Antioxidant Foods

Archive for November, 2009

The benefits of cinnamon as a nutrient and natural medicine are well documented. Cinnamon has been used for over 4700 years as a Chinese botanical medicine. Cinnamon historically comes from both China and Ceylon and thanks to the caravan traders it was brought to the middle east and then on to Europe. Ceylon cinnamon is also grown in Brazil and the Caribbean and countries in the far east.

Cinnamon is the second highest rated antioxidant behind cloves. It has an ORAC ranking of 267,536 in 100 grams. However, it is best known in historic natural treatment for its control of blood sugar. It has been researched in animals and in vitro (read test tube) for years and has been found to lower blood sugar. Only recently has it been tested in humans. Why only recently I have no idea. It could be if there is a benefit to Cinnamon it would be hard to make a billion dollars a year selling it since it is available everywhere for low cost.

In a human study with  60 people with type II diabetes, taking 1 gram of cinnamon a day was found to reduce blood sugar, triglycerides, LDL (bad) cholesterol, and total cholesterol. The study was published in December 2003  Diabetes Care. The 60 people with type 2 diabetes (30 men and 30 women ages 44 to 58 years, were divided into 6 groups. Groups 1, 2, and 3 were given 1, 3, or 6 grams of cinnamon daily, while groups 4, 5, and 6 received 1, 3 or 6 grams of placebo. After 40 days, all three levels of cinnamon reduced blood sugar levels by 18-29%, triglycerides 23-30%, LDL cholesterol 7-27%, and total cholesterol 12-26%, while no significant changes were seen in the placebo group. The conclusion drawn?,  including cinnamon in the diet of people with type 2 diabetes will reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

The benefits of cinnamon are pretty obvious. If you can take as little as a gram a day ( ¼ to ½ teaspoon) and lower your blood sugar by approximately 20% why drugs. Some prescription drugs for high blood sugar do not do this well. And as a plus cinnamon is a great source of the trace mineral manganese and a very good source of fiber, iron and calcium. And on top of that it tastes good