Spice up diabetes treatment

There are lots of ironies in life. High testosterone levels can increase a man’s sex drive but they can also make him go bald potentially decreasing his sex appeal. People on the dating scene will spend a fortune on clothes with the aim of getting out of them as soon as possible. “Morning tea” often consists of coffee and while we send “cargo” by ship we send shipments by car. Of course the ultimate irony of life is that no-one gets out of it alive. Now another irony has been confirmed in that a spice often added to sweet snacks can actually treat the condition caused by too many of those sweets: diabetes.

The spice we are talking about here is cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum or Cinnamomum cassia) and it seems to go with all things sweet. It is sprinkled on toast, often as “cinnamon sugar”, it is added to pastries, and is used on and in sweet pies and cakes. Cinnamon tastes wonderful but the irony is that although it is used on so many sweet foods it can actually help heal diabetes which can be caused by overconsumption of those foods.

There is conflicting research on cinnamon use in diabetes and balancing blood sugars. In a study from the Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2009 it was found that three grams of cinnamon led to reduced post-meal insulin levels. A 2003 study from the journal Diabetes Care showed that cinnamon lowered both blood glucose and blood fat levels in type 2 diabetic patients. Yet there is still debate around the herb’s use in diabetes which is why researchers undertook this new study involving analysis of data gathered from ten randomised, controlled clinical trials on people with type 2 diabetes.

The compiled results showed that at a daily dose of between 120mg and six grams (which is a huge range) for periods ranging from four to 18 weeks, cinnamon reduced both fasting blood glucose levels and cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is important as it can be elevated in diabetes and people with diabetes need to monitor their cholesterol levels carefully.

The results showed that cinnamon reduced fasting blood glucose by an average 1.3 mmol/litre, total cholesterol was reduced by 0.87 mmol/l, bad LDL cholesterol was reduced by 0.52mmol/l, and good HDL cholesterol was increased by 0.1mmol/l.

This is all good news but it is not a license for people with diabetes to start indulging in cinnamon doughnuts. It is a sign though that cinnamon as a herbal medicine or as a tea or in a healthy muesli can be a valuable part of diabetes management.