Cinnamon and It's Amazing Benefits for Blood Sugars and Lipids

In the modern world, we're not as active as we could be, and our diets aren't as good as they could be; so nearly all of us can use some help with our blood sugar.  A very powerful tool that can help control blood sugar levels is cinnamon.  I've been recommending the routine use of cinnamon for years now.  It's one of the ingredients in my morning health shake.  Recent studies have added so much support to this idea that you could now call cinnamon "the poor man's insulin".

One study on the effects of cinnamon

In this study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, one gram (slightly less than a half-teaspoon) of cinnamon per day was given to 60 volunteers with type 2 diabetes.  In just 40 days, this small amount of cinnamon reduced fasting glucose levels anywhere from 18-29%, triglyceride levels 23-30%, LDL cholesterol levels 7-27%, and total cholesterol 12-26%.  No advantages or greater improvements were found when larger doses were given.  Also, when the participants stopped taking the cinnamon, their blood sugar levels and other readings began to return to former levels (J Agri Food Chem 04;52(1):65-70; Diabetes Care 03;26(12):3215-8).

If you have diabetes or insulin resistance, or if you have a family history of the problem, or even if an honest look at your diet shows some weaknesses, you would be smart to consider the benefits of adding ½ teaspoon of cinnamon to your diet each day.