Free Republic

Cinnamon—it's not just for perking up the flavor of pies and applesauce anymore. A teaspoonful of the spice can have medicinal properties, at least for most people with diabetes, several trials have indicated. However, the latest study identifies one population that cinnamon doesn't seem to benefit: individuals suffering from what was once referred to as juvenile diabetes. "Ours is just one study," cautions team leader Kevin M. Curtis of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H. It was also a small study. Just 57 teens completed the 3-month trial. However, Curtis notes emphatically, "we saw no benefit" in blood sugar control....

RICHLAND, Wash. -- A stolen truck full of doughnuts? Better believe Tri-Cities police were on that in a hurry. Moments after the theft of the Viera's Bakery van was reported early Friday in Kennewick, police issued an all-points bulletin. A Benton County sheriff's deputy quickly spotted the truck. After a chase at 30 to 35 mph, Richland police got it to stop and arrested the driver, Steve Swoboda, 19, for investigation of auto theft and felony escape. Still intact was the entire load of glazed, sugar and cream doughnuts, as well as apple fritters, bear claws. "In 24 years in...

San Franciscans were shocked to hear this month that a police officer had been clubbed over the head by members of Anarchist Action marching through the Mission District to protest the Group of Eight Summit. But anyone who follows the political scene in San Francisco should have seen this coming. This is a city that prides itself on being a center of left-wing politics, and anarchism is simply another offshoot. Although Anarchism as a philosophy encompasses various political and social ideologies, anarchists share an opposition to hierarchy in all forms, including the state and capitalism. Adherents differ on the use...

Cinnamon oil is an environmentally friendly way to kill mosquito hatchlings, a Taiwanese study shows. It might even make bug repelling better smelling -- although whether cinnamon oil keeps adult mosquitoes from biting has yet to be tested. The findings, from Sen-Sung Cheng, a natural products chemist at National Taiwan University, and colleagues, appear in the July 14 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Current mosquito-control efforts often rely on organophosphate insecticides. Use of these agents has raised health and environmental concerns, Cheng and colleagues note, so they looked for a different approach. They noted that cinnamon...

Rewriting history: A replica eighth century sailing ship suggests that the first seafarers to round the Cape of Good Hope came from the East - and not from Europe. Photo: Sean Woods, Popular Mechanics Sailing the Cinnamon Route March 04 2004 at 07:06AM By Sean Woods History books tell us that Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Diaz was the first seafarer to round the Cape, in 1488. It remains a towering achievement during that golden era of discovery when adventurers from the Iberian Peninsula redrew the map of the known world. But yet... some things just don't fit into the picture. For...

Type 2 diabetics may get a health boost from a dash of cinnamon Los Angeles Times A little bit of cinnamon might spice up your health. The aromatic bark can lower blood sugar, triglycerides and cholesterol levels, as well as improve insulin functioning, particularly in Type 2 diabetics, researchers have found. Richard Anderson, lead scientist at the Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Md., calls its medicinal properties the most significant nutritional discovery in 25 years. "I don't know of anything else," he said, other than drugs, "that can change glucose, triglycerides and cholesterol levels nearly so much." The most...

Just half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day significantly reduces blood sugar levels in diabetics, a new study has found. The effect, which can be produced even by soaking a cinnamon stick your tea, could also benefit millions of non-diabetics who have blood sugar problem but are unaware of it. The discovery was initially made by accident, by Richard Anderson at the US Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland. "We were looking at the effects of common foods on blood sugar," he told New Scientist. One was the American favourite, apple pie, which is usually spiced...