia which are found to have a chemical called
Coumarin, a vanilla flavored chemical that is also found in other plants like licorice, strawberries, lavender, apricots, cherries etc., and it is thought to be toxic to liver and kidneys when taken in high doses for long periods of time and also as a carcinogen and has been banned in Europe and other countries and in the US, the FDA bans its use as an additive.
A good thing is that, these harmful chemicals are fat soluble while the good chemicals are water soluble. Hence using a water soluble extract from Cinnamon or boiling Cinnamon sticks in water will help avoid the fat soluble harmful part.
Though there is this harmful side of Cinnamon, it is still believed that these harmful effects can happen only in very large doses and when taken for a very long time. Hence enjoying Cinnamon in our food might do more good than bad!
Live Long and Prosper!
Labels: health, supplements
