The Diabetes and Cinnamon Connection: Real or Not?

Just how real is the connection between diabetes and cinnamon? It has been said that cinnamon is valuable in helping manage cholesterol as well as blood sugar levels. The active ingredient in cinnamon, hydroxychalcone is believed to aid the effect insulin has on your body. It is thought that the hydroxychalcone makes the insulin in your body more sensitive and reactive and causes the insulin to encourage glycogen synthesis.

When people think of cinnamon, they usually associate it with a sweet treat such as cookies or pies. If you are diabetic, of course, you can't have such things. So, unfortunately, this does not give us free rein to add cinnamon biscuits, buns and apple pie to our diabetes diets. The fat and sugar they contain would far outweigh the benefits of the cinnamon! Cinnamon seems to enhance the effectiveness of insulin and can only be used to treat Type 2 diabetes where the body produces some insulin. In Type 1 diabetes, where no insulin is produced, it can't be used to help control your blood sugar.

Recently the US Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland conducted a study of the cinnamon and diabetes connection. This study was led by Dr Richard Anderson. What the researchers found was that just half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon a day significantly reduced blood sugar levels in diabetics.

The wonderful effects cinnamon has on your blood sugar levels can even be had by something as simple as soaking some cinnamon bark in your tea.The recommendations from this study were that adding cinnamon to a Type 2 diabetes diet could help control blood sugar. In the future, you are likely to see more research about cinnamon and diabetes.

Cinnamon has been used as an herbal medicine for a very long time. Cinnamon's unique healing abilities come from three components in the essential oils found in its bark. Cinnamon bark was applied to the body to get rid of rashes, and twigs from the cinnamon tree were used to treat ailments of the fingers and toes, including athlete's foot and arthritis.

You'll need to take some initiative when it comes to caring for your diabetes. The members of your health care team - your doctor and diabetes dietitian, for example - will encourage you and help you live a healthier life with diabetes. In order to live life to the fullest, you will still need to know a lot about yourself and diabetes.

Make sure you are taking good care of yourself to stave off or minimize complications from diabetes. Monitor your blood sugar and be sure to check your feet every day. Taking an active role in your diabetes care can help prevent, or at least lessen, any complications that may occur.

Cinnamon might prove useful against your type 2 diabetes, and against its main threat, resistance to insulin. If you decide to use cinnamon therapy to help control your diabetes, I would strongly advise notifying your health care provider and closely monitoring your blood sugar levels