Spice Slashes Blood Sugar Levels

Main Category: Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine
Also Included In: Diabetes
Article Date: 18 Jan 2008 - 1:00 PST

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While Ginseng has been a busy little herb these last few thousand years, cinnamon has recently been found to pack a powerful medicinal punch. A tasty addition to hot chocolate and apple pie, nutritionists agree this popular spice offers surprising benefits for those suffering from diabetes.

"Good medicine doesn't always take the form of a pill. Sometimes the answer, or part of the answer, can be found in your kitchen cabinet," says Dr. Richard Goldfarb, the medical director for the Bucks County Clinical Research Center. Dr. Goldfarb is working with eFoodSafety.com, a biotech company based in Arizona that develops nutraceuticals and whole food products. The company's Cinnergen®, a concentrated liquid extract of cinnamon and other natural synergistic ingredients, is used for promoting healthy blood sugar levels in diabetics and prediabetics.

The strongest evidence yet in favor of cinnamon being used as an all-natural diabetes supplement comes from a recent study conducted in Pakistan. Participants took between one and six grams of cinnamon each day for forty days, while others took equivalent amounts of a placebo. Those taking cinnamon saw significant improvements in their blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels, even after discontinuing treatment.

The survey, which asked participants to describe what they had eaten in the last twenty-four hours, found more than 40% had not eaten a single piece of fruit, 20% had not eaten one vegetable, 55% had eaten red meat, and more than 44% had eaten at least one serving of luncheon meat or bacon that day. Results such as these suggest that while the message of good nutrition is omnipresent, people aren't practicing what they preach.

"When we strip away all the research, studies, clinical experiences, and case histories, we are left with one fundamental, inescapable fact: we are what we eat," says Dr. Goldfarb. A recent survey conducted by the National Cancer Institute, however, revealed that a majority of Americans continues to practice poor eating habits, despite evidence that a more healthy diet can reverse the course of many life-threatening illnesses.

"It is our hope that better eating habits and simple, everyday herbs like cinnamon can become allies in people's journey toward disease-free living through proper nutrition," says Dr. Goldfarb. So, while a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, a spoonful of cinnamon offers much, much more.

http://www.cinnergen.com