My Experiences with Diabetes and the Effects of Cinnamon

When I was a kid I loved sweets. I was the typical ADHD kid who could not sit still and wanted extra sugar on everything. I would put sugar on my fruit loops, eat ice cream, and dig through the shelves of the kitchen for anything sweet.

These eating habits carried over to my adult life until I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It was at that time that I realized what my diet had done to my body. Over time my body had changed even though my eating habits remained constant. I had no energy, couldn''t get a good nights sleep, and I always felt like I wanted to take a nap when I was at work.

So I had to change. Over the last few years with diet, exercise, and supplementation I have been able to get my blood sugar under control.

After my success I tried to show a friend of mine similar ways to control her diabetes. But things were different. We discovered that type 1 and type 2 diabetes have many similarities but also many differences.

One thing that worked for me was cinnamon supplementation, but it had no effect on her. So I started to dig a little deeper to see what was going on, here is what I found:

In early studies cinnamon, a culinary spice, had shown promise as an alternative treatment to diabetes. In laboratory and animal studies the spice appeared to improve adipocyte, or fat cell, response to insulin, thereby resulting in lowered blood sugar. However, in a study released this month in Diabetes Care the spice failed to reproduce the results in a human trial.

Cinnamon had a proven track record in humans, in respect to improving glycemic control in Type 2, or adult onset diabetes. Because of this and the animal studies researchers in New Hampshire were optimistic that cinnamon would also show some effect in regards to improved control in Type 1, or autoimmune, diabetes.

Just over 70 boys and girls with Type 1 diabetes were enrolled in the study. They were randomized and given either 1 gram of cinnamon or placebo daily for 90 days.

After the initial three month period there was no effect observed on blood sugar control, daily insulin need, or number of hypoglycemic episodes in the group receiving cinnamon. There was no statistical difference between the treatment and placebo group on any measure from initiation to completion of the study.

The researchers were satisfied with the results, and conclude that perhaps cinnamon does not have a place in treatment plans for Type 1 diabetes.

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