Cinnamon

Emerging research is finding that cinnamon may help lower blood sugar and cholesterol. One well done study found that people taking 1 to 6 grams (about ½ to 2 ½ teaspoons/day) cinnamon had:

• 12-16% decrease in total cholesterol

• 23-30% decrease in Triglycerides (blood fats)

• 7 -27% decrease in LDL
  (the ‘bad’ cholesterol)

• 18-29% decrease in Blood Sugar

Cinnamon is also very useful in baking because adding cinnamon boosts the sweet taste without adding any sugar.

How Much?

½ teaspoon total a day. Add to oatmeal, yogurt, milk, and/or add to coffee when you put in your creamer. But while cinnamon won’t hurt and might help, it’s not a good idea to go overboard.

Cautions?

If you have diabetes you’ll need to watch you blood sugar closely to avoid it going too low.

Cinnamon is classified by the FDA as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS).

Until now only cinnamon oil had problems reported: slowed heart rate, skin irritation. However, new reports have raised concerns due to the high levels of coumarin found in some (but not all) ground cinnamon products. If taken in large amounts for long periods of time then the coumarin could result in liver damage and inflammation in some people. Keeping the dose low is a way to limit this problem. One brand, Cinnulin PF, which is a water extract of cinnamon, has been tested to be low in coumarin.

-Sara Lee Thomas, RD, rev. 3/23/2007