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Why would adding cinnamon to your meal affect your glucose levels? Here’s what the research shows and some tips for working cinnamon into your diet.

Does cinnamon lower blood sugar?

Why would adding cinnamon to your meal affect your glucose levels? Here’s what the research shows and some tips for working cinnamon into your diet.

Ajai Raj
WRITTEN BY
Ajai Raj
UPDATED: 05 Oct 2023
PUBLISHED: 09 Mar 2021
🕗 5 MIN READ
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Compounds in cinnamon mimic insulin, increasing glucose uptake, and research shows doses of 1-6 grams per day can lower blood sugar in people with diabetes.
Cinnamon may also slow digestion and gastric emptying after meals, blunting the blood sugar spike from carbohydrates.
Other mechanisms like inhibiting enzymes involved in carbohydrate breakdown contribute to cinnamon's antidiabetic effects.
Cinnamon provides antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits as well.
People can add cinnamon to coffee, smoothies, or rubs on meat and tofu to gain its glucose-lowering effects, starting with small amounts and increasing gradually.

For thousands of years—possibly even before it was used for flavor—people have held cinnamon in high regard for its medicinal value. Ancient Egyptians used it in embalming, and traditional medicine systems such as Ayurveda prescribed it for respiratory, digestive, and gynecological troubles.

In recent decades, many studies have found cinnamon can lower blood glucose levels in people with diabetes. While fewer studies have examined its metabolic impact on healthy people or people with prediabetes, growing evidence suggests benefits there as well, and researchers have identified multiple potential glucose-affecting mechanisms at work. In addition to its anti-diabetic qualities, cinnamon also shows other health benefits, including anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.

So if the idea of eating a little extra cinnamon tickles your taste buds, read on to learn about the effects of cinnamon and how to add it to your diet.

What is Cinnamon?

The spice we call “cinnamon” is made by grinding up the inner bark of evergreen trees from the genus Cinnamomum.

There are more than 250 known species of cinnamon trees. Still, most of the world’s cinnamon comes from two in particular: Cinnamomum cassia, sometimes called Cinnamomum aromaticum, and Cinnamomum verum, literally “true cinnamon,” also commonly known as Cinnamomum zeylanicum, or Ceylon cinnamon.

> “Cinnamon seems to affect glucose in several ways, either by mimicking insulin or increasing its effectiveness.”

Cassia cinnamon, which accounts for most of the cinnamon in international trade, comes mostly from Indonesia and China. True or Ceylon cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon, hence the name). By the time the Europeans found Ceylon cinnamon trees growing in the island nation, people in India were well-accustomed to cooking and healing with cassia cinnamon, which they still call dalchini in Hindi—possibly from the Sanskrit for “Chinese wood.”

Cassia tends to have a more pungent taste and coarser texture, but this may be difficult to discern unless you’re testing the two varieties side-by-side. The best way to know which type you’re buying is to check the label. Ceylon cinnamon will be identified as such; cassia cinnamon may just be called “cinnamon.” Cassia is more common, particularly in North America, since it’s cheaper to produce.

How Does Cinnamon Affect Blood Sugar?

Cinnamon seems to affect glucose in several ways, either by mimicking insulin or increasing its effectiveness. Researchers have isolated several chemical compounds that may have different, and perhaps complementary, effects.

How Can I Incorporate Cinnamon Into My Diet?

There’s no official recommended dose of cinnamon for healthy people who want to take advantage of its benefits. However, most of the existing research has found effects at doses between one and six grams. This lines up with the 2003 USDA study mentioned earlier, which found benefits of taking even just half a teaspoon, or a little more than a gram.

Here are our three favorite ways to incorporate cinnamon into meals:

Avoid eating cinnamon by itself, as the experience will be, at best, unpleasant, and at worst, life-threatening, as its fine texture can present a choking hazard.

If you’re not a fan of the taste, taking cinnamon supplements might be a viable option. Although researchers haven’t compared the effects of raw cinnamon and cinnamon capsules, both have been used in studies and produced similar outcomes.

Are There Any Risks to Eating Cinnamon?

All cinnamon contains a compound called coumarin—higher in cassia than ceylon. Coumarin can cause liver damage and tumors in animals at high doses. The risk to humans is primarily in people with existing liver damage, and even then when ingesting far higher amounts than you would typically get in your diet.

If you’re upping your cinnamon intake, it’s best to start small and build up to larger amounts gradually. You may find that too much cinnamon irritates your digestive system, or you could have an allergy that doesn’t present itself in lower quantities. That allergy, though rare, could lead to uncomfortable symptoms such as swelling, burning, itchiness of the mouth, or mouth sores.

Since cinnamon lowers blood sugar, you may want to avoid taking extra cinnamon if you are already at risk for low blood sugar (hypoglycemia). Coumarin is also a natural blood thinner, so you may want to avoid it if you’re already taking blood thinners, such as warfarin or statins.

It’s also unknown whether taking extra cinnamon has any side effects during pregnancy or breastfeeding, so it may be best to err on the side of caution.

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