Cinnamon capsules, cinnamon tablets, and cinnamon pills are some of the hottest natural supplements around at the moment.
The relationship between cinnamon and fast weight loss, however, is not what most commentators tell you, and different kinds of cinnamon are used in supporting Type 2 diabetes and in weight control.
The kind of cinnamon in most over-the-counter supplements is the cinnamon used to make curry.
This curry is darker and a little bitterer than the cinnamon sprinkled on rolls or used to make apple pie.
There is actually some very good research backing up the use of this kind of curry cinnamon for Type 2 diabetes, if you happen to be a person of South Asian descent.
The initial tests of cinnamon for diabetes were sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture but conducted in Pakistan.
Type 2 diabetics who didn't get any other medications at all were given 1g, 2g, 3g, or 6g of cinnamon a day for up to four weeks.
The results showed for the group tested, cinnamon is better than any other diabetes drug except insulin.
How much better? Taking cinnamon lowered blood sugar levels, from definitely diabetic to "borderline" levels (the border depending on your definition of Type 2 diabetes).
It lowered:
Even better, it lowered insulin levels.
There's just one catch.
It turns out most people in South Asia have a gene that makes fat cells unusually small.
And most people in the rest of the world don't have it.
The kind of cinnamon in supplements is great for blood sugar control and maybe even weight loss if you are of South Asian descent, not so much if you aren't.
Of course, there's an exception to every rule.
If you happen to have gained weight because you have insomnia (disturbing the hormones that control appetite), it turns out the kind of cinnamon in supplements may help you, after all.
But for most people, it's the everyday cinnamon that can actually help, a little, with weight loss efforts.
This is the same cinnamon that gets baked into cinnamon rolls, not that cinnamon rolls are anyone's diet food.
The reason this kind of cinnamon may help with weight loss is that it slows down the passage of food from your stomach to your colon.
The longer food stays in your stomach, the more satisfied you feel.
Cinnamon won't help you if you gobble down your meals really fast.
It won't help you if you feel a need to eat everything in sight.
But if you use cinnamon on your oatmeal at the beginning of your breakfast, for example, you are less likely to feel the urge to eat a doughnut an hour later.
If you put cinnamon on baked apples for dessert, you'll feel more satisfied (at least in terms of your growling stomach), than if you ate a tiny chocolate truffle.
Cinnamon certainly won't hurt anyone's diet efforts.
Use the "regular," reddish, baking cinnamon as often as possible.
Just don't eat your cinnamon in the form of cinnamon rolls.
Putting a small amount of cinnamon in foods or taking cinnamon in capsules can significantly improve blood sugar levels.
The relationship between cinnamon and fast weight loss, however, is not what most commentators tell you, and different kinds of cinnamon are used in supporting Type 2 diabetes and in weight control.
The kind of cinnamon in most over-the-counter supplements is the cinnamon used to make curry.
This curry is darker and a little bitterer than the cinnamon sprinkled on rolls or used to make apple pie.
There is actually some very good research backing up the use of this kind of curry cinnamon for Type 2 diabetes, if you happen to be a person of South Asian descent.
The initial tests of cinnamon for diabetes were sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture but conducted in Pakistan.
Type 2 diabetics who didn't get any other medications at all were given 1g, 2g, 3g, or 6g of cinnamon a day for up to four weeks.
The results showed for the group tested, cinnamon is better than any other diabetes drug except insulin.
How much better? Taking cinnamon lowered blood sugar levels, from definitely diabetic to "borderline" levels (the border depending on your definition of Type 2 diabetes).
It lowered:
- cholesterol levels, 7 to 27 per cent
- triglycerides, 10 to 30 per cent
Even better, it lowered insulin levels.
There's just one catch.
It turns out most people in South Asia have a gene that makes fat cells unusually small.
And most people in the rest of the world don't have it.
The kind of cinnamon in supplements is great for blood sugar control and maybe even weight loss if you are of South Asian descent, not so much if you aren't.
Of course, there's an exception to every rule.
If you happen to have gained weight because you have insomnia (disturbing the hormones that control appetite), it turns out the kind of cinnamon in supplements may help you, after all.
But for most people, it's the everyday cinnamon that can actually help, a little, with weight loss efforts.
This is the same cinnamon that gets baked into cinnamon rolls, not that cinnamon rolls are anyone's diet food.
The reason this kind of cinnamon may help with weight loss is that it slows down the passage of food from your stomach to your colon.
The longer food stays in your stomach, the more satisfied you feel.
Cinnamon won't help you if you gobble down your meals really fast.
It won't help you if you feel a need to eat everything in sight.
But if you use cinnamon on your oatmeal at the beginning of your breakfast, for example, you are less likely to feel the urge to eat a doughnut an hour later.
If you put cinnamon on baked apples for dessert, you'll feel more satisfied (at least in terms of your growling stomach), than if you ate a tiny chocolate truffle.
Cinnamon certainly won't hurt anyone's diet efforts.
Use the "regular," reddish, baking cinnamon as often as possible.
Just don't eat your cinnamon in the form of cinnamon rolls.
Putting a small amount of cinnamon in foods or taking cinnamon in capsules can significantly improve blood sugar levels.
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