Blood sugar is the level of sugar in the blood. “In the absence of diabetes, blood sugar varies naturally during the day around 1 g/L, depending on meals orphysical activity”, explains Health Insurance. In some cases, it can be higher than normal, without however allowing a diagnosis of diabetes to be made. This is called prediabetes. While not all affected patients will be automatically diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a balanced diet, regular physical activity and healthy weight loss can reduce the risk.
To help regulate blood sugar levels, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, United States, looked at the benefits of adding cinnamon to the diet. They concluded that a daily intake of a particular spice could contribute to better blood sugar control when added to the diet of people with obesity-related prediabetes. Their results are published in L’American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Blood sugar: a daily intake of cinnamon could help regulate it
To arrive at these results, the researchers based themselves on a panel of 18 participants suffering from obesity and prediabetes. After being divided into two groups, the researchers administered a dose of four grams cinnamon per day for four weeks. The second group had a placebo. After a two-week washout period, the researchers swapped the two groups. This study was carried out double-blind, that is to say that neither of the two groups nor the researchers knew who took the cinnamon intake and who took the placebo.
The researchers measured the impact on glucose initially, by carrying out four oral glucose tolerance tests after taking cinnamon or the placebo. In addition, they took blood samples to analyze the presence of glucose, insulin and even triglycerides. Stool samples were also taken. Participants were also asked to report their digestive symptoms daily.
Cinnamon: effects on blood sugar control need further investigation
The researchers note that intake of four g per day of cinnamon supplementation reduced glucose concentrations during continuous glucose monitoring compared to placebo. Furthermore, they specify that “compliance with treatment was excellent” and there were no digestive side effects.
If researchers are not certain to explain the effect of cinnamon on blood sugar control, they believe that a high polyphenol content, known for their ability to improve insulin sensitivity, could be one avenue. Likewise, they emphasize that this spice could impact the gut microbiota population.
However, the authors qualify their results by admitting some limitations to their research worksuch as the limited number of participants or the fact of being based on continuous monitoring of blood glucose over 24 hours only.
Source :
- Effect of cinnamon spice on continuously monitored glycemic response in adults with prediabetes: a 4-week randomized controlled crossover trial – American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
- Health Insurance – Diabetes