Posted on 11/25/2003 6:13:18 AM PST by taxcontrol
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 with cinnamon. "We expected it to be bad. But it helped," he says.
Sugars and starches in food are broken down into glucose, which then circulates in the blood. The hormone insulin makes cells take in the glucose, to be used for energy or made into fat.
But people with Type 1 diabetes do not produce enough insulin. Those with Type 2 diabetes produce it, but have lost sensitivity to it. Even apparently healthy people, especially if they are overweight, sedentary or over 25, lose sensitivity to insulin. Having too much glucose in the blood can cause serious long-term damage to eyes, kidneys, nerves and other organs.
Molecular mimic
The active ingredient in cinnamon turned out to be a water-soluble polyphenol compound called MHCP. In test tube experiments, MHCP mimics insulin, activates its receptor, and works synergistically with insulin in cells.
To see if it would work in people, Alam Khan, who was a postdoctoral fellow in Anderson's lab, organised a study in Pakistan. Volunteers with Type 2 diabetes were given one, three or six grams of cinnamon powder a day, in capsules after meals.
All responded within weeks, with blood sugar levels that were on average 20 per cent lower than a control group. Some even achieved normal blood sugar levels. Tellingly, blood sugar started creeping up again after the diabetics stopped taking cinnamon.
The cinnamon has additional benefits. In the volunteers, it lowered blood levels of fats and "bad" cholesterol, which are also partly controlled by insulin. And in test tube experiments it neutralised free radicals, damaging chemicals which are elevated in diabetics.
Buns and pies
"I don't recommend eating more cinnamon buns, or even more apple pie - there's too much fat and sugar," says Anderson. "The key is to add cinnamon to what you would eat normally."
The active ingredient is not in cinnamon oils. But powdered spice can be added to toast, cereal, juice or coffee.
Anderson's team were awarded patents related to MHCP in 2002. But the chemical is easily obtained. He notes that one of his colleagues tried soaking a cinnamon stick in tea. "He isn't diabetic - but it lowered his blood sugar," Anderson says.
The group now plans to test even lower doses of cinnamon in the US, and also look at long-term blood sugar management with the spice
And by the river, upon its bank, on the one side and on the other, shall grow all trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade, nor their fruit fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, for its waters issue out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
It tells you a lot about what the individual herbs/vits do.
Its already here, but is not readily available yet.
A synthetically produced large HDL molecule called the Milano-XXX(?) was shown to actually reduce arterial plaque buildup by 4% in about 4-6 weeks in its initial human trials. Doctors were stunned.
Also, recent tests on Lipitor demonstrated that giving enough to get LDL under 80 actually slightly reversed arterial buildup, Pravachol did not do it.
On another vein, no pun intended, a web search on "Linus Pauling" and "solution" possibly, should turn up a paper that the Nobel prize winner did explaining heart disease and how plaque buildup occurs. This is not conventional scientific thinking but is gaining credibility fast.
His thesis is that a lack of Vitamin C, which the body wants to use to repair arteries and for arterial health, causes the body to use Lipoprotein A instead. This leads to buildup and the usual nasty events that follow. The article explains in detail on a scientific basis how this occurs. All animals but man and possibly other primates produce their own vitamin C. Man must ingest it to survive. Pauling did animal experiments and proved on animals that plaque buildup can be prevented and even reversed.
He gave them Lysine and Vitamin C.
Since I read about this I have been taking both of these
I'd like to add an affirmative vote on the wonders of flax seed oil. A few years back, I was listening to the radio and heard a fellow by the name of Thomas Smith talking about diabetes and how flax seed oil had helped him with the problem.
For reasons that I won't go into here, I tried the oil. It turned out that I didn't have diabetes, but, within a week, my allergy problems, that had grown progressively worse for years, were dramatically reduced in their scope and intensity.
This prompted me to buy and read Smith's book, and my world view of health, nutrition and medicine was forever changed. Smith is an engineer who was diagnosed with Type II, insulin resistance, diabetes. He didn't like the idea of taking prescription drugs for the rest of his life. Accordingly, he went into the library and began reading the medical literature.
He learned enough to cure his diabetes primarily by changing his diet, and his book, "Insulin: Our Silent Killer," is his story. The basic idea is that flax seed oil is high in the omega-3 fatty acids. These are among the "essential" fats to have in our diets because our bodies cannot produce them.
The omega-3's are an important component in cell walls through which glucose must travel before it can be used in the cell interior. A deficiency in the omega-3's results in cell walls that are less efficient in transmitting glucose to the interior; and this, in turn, results in an increase in the concentration of glucose and insulin in the bloodstream. This is bad for one's cardiovascular health.
We are a nation starved for the omega-3 fats because the fats and oils that are most likely in "your" kitchen, have been processed to the point where they are devoid of these essential nutrients. Smith talks about the history of fat and oil production in his book and correlates it with the mid-century rapid growth of cardiovascular problems in our country.
I start my day with flax seed that is freshly ground in a coffee grinder. The seed is cheaper than the oil and doesn't have to be refrigerated. You can also get the omega-3's from fish oil (have you ever heard of cod liver oil?).
You can buy these products at any heath food or natural food store, or your local food co-op. Smith self-published his book and, besides having typos and some grammatical errors, it is not available through the normal book stores. You can purchase it through KHNC ( The American Freedom Network), a local radio station in Colorado (800-205-6245).
Yes! I add protein powder to mine too. Every single morning, protein powder (40gms.) mixed in yogurt with wheat germ. Natural yogurt, and you can add a spoon of cocoa and a dash of powder sugar if you need it... never more than half a teaspoon! You can get used to it without the sugar easily enough. America is an over-sweetened country as it is, so it's good to eliminate the refined chemical known as table sugar from your diet!
I'm 44 and trying to gain weight. I'm trying to gain about 10 more pounds, but can't. I weight train regularly and do regular exercise... maybe that's why I can't put on the weight... and to add insult to injury, I just lost nearly 4 pounds without trying...
Didn't notice till I weighed myself after a ski trip when I stopped my other exercise and protein supplements.
Also, I've just discovered guaifesin, a natural herb now in extended release tablets. In two days it cleared up bad ear and sinus congestion (it's a mucus thinning herb discovered in the 15th Century). It's used, too, nowadays for fibromyalgia.
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