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HerbsAllAround Newsletter>
Cinnamon and Diabetes
Hi again herbal enthusiasts!
After getting an herbal question about cinnamon, I found out that cinnamon does indeed lower the blood sugar.
There is one kind of famous study, done in 2003, that is often referred to. It shows with some reliability that cinnamon lowered the fasting blood sugar 18 to 29% in subjects with Diabetes Type 2. This study also looked at the effect on triglycerides and cholesterol. Triglycerides lowered 23 to 30% and total cholesterol decreased 12 to 26%. This was done using an extract containing 1,3 or 6 Grams of cinnamon per day. This study is easily and freely found on line if you search “cinnamon + blood sugar”.
Khan, A. et al. (2003) Cinnamon improves glucose and lipids of people with Type 2 Diabetes, Diabetes Care vol. 26 No. 12, 3215-3218
However! Another study was only able to achieve a 3 to 10% reduction in fasting blood sugar using a similar 3 Gram cinnamon extract. That’s science, folks! It’s an ongoing, amazing investigation. The subjects in this study were Type 2 Diabetics already on oral hypoglycemic medication (pills to lower the blood sugar) so it makes you wonder if there was some interaction with the cinnamon or some such thing. Makes you go hmm..and make another hypothesis and do another study!
Mang, B. et al. (2006) Effect of a cinnamon extract on plasma glucose, HbA1c, and serum lipids in Diabetes type 2. European Journal of Clinical Investigation vol.36, Issue 5, p. 340-344 May
I recommend reading this next study because it first gives a nice summary of recent and related research. Then it explains the actual biochemical mechanisms and compounds in cinnamon that cause the blood sugar to decrease. So if you are a fan of biochemistry you will be happy to learn that the water-soluble polyphenol type A polymers show insulin-like activity. Cinnamon also improves insulin receptor function, and appears to increase circulating insulin levels as well. So it works from a variety of angles.
I like this study because it observed the effect on blood sugar of 6 Grams of cinnamon sprinkled on rice pudding. Doesn’t that sound nice? I could volunteer for a study like that.
Hlebowicz, J. et al. (2007) Effect of cinnamon on postprandial blood glucose, gastric emptying, and satiety in healthy subjects. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 85, No. 6, 1552-1556
What is the short useful take-home on this one?
If you are in that almost- or pre-diabetic, or newly diagnosed type-2 diabetic range, I think the research supports trying cinnamon in small amounts daily or several times a week. You could have tea or put it on your oatmeal; it doesn’t have to be in a little extract bottle. It has been shown to work in all those forms. I didn’t find a study that compares sprinkles on pudding to powder in capsules. Maybe they couldn’t find volunteers for the non-pudding group ?
How much it will lower your blood sugar could be 3 to 10%-ish or up to 30%...you would have to coordinate with your doctor and make all the nutritional, rest and exercise changes that help recover your body’s ability to make and use insulin and process sugars and fats in a healthy way.
Next installment…….cinnamon in Ayurveda….a little cross-reference across cultures and millennia to help your health investigations…
Be well!
-laurie
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