Cinnamon Diabetes

For most of the ailments, known to mankind there is someone who says there is a natural treatment for it. These natural treatments range from very benign to absolutely bizarre. However, that does not mean there is never a natural treatment for an ailment. Cinnamon for diabetes is a prime example of this, but this is a question whether does it work and safe or not. When people have diabetes, they have a problem with insulin and sugar. Either their pancreas is not producing enough insulin as in type-1 diabetes or the cells are not responsive to the insulin being produced, as can be the case with type two. There are more technical difficulties but this is the bottom line so to speak.

The treatments of diabetes very between the two types of diabetes and their severity but the goal with both are to get adequate amounts of insulin and make sure the cells will accept the insulin in order to use the glucose or sugar in the blood stream for fuel. Sometimes this is merely a matter of proper diet plan and regular exercise and in the case of type-1 diabetes insulin replacement therapy or medication. People nowadays have begun to question if there are any natural procedures available to make treatment more effective, and surprisingly it looks like cinnamon may be the answer. Since type-1 diabetes is based on a physical issue, the fact that the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin due to damage cinnamon therapy is not thought to be effective.

It should be said up front that people need to always consult their physician before making any major changes especially when they have diabetes. That being said that cinnamon can greatly affect sugar levels in the body. Studies and researches were done at the Human Nutrition Research Center of the US Department of agriculture to study the effects of over 49 plants on insulin mimicry. The one research showed the most promise was cinnamon. The chemical component of cinnamon that actually mimics insulin is methylhydroxychalcone polymer or MHCP. This component is a type of water-soluble chemical compound that acts like insulin in the system, increasing sugar intake capacity of the cells. However, the studies and research looks promising but it should be noted that these were laboratory tests not conducted on humans.

That was an effective remedy by a small clinical trial conducted in Pakistan with collaboration with a physician who was part of the laboratory tests. They made the survey on 60 people with an average age of 52 years old with at least a seven-year history of diabetes. The group of people taken was spit with half receiving placebo over a 40-day period. The results came out were amazing! Testing procedure was done of fasting blood sugar levels at the beginning and every 20 days thereafter, including 20 days after the test was complete. All the people who received cinnamon saw a dramatic decrease in blood sugar levels and as an added bonus LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) as well; where as the other group showed no significant change.

• Emma Bullock
• 24/02/2009, 6:59 AM
• 0 Comments