Cinnamon Extract Stabilizes Blood Sugar
Are you looking for a safe, natural way to maintain healthy blood sugar balance? Well, new research shows that cinnamon may be just the thing for you.
Supplementing with 500 mg of a water-soluble cinnamon extract may decrease blood sugar levels and reduce glucose levels in people with insulin resistance, according to findings presented at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California.
Insulin resistance occurs when cells become less sensitive to insulin, which results in increases in blood glucose levels. When these levels become abnormal (as is the case in hyperglycemia), type 2 diabetes occurs.
Oklahoma State University researchers recruited 137 hyperglycemic patients and randomly assigned them to either a placebo or treatment group. Those in the treatment group took 500 mg of cinnamon daily for two months. As a result, they experienced a decrease in their fasting blood glucose levels of 7.5%, as compared to the placebo group’s decrease of 1.6%. What’s more, two hours after eating a meal high in carbohydrates, those who followed the meal by supplementing with the cinnamon extract experienced a 12% decrease in blood glucose levels, compared to only 3.1% by the placebo group. (Stoecker BJ et al. FASEB Journal. 2010, 24:722.1.)
While the scientific jury is still hung about cinnamon’s role in managing type 2 diabetes and a large-scale clinical trial is needed, cinnamon extract seems to be a safe way to manage your blood sugar levels.
