Fwd: [S-A] Current Research on Cinnamon: Spicing Up Insulin Sensitivity

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" Misty L. Trepke "

Tue, 24 Feb 2004 01:43:24 -0000

[s-A] Current Research on Cinnamon: Spicing Up Insulin Sensitivity

 

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Misty L. Trepke

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Current research on the effects of Cinnamon: Spicing Up Insulin

Sensitivity

 

ARS News Service

Agricultural Research Service, USDA

Rosalie Marion Bliss, (301) 504-4318, rbliss

November 21, 2003

 

Less than a half-teaspoon a day of cinnamon reduced the blood sugar

levels of 60 volunteers in Pakistan with Type 2 diabetes who

participated in a study by the Agricultural Research Service and

cooperators in Pakistan. The findings were published online today in

the December issue of Diabetes Care.

 

The study was conducted by ARS chemist Richard A. Anderson at the ARS

Nutrient Requirements and Functions Laboratory in Beltsville, Md.,

and colleagues from Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan. The

study is preliminary and based on results with a small group of

volunteers. At this time, there are no data on safety or potential

toxic buildup from consistently ingesting table cinnamon.

 

In Type 2 diabetes, either the pancreas does not produce enough

insulin, or the body cannot correctly use it. Insulin is a hormone

that regulates sugar metabolism. The result is that unhealthy levels

of sugar circulate in the blood, instead of providing energy to

muscles.

 

In the study, the researchers divided the volunteers--who were not

taking insulin--randomly into six groups. The first group ate one

gram of cinnamon per day, while the second group ate three grams of

cinnamon per day, and Group 3 ate six grams of cinnamon per day.

Groups 4, 5 and 6 were given placebo capsules corresponding in size

and number to the capsules consumed by volunteers in the three

cinnamon-eating groups.

 

The researchers saw an improvement of roughly 20 percent in blood

sugar, cholesterol and triglyceride levels in volunteers eating as

little as one gram (less than ½ teaspoon) of cinnamon per day for 40

days. No advantage was seen in taking more than that amount.

Significantly, the volunteers' blood sugar levels started climbing

when the cinnamon was stopped.

 

These results with a small group of volunteers--encouraging though

preliminary--indicate the need for further analysis of cinnamon and

its chemical components and for long-term feeding studies.

 

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research

agency.

_________

 

* This is one of the news reports that ARS Information distributes to

rs on weekdays.

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