The brown, mildly bitter and spicy cooking herb in your kitchen — cinnamon — is now found to have beneficial qualities for those with diabetes. This according to a recent research study published in an international journal by National Diabetes Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation (NDOC) and Fortis-CDOC Hospital.
Dietary intervention
In a randomised double-blind control clinical trial, the National Diabetes, Obesity & Cholesterol Foundation (N-DOC), Institute of Home Economics (University of Delhi) and Fortis CDOC Hospital for Diabetes and Allied Sciences investigated the effect of simple dietary intervention, that is, cinnamon among Indians who have much greater propensity to develop multiple metabolic problems leading to diabetes at an early age.
In this study, cinnamon was tested in 58 people with metabolic syndrome (individuals having multiple metabolic abnormalities; abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL, high blood sugar, and high blood pressure) and compared them with placebo (controls, number 58) over a period of 16 weeks.
The study showed that dietary intervention with cinnamon can lead to multiple health benefits that are useful for prevention and management of metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in Indians who are markedly predisposed to develop these problems.
“Importantly, besides decrease in various parameters including abdominal obesity which decrease heart attack risk, increase in HDL by about 2 mg/dl would lead to decrease in heart attack risk by 10%,” noted the study.
