Weight Loss With Honey And Cinnamon

I love honey. I also love cinnamon. I love them both so very much and for so many reasons. Because of this and for my perpetual interest in peer reviewed research, I wanted to see if there were any articles or any studies on fat loss and honey and cinnamon.

The reason I wanted to know this, is because if you 'google' weight loss with honey and cinnamon, there will be dozens of pages that come up with people claiming this as a miracle drink for weight loss and many other things. However, since I have spent many years of my life actually analyzing peer reviewed research, I always like to go that one step deeper.

So, in the PUBMED database, here is what I found. The full references are below if you want to find the studies for yourself.

Honey and Weight Loss

To start off, there were not any studies looking at whether or not honey could help with weight loss. However, of interest, honey showed up several time in regards to cancer studies and being helpful with certain negative side effects of cancer treatment. (3)(4)

Cinnamon and Weight Loss

The studies conducted with cinnamon were more related to diabetes than to weight loss. However, possibly based on the proven beneficial effects that cinnamon has for blood sugar control, there seem to also be some benefits for weight loss.

(1) A 2012 review looking at the benefits of cinnamon for diabetes. In their conclusions they find "The beneficial effects of cinnamon in animals include:

* Increase of diabetic associated weight loss,

* Reduction of fasting blood glucose,

* Improvement of blood lipids markers,

* Improvement of insulin resistance,

* Beneficial effects against diabetic neuropathy,

* No significant toxic effects on the liver, or kidneys. However, they do recommend more studies for long term effects and safety.

(2) A 2010 study (on animals mind you), looked at animals being fed a high fat/high sugar diet, and wanted to see what would happen if they added cinnamon to that diet. They found that the group that also had cinnamon added to their diet, had less detrimental effects to their pancreas and to their body composition of fat cells, than the ones that were not.

Grandmother's Tips for Buying Honey and Cinnamon

1. Buy local, pure, raw, unpasteurized honey.

2. Consume 2 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon / day for the benefits of helping to manage blood sugar. (5) NOTE: If you are diabetic, and taking medications, definitely talk to a specialist to find the perfect dosage.

With love,

Grandmother's Kitchen

References

(1) Diabet Med. 2012 Dec;29(12):1480-92. doi: 10.1111/j.1464-5491.2012.03718.x. Efficacy and safety of 'true' cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) as a pharmaceutical agent in diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ranasinghe P1, Jayawardana R, Galappaththy P, Constantine GR, de Vas Gunawardana N, Katulanda P.

(2) Arch Biochem Biophys. 2010 Sep 1;501(1):158-61. doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2010.05.032. Epub 2010 May 31. Cinnamon improves insulin sensitivity and alters the body composition in an animal model of the metabolic syndrome. Couturier K1, Batandier C, Awada M, Hininger-Favier I, Canini F, Anderson RA, Leverve X, Roussel AM.

(3) J Indian Med Assoc. 2012 Jul;110(7):453-6. The effect of honey on mucositis induced by chemoradiation in head and neck cancer. Maiti PK1, Ray A, Mitra TN, Jana U, Bhattacharya J, Ganguly S.

(4) Molecules. 2014 Feb 21;19(2):2497-522. doi: 10.3390/molecules19022497. Effects of honey and its mechanisms of action on the development and progression of cancer. Erejuwa OO1, Sulaiman SA2, Wahab MS3.

(5) Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Jun;85(6):1552-6. Effect of cinnamon on postprandial blood glucose, gastric emptying, and satiety in healthy subjects. Hlebowicz J1, Darwiche G, Björgell O, Almér LO.