Can This Spice Cure Diabetes?

Can this Spice Cure Diabetes?

Well cure, no, but manage diabetes symptoms, yes!

Go into your local health food and supplement store and start talking to the local salesfolks about diabetes management, and one of the first thing that will be suggested to you is to take cinnamon.

So what is the deal with cinnamon anyways, besides the fact that it is delicious in so many desserts?

The results of several review studies demonstrated that intake of 1-6 g of regular cinnamon per day reduces serum glucose, triglyceride, LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol in people with type 2 diabetes and suggest that the inclusion of cinnamon in the diet of people with type 2 diabetes will reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

So how does this aromatic spice work anyways?

Exact mechanisms are yet to be understood, but it is likely that cinnamon helps to activate enzymes involved in glucose regulation as well as help to increase the activity of muscle receptors that take up glucose from the blood.

Try getting more cinnamon into your diet by sprinkling it on breakfast meals, desserts and surprisingly even many main meat dishes.

Another way to be sure you are getting enough is to try an organic whole food supplement. One product that I feel confident recommending, because of lots of personal research is New Chapters’ Cinnamon Force. New Chapters uses a super-critical extraction process to ensure the highest quality and purest product possible.

With love,

Heidi Rasmussen, BScN

Grandmother's Kitchen

Reference: Khan A, Safdar M et al. Cinnamon improves glucose and lipids of people with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2003, 26: 3215-3218.