Cinnamon – Your Blood Sugar’s Best Friend

Cinnamon is a safe and inexpensive aromatic spice, which has been used for many years in traditional herbal medicine for treatment of type 2 diabetes. The active ingredient in cinnamon, MCHP mimics the action of the hormone insulin, which removes excess sugar from the bloodstream. Cinnamon also appears to reduce blood cholesterol and fat levels(1) and decrease blood pressure(2).

Where’s the evidence?

Animal studies have found that there is a positive effect on blood sugar levels when treated with cinnamon. A study in 2005, found that following a high sugar meal, cinnamon reduced blood sugar and increased insulin levels for up to 30minutes(3).
Another animal study found that after just 2 weeks of cinnamon administration, there were positive effects on fat levels, blood sugar levels, and after 6 weeks insulin levels and ‘good’ HDL cholesterol had also increased(4).

There have also been positive findings in human studies. For example, last year a research group found that when pre-diabetics were given a cinnamon extract called Cinnulin® for 12 weeks, there were improvements in several features of the metabolic syndrome (blood sugar levels, blood pressure and body fat percentage)(5) .
Another recent study in diabetics found similar results. 39 patients were given cinnamon extract for 4 months and showed a substantial reduction in post-meal blood sugar levels and a 10% reduction in fasting blood sugar levels. Interestingly, diabetics with the poorest blood glucose control showed the biggest improvements with cinnamon.

How much cinnamon do you need?

A study in 2003, gave three groups of diabetics 1, 3 or 6 grams of cinnamon per day. All responded to the cinnamon within weeks, with blood sugar levels 20 per cent lower on average than those of a control group. Some of the volunteers taking cinnamon even achieved normal blood sugar levels. Tellingly, blood sugar started creeping up again after the diabetics stopped taking cinnamon. The biggest improvements were seen with the highest dosage. However, it has been suggested that at very high levels cinnamon could actually lead to hypoglycemia by being over-effective1. Therefore, I recommend 1 gram a day, roughly half a teaspoon. Reports suggest that improvements can be seen after just 20 days(1).

Cinnamon, like many foods, contains coumarin, which, in large amounts. could act as a carcinogen. Celyon cinnamon contains much less coumarin than other cinnamons (known as cassia cinnamon). If you buy ground cinnamon there’s no way to tell the difference. The situation is different in the case of cinnamon sticks. Whereas in the case of cassia cinnamon a relatively thick layer of the bark has been rolled into a stick, the cross-section of a Ceylon cinnamon stick looks more like a cigarette – several thin layers of bark have been rolled up into a cinnamon stick resulting in a comparatively compact cross-section.

The best option is to supplement a cinnamon extract such as Cinnulin which is guaranteed to contain less than 0.7% coumarin and has a high concentration of MHCP, the active ingredient. This means that if you supplemented 1 gram of Cinnulin the intake of coumarin would be well below the tolerable daily intake and not remotely pose any potential health risk

While we need more human trials looking at the effects of cinnamon on type 2 diabetes management, based on the available evidence I recommend that type 2 diabetics include 1 gram of cinnamon daily or, ideally the equivalent in low coumarin cinnamon extracts. However, do bear in mind that your need for medication may decrease so it is important to monitor your blood sugar levels and inform your primary care practitioner accordingly.

References;

1. Khan A, Mahpara S, Ali Khan M.M, Khattak K.N, Anderson R.A. 2003, Cinnamon Improves Glucose and Lipids of People With Type 2 Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Volume 26, no. 12 p 3215-3218

2.  Preuss H.G, Echard B, Polansky M.M, Anderson R, 2006. Whole cinnamon and aqueous extracts ameliorate sucrose-induced blood pressure elevations in spontaneously hypertensive rats, J Am Coll Nutr. April; 25 (2): p 144-150

3. Verspohl E.J, Bauer K, and Neddermann E 2005, Antidiabetic Effect of Cinnamoncassia and Cinnamomum zeylanicum In vivo and In vitro, Phytotherapy Research 19 p 203-206

4. Kim S.H, Hyun S.H, Choung S.Y, 2006. Anti-diabetic effect of cinnamon extract on blood glucose in db/db mice, Journal of Ethnopharmacology 104, p 119-123

5. Ziegenfuss T.N, Hofheins J.E, Mendel R.W, Landis J, Anderson R.A. 2006. Effects of a Water-Soluble Cinnamon Extract on Body Composition and Features of the Metabolic Syndrome in Pre-Diabetic Men and Women. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 3(2):p 45-53.