A lot of alternative health books and web sites promote the idea that various spices are wonder foods, able to cure anything and everything. Strangely enough, there seems to be some truth to it.
Various double blind studies on cinnamon have confirmed its health benefits. It appears to work by stabilizing blood sugars , lowering insulin resistance, lowers salt retention, and lowering blood pressure. It also appears to have antibacterial and anti-fungal properties which may underlie in ways not known in some human diseases. The theory is that cinnamon some how mimics and works with insulin. One key point is that we know that diabetes and blood pressure problems are highly correlated in that if you have one condition, often the other condition is more likely to follow. Similarly, it seems that if you have something that naturally treats the one condition, it often helps with the other one.
Ok, I love honey, and I love cinnamon — a sweet tooth for sure. So, if I’m having toast with honey, I load on the cinnamon, a couple of teaspoons for sure. I never had any adverse effect, and it does seem to have a small positive effect on blood pressure. Also, I know that if I’m down with a cold, or if I’m suffering an infection, that good dose of cinnamon seems to help. Indeed the antibacterial properties of cinnamon were known in bible times (see Exodus 30.21-25). Apparently, some stores sell cassia a similar spice under the name cinnamon. While cassia works similarly, there is a concern that it contains a toxic compound, so something to watch for when purchasing cinnamon or consuming high amounts of it.
So, while cinnamon isn’t a wonder cure all, it is seems somewhat effective. I had an elderly friend that had serious diabetic problems. He heard about this cinnamon thing, and began to consume significant amounts. It worked, his blood sugar which had been wildly fluctuating, stabilized and he even lost some weight using it (which he needed to do). Obviously, this testimony is not a scientific study, and could be just a placebo effect, but the double blind studies done on cinnamon do suggest real health effects.
For further information:
http://www.npicenter.com/anm/templates/newsATemp.aspx?articleid=15531&zoneid=23
http://altmedicine.about.com/od/cinnamon/a/cinnamon.htm
http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html
http://healthmad.com/alternative/10-miraculous-health-benefits-of-honey-and-cinnamon-combo/
http://www.homeremediesweb.com/diabetes_home_remedy.php
http://www.monumentalmassage.com/articles/benefits_of_cinnamon.html
http://www.nutritional-supplement-educational-centre.com/cinnamon-health-benefits.html
http://hubpages.com/hub/Health-Benefits-of-Cinnamon
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Open_Secrets_About_Cinnamon_Health_Benefits.html
http://herbal-properties.suite101.com/article.cfm/cinnamon_health_benefits
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Do you mean regular cinnamon like you would put in cookies, etc.?
I heard awhile back that cinnamon helps fight cholesterol and I would put a teaspoon in my coffee every morning. My doctor had given me a bottle of cholesterol lowering medication and I thought that “Hey I don’t want to take any more drugs.” So I started this routine and then also found cinnamon pills to take. The next time I went for a cholesterol check, my numbers were good. I never took any of the prescribed medicine. I also take the Omega 3 pills everyday. I’ve read somewhere that cinnamon is included in Middle East diets because some substance in cinnamon reverses the bad cholesterol in foods.
I heard awhile back that cinnamon helps fight cholesterol and I would put a teaspoon in my coffee every morning. My doctor had given me a bottle of cholesterol lowering medication and I thought that “Hey I don’t want to take any more drugs.” So I started this routine and then also found cinnamon pills to take. The next time I went for a cholesterol check, my numbers were good. I never took any of the prescribed medicine. I also take the Omega 3 pills everyday. I’ve read somewhere that cinnamon is included in Middle East diets because some substance in cinnamon reverses the bad cholesterol in foods.
I have just recently started reading more about the health benefits of cinnamon. One thing I would warn about this article is that in all my research it’s been reported that not “some stores apparently sell cassia under the name cinnamon”. Cassia cinnamon is the type of cinnamon MOST found in stores and supplement form. It contains coumarin, and can be dangerous to the liver in high amounts. Coumarin can also have a “blood-thinning” effect, so cassia cinnamon supplements shouldn’t be taken with prescription anti-clotting medication, such as Coumadin (warfarin), or by people with bleeding disorders. The safest cinnamon to use is ceylon. It’s a bit harder to find and more expensive than cassia or Saigon, but worth the extra expense for the peace of mind…..
Naturally the “right” kind of cinnamon requires either a long drive to a bulk medicinal herb store (in my case Chinatown in San Francisco) or mail-order from overseas, which can take up to 3-4 weeks to ship; just like mail ordering DuZhong which is an antihypertensive herbal bark from a tree that seems to grow only in East Asia (and was Wikipedia’ed under “beta blockers”) and the Chinese package it as “Stroke Away” – I’ll be waiting almost a month for the mail for both of those. So meanwhile I have to hope that the cassia cinnamon doesn’t do too much damage; I also found that the Cayenne Pepper that was the “right” strength had to be special-ordered by mail or else the long trip down to San Francisco to buy it at the herb shop not just in Chinatown but also the Mission District. In my case this is all because free-clinic doctors never seem to want to take on prescribing anything for me no matter how high my blood pressure gets!! It’s like, free-clinic “doctors” are medical students who can’t be your “regular” doctor so they don’t want to start you on real medication like beta blockers or ACE inhibitors and again, the only way to get a “real” doctor is to haul it down to San Francisco, go to either St Lukes or SF General Emergency Room, see whoever’s on staff that night and then avoid the bill collection calls…..