Cinnamon and Diabetes—Disease Type Appears to Matter

Science News Online ^ | April 14, 2007 | Janet Raloff

[neverdem]

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. If anything, he says, there were hints that people who were not getting the cinnamon might have fared better than those who did.

NOT SO HOT. Many teens with type 1 diabetes need help maintaining tight control of their blood sugar. Cinnamon isn't the answer, a new study finds, even though the spice appears to help moderate blood sugar in persons with type 2 diabetes.
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Insulin is a powerful hormone that the body needs to get energy—in the form of blood sugar, or glucose—into cells. Earlier studies tested cinnamon's potential to stabilize blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, the form of the disease in which the body makes ample insulin but cells don't respond adequately. Called insulin resistance, this condition typically occurs in people who are overweight and older than 40. However, with a rise in juvenile obesity in recent decades, a childhood epidemic of this type of diabetes is now under way.

Type 1 diabetes is a radically different disease. An autoimmune condition, it develops when the body mistakes insulin-secreting, or beta, cells for invaders and inappropriately attacks them. When enough beta cells die, the body can no longer make enough insulin to keep blood sugar in check. Its victims must regularly inject themselves with the hormone to survive.

The new 90-day study recruited adolescents 13 to 19 years old with type 1 disease and asked them to take a daily capsule that might contain cinnamon. Randomly assigned, half the volunteers got 1 gram of cinnamon a day, and the others instead received lactose, a complex sugar found in milk. All capsules looked the same and came packaged in identical pill bottles. During the trial, neither the teens nor the physicians administering the capsules learned who was consuming cinnamon.

Curtis' team selected adolescents for the study because their growth spurts and other body changes associated with puberty make tight control of blood sugar especially difficult. A lack of blood sugar control can result in serious complications, from heart disease to kidney failure, blindness, and even limb amputations.

The Dartmouth team looked primarily for changes in measures of hemoglobin A1C among the teens. A person's A1C reading indicates the proportion of red blood cells that have glucose stuck onto them. A high A1C reading indicates that the person's blood sugar has been too high for months. The researchers focused on this measurement, rather than periodic tests of blood sugar itself, because hemoglobin A1C "has clearly been the best predictor of complications in both type 1 and type 2 diabetics," Curtis told Science News Online.

At the end of the new study, teens taking both cinnamon and lactose had A1C values averaging roughly 8.75, according to a report in the April Diabetes Care.

By chance, the group assigned to receive lactose capsules for 3 months started the study with an average A1C value of 8.75. The teens getting the cinnamon capsules started the study with an average 8.4 A1C reading. Clearly, there was no advantage to getting the cinnamon treatment, Curtis says.

It's possible that the daily gram of cinnamon administered to the teens was too small to have a measurable effect in people with type 1 diabetes, the researchers say. On the other hand, the scientists note that this quantity was sufficient to improve glucose control in a 2003 study of people with type 2 disease (SN: 5/1/04, p. 282). More likely, Curtis' group concludes, is that "whatever effect cinnamon has on glucose uptake in type 2 diabetic subjects is not present in those with type 1 diabetes."

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References:

Altschuler, J.A. . . . and K.M. Curtis. 2007. The effect of cinnamon on A1C among adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care 30(April):813-816. Abstract available at http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/30/4/813.

Khan, A. . . . and R.A. Anderson. 2003. Cinnamon improves glucose and lipids of people with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care 26(December):3215-3218. Available at http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/26/12/3215.

Further Readings:

American Diabetes Association. What is diabetes? Available at http://www.diabetes.org/for-parents-and-kids/what-is-diabetes.jsp.

American Diabetes Association. Type 1 diabetes complications. Available at http://www.diabetes.org/type-1-diabetes/complications.jsp.

Anderson, R.A., et al. 2004. Isolation and characterization of polyphenol type-A polymers from cinnamon with insulin-like biological activity. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 52(Jan. 14):65-70. Abstract available at http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/
jafcau/2004/52/i01/abs/jf034916b.html.

Anderson, R.A. 2003. Chromium and insulin resistance. Nutrition Research Reviews 16(December):267-275. Abstract available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/NRR200366.

Raloff, J. 2004; Coffee, spices, wine. Science News 165(May 1):282-284. Available at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20040501/bob10.asp.

Sources:

American Diabetes Association
1701 North Beauregard Street
Alexandria, VA 22311
Web site: http://www.diabetes.org

Kevin M. Curtis
Department of Emergency Medicine
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
Lebanon, NH 03756

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070414/food.asp

From Science News, Vol. 171, No. 15, April 14, 2007

Copyright (c) 2007 Science Service. All rights reserved.

[redhead]

Walmart, Sams, whatever. They are readily available locally, and online. Two minor things: 1. they might make your urine burn if you are taking too many. Just cut down and you will notice a difference. 2. THEY REALLY WORK. Check your sugar frequently to make sure it is not going too low. Cinnamon has no toxicity that I know of, but the blood-sugar effect is something to watch. I took two twice a day until my sugar got down into the lower range, then gradually eliminated one cap at a time. Now, one in the morning seems to do the trick.

[alloysteel]

“...never drink juice of any kind”

Amen to that. Unless you are in an emergency situation where you KNOW the problem is hypo-glycemia.

But don’t guess. Take a blood-glucose check first.

The same goes for most high-fructose soft drinks or sports drinks. Plain water is the most effective rehydration medium.

[muawiyah]

Teaspoon full per day is enough to kick my count down 50 points.

More has no additional effect.

BTW, you have to build up a certain background level ~ this stuff takes a week or so to wear off such that you'd notice it, and a month before there is no more effect.

First time you use it, though, you may very well feel tingling all over your body.

[Dante3]

Do you take it in capsule form?

[muawiyah]

I use ground cinnamon ~ straight from Penzy's (http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/results.html ).

We travel through Indianapolis, Indiana several times a year and pick it up.

They do mailorder sales as well.

I'm not advertising for them but simply identifying them as a very responsive supplier for Saigon Cinnamon.

[ncpatriot]

Hey, we order from Penzy’s, but not the cinnamon. Acc to Wikipedia, the kind of cinnamon that works for diabetes type 2 is cinnamomum cassia. WalMart sells Rexall Cinnamon 500mg

[muawiyah]

There are 800 species of cinnamon. ALL of them produce the very same active ingredient. It is water soluble. That's why the characteristic of the ground cinnamon is very important ~ you will want to expose it as much as possible.

North American sassafras is ALSO in the cinnamon family. It produces some known carcinogenic chemicals. So do all cinnamon species, however, in far smaller concentrations. Since I use so much cinnamon I make sure I never include lipids (cream, e.g.) in my coffee or tea ~ just plain cinnamon.

Do not be misled by statements such as "true cinnamon" ~ that's simply an early (circa 6000 BC) marketing technique.

[slowhandluke]

There's a permanent cure for diabetes, at least some varieties.

I became diabetic in the course of prednisone treatment for sarcoid. Some time after I started the Marshall Protocol to cure the sarcoid, I was able to give way the glucose monitor and toss the metformin. Others have had diabetes as the primary diagnosis used the MP for a cure. www.marshallprotocol.com

Your mileage may vary, but I doubt it.

[muawiyah]

Since I don't use metaformin and depend on rigid diet control (plus cinnamon for stability), I suspect my method would still benefit you.

BTW, all of the "diseases/conditions" mentioned in the Marshall Protocol sites (there are many) are also regularly misdiagnosed Celiac condition. What you do to "cure" that genetic situation is give up wheat gluten.

[mad_as_he$$]

Don't dismiss it so quickly. Cinnamon CLEARLY is a metabolic rate controller. In adults it has PROVEN results in several significant studies for cholesterol control; especially where adults have metabolic syndrome. It would not surprise me if it had the same type of benefit in teens.

Now as to a good colon flushing.......

[ncpatriot]

Wikipedia, my source.
Thanks for update.
I learn so much on FR. Worth the donation, huh?

[mjp]

A teaspoonful of the spice can have medicinal properties, at least for most people with diabetes

cinnamon is loaded with antioxidants too.

[Paisan]

You mean like the way peanut butter sandwichs and hot dogs do?

Precisely

[radiohead]

When, how often and how much are you taking? I take a bunch o’supplements and for some reason have just not been able to work cinnamon into the mix, even after buying a big jar of it. I’ve tried so many things that don’t work or don’t work consistently for me, that I hate to shove down another horse pill w/no real benefit.

Portion control and diet are still key, but every little bit helps. Since menopause I have had problems w/my a.m. bgs, tho the other readings seem to be manageable.

[COBOL2Java]

I haven’t yet taken the supplements. I’ve added cinnamon to my coffee (2-3 cups a day), and also add it to my morning cereal (best in oatmeal). Another good place is to add it to my fruit, especially apples.

[conservativegranny]

I took cinnamon capsules I ordered from Puritan Pride for about 6 months to see if it would help with my blood sugar levels and it did nothing for me. Big waste of money.

[IslandJeff]

Type I Diabetes Ping List
FR mail me to add yourself! (Type IIs welcome, too.)

Started taking Niacin and Cinnamon - haven't noticed much difference. One supplement I can definitely, anecdotally recommend for sufferers is Cranberry Juice Concentrate. Really flushes those kidneys out. Thanks for the article.

[ExtremeUnction]

I took cinnamon capsules I ordered from Puritan Pride for about 6 months to see if it would help with my blood sugar levels and it did nothing for me. Big waste of money.

I was typically getting a blood sugar reading of 106. After taking cinnamon capsules for one month, my readings were around 96. My cholesterol results improved as well.

[krunkygirl]

Thanks for the ping, Jeff.

Question: But what does the Cranberry Juice Concentrate do to your blood sugar readings?

[JoeSixPack1]

Does this count?