Cinnamon

Healing essence of cinnamon

Anti-cancer
Powerful antioxidant
Anti-inflammatory
Anti-diabetic
Cardioprotective
Cinnamomum zeylanicum

It is often confused with a product derived from the tree Cinnamomum aromaticum, that has a similar flavour and medicinal properties to “true” cinnamon. Both of these spices are widely available in most countries.

It was used by the ancient Egyptians along with other spices in their embalming and mummification of the dead, its antibacterial and antioxidant properties assisting in the preservation of the bodies.

It has also been used as a traditional medicine to treat a variety of ailments including colds and digestive problems, as a perfume, and for flavouring wines.

Today it is used primarily as flavouring for confectionery and as a fashionable spice in tea and coffee. Intense medical interest has, however, been stimulated by the recent discovery of its potent antidiabetic effects.

This property has been attributed to hydroxychalcone and other polyphenols found in this spice (e.g. caffeic acid, isoeugenol, proanthocyanidins) that also have antioxidant and lipid-lowering properties.

Medicinal Properties

Diabetes

In these conditions, cell receptors become insensitive to insulin, making it difficult for glucose to enter the cell. This leads to cell starvation and high blood sugar levels which are responsible for the dire health consequences associated with these diseases.

It enhances the activity of the enzymes that increase cell receptor insulin sensitivity, and inhibits those that have the opposite effect.

Clinical Trials
Recent landmark clinical trials have shown that the daily addition of as little as one gram of this spice to the diet leads to a reduction of blood glucose levels of between 18 percent and 29 percent in Type II diabetics.

This impressive drop in blood sugar levels is a gradual process, taking up to 40 days to occur, but it is also long-lasting. When the diabetic patients on the trial (whose blood glucose levels had dropped to normal) stopped taking the it, these lower levels were sustained for up to 20 days.

This suggests that it has the effect of gradually changing the cellular response to insulin and, in so doing, avoids the wide fluctuations of insulin and blood sugar levels that lead to the dangerous episodes of hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemia commonly seen in poorly controlled diabetes.

Stable blood glucose levels
In this context it is notable that, even if cinnamon is not taken every day, one does not see the dangerous fluctuations of blood glucose levels associated with erratic ingestion of oral antidiabetic medication

Blood lipid control
This spice has the additional benefit of lowing blood lipids, which is an important means of controlling the disease. Diabetics have a higher than average risk of developing hypertension, stroke and heart disease, and it is essential to rigorously control the blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels in these patients.

There are no contemporary antidiabetic drugs that lower both blood sugar and blood lipids. Therefore, in addition to their diabetic medicines, diabetics generally have to take one of the statin drugs to keep their cholesterol, lipoprotein and triglyceride levels normal.

Multiple benefits for diabetics
Cinnamon, however, provides all these properties in a single package. It is, moreover, a powerful antioxidant which is beneficial in Type II diabetes, as many sufferers are overweight and under constant oxidative stress.

Cardiovascular Disease

The same clinical trials mentioned in the previous section also showed that Type II diabetics who took as little as one gram daily for more than 40 days experienced a substantial improvement in their blood lipid profiles.

Sustained reduction of cholesterol and triglyceride levels
Cholesterol levels declined by 13 percent to 26 percent, triglyceride levels plummeted by between 23 percent to 30 percent, and LDL levels sank by between 10 percent to 24 percent.

Interestingly the levels of HDL, which is a beneficial lipoprotein, remained constant. As in the case of glucose, the improved blood lipid levels were sustained for a period of up to 20 days after cessation of the cinnamon treatment.

As good as statinsThese impressive figures are easily comparable with the most effective statin drugs on the market. It can also help non-diabetics with high blood lipid levels to reduce the risk of developing heart disease and stroke.

Antioxidant activity

In a comprehensive global analysis of over 3100 different foods published in the January 2010 edition of the Nutrition Journal, cinnamon was found to have one of the highest antioxidant contents of all the foods studied.

Spice supplement

Important Phytonutrients

Others: Cinnamaldehyde, cinnamic acid esters, coumarin, eugenol, hydroxychalcone, safrole, salicylates