Cinnamon to treat Type 2 Diabetes

[april29]

Hi all,

I'm an A level student currently writing up a dissertation for an Extended Project Qualification which investigates the role of diet in management of Type 2 Diabetes. It would be really useful to gather some primary research to include in my project so I was wondering if anyone could spare a moment of your time to offer your personal opinion/experience of cinnamon in the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes.

Current research is very controversial, therefore it would be extremely valuable to read your personal views, if possible answering any of the following questions:

- How effective do you believe cinnamon is in treating Type 2 Diabetes and why?
- What are (if any) advantages/positive effects of cinnamon?
- What are (if any) the disadvantages/side effects of cinnamon?
- How easy/difficult is it to make a lifestyle change adding cinnamon to your diet?
- Can cinnamon be used alone to treat Type 2 Diabetes or alongside medication?

- Any other personal experience/opinion or relevant information on cinnamon would be much appreciated!

All responses will remain anonymous.

Thanks so much for your time,
April

 

[Shippers]

I am type 2. I always have 30 gsm of jumbo oats with a teaspoon of Sri Lanken cinnamon and soya yoghurt with soya milk every day for breakfast followed by boiled eggs and a small toast with marmite. I take chrome tablets as a supplement. I avoid carbo hydrates during the day as far as possible. Sometimes I have a cooked breakfast after my cereal consisting of 1 or 2 rashers of lean back bacon with mushrooms and tomatoes and 1 egg cooked in a ceramic pan with only 2 or 3 teaspoons of rapeseed oil. This reduces my blood sugar 3 hours after very dramatically. My blood sugar readings around midday remain between 4.8 and 5.8 daily.
Hope this is helpful.

 

[Resurgam]

I can't be sure that cinnamon is beneficial, though my results could be considered unusual.
My Hba1c after 6 months is 41, and it was 91 at diagnosis as a type two diabetic. I have a large mug of coffee with cream once or twice a day - about 10 or 11 in a week. I add a small pinch of cinnamon and a tiny amount of salt in this hot weather.
I do avoid all high carb foods but eat a wide variety of low carb ones, 10 percent carbs or less.
I used to work where spices and herbs were freely available from samples taken for testing, and as I am being a little selfish these days and eating the foods I find most acceptable I bought cinnamon for my coffee - it is ground coffee and I drink it with cream.
I stopped all medication after 5 weeks as I felt so ill on Metformin and Atorvastatin. I rely on diet alone. It is not a problem to add cinnamon into my diet and I have not noticed any disadvantage.
I have suspected that I have been diabetic for a long time, since an extended period of antibiotics, but I was eating according to the Atkins diet to control my weight, and I had access to the spices during that time and for quite some time after I left the post - I kept a large amount of them in the freezer.

 

[Robbity]

I've always used cinnamon in my baking and cooking for very many years and since well before I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, so it's obviously not done anything to prevent me from ending up diabetic.

What HAS actually helped me to control my diabetes though, is eating a very low carbohydrate diet - much more so than either metformin (which I now no longer take) or any possible benefits from using cinnamon. With this lifestyle, I've managed to keep my diabetes to pre-diabetic levels for the last three years. Since cinnamon plays just a very small but regular part my diet, I've no way of identifying whether or not it currently has any impact on my glucose levels. So my answer to your survey would have to be : Don't know!

The only disavantage I've found to using cinnamon in my cooking (though not diabetes related!), is that as a known blood thinner, in too large a quantity it's occasionally aggravated my (at one time) regular nose bleeds.

Robbity