Significant Health Benefits and Uses of Cinnamon
Overview
Cinnamon is an extremely delicious spice. It has been known for its strength of possessing medicinal properties since ages. Even modern science also confirms it. It is made from the bark of a tree called Cinnamomum. It is used since the ancient times in Egypt and was very rare and served as a gift to the kings & monarchs that were the rulers in those times. But now it has become quite cheap and is available in every nook & corner of this planet.
There are 2 types of cinnamon;
Ceylon Cinnamon
- Also called the true cinnamon.
Cassia Cinnamon:
- The usual cinnamon which people use it in their daily cooking without knowing it’s benefits.
What is Cinnamon?
- Generally it is made after cutting the stems of Cinnamomum tree.
- It is found in the inner bark of this tree and all wooden parts are removed.
- It is left alone to get dry.
- It’s bark roll into curls and are called cinnamon sticks.
- These sticks are grind to form cinnamon powder.
- It has a unique and distinctive smell and has an amazing flavor due to it’s oily condition that carries a compound known as cinnamaldehyde.
- This very compound has powerful effects on health of the body and in maintaining metabolism.
Cinnamon is a Rich anti-oxidant
- Free radicals are known to cause oxidative damage to your body, cinnamon carries anti-oxidants called polyphenols that help in butchering the free radicals.
- All the spices were studied to know their strength in having anti-oxidantal powers and cinnamon was a clear winner.
- It was found to be better than super foods like oregano and garlic.
- It is so strong that it can also be used as a food preservative.
Significant Health Benefits and Uses of Cinnamon
1.Protects against heart diseases:
- Heart attack is the most common disease, killing pre-maturely millions every year around the globe.
- People who have type 2 diabetes; just 1 gram (half a teaspoon) of cinnamon per day is enough to control it.
- It reduces the levels of total cholesterol, bad LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and keeps the level of good cholesterol stable.
- A recent study was conducted on how much cinnamon is needed to regulate these controls, it was found to be mere 120 mg a day was more than sufficient.
- It has also shown to lower blood pressure in animals.
- All these factors reduce the risk of getting a heart attack or any other heart related disease.
Cinnamon is anti-inflammatory:
- Inflammation is incredibly important. Cinnamon strengthens your immune system so that your body can fight off all the infections and repair the tissue damage.
- Inflammation can become dangerous if it is chronic and works against the body’s own tissues. This is where cinnamon steps in, research shows it to have anti-inflammatory properties.
Helpful in Controlling Diabetes
- Cinnamon has the properties that reduce the high level of sugar present in the blood.
- The glucose that enters your body after every meal you consume, cinnamon decreases it.
- It interferes with a large number of digestive enzymes.
- This process lowers the pace of carbohydrates that are present in your digestive canal.
- A compound that is present in cinnamon plays the role of insulin on the cells.
- This process does enhance the glucose uptake in your cells, but still it acts much slower than insulin acts.
- A research was conducted and it was found that cinnamon can reduce the level of sugar in blood from 10% to 29%.
- The dose of cinnamon should be correct, from 1 to 6 grams a day is enough.
Helps improve the Nervous System
- Cinnamon can eradicate a diseases related to brain cells, when they are not functioning normally.
- For example, called all the neurodegenerative disorders.
- Parkinson’s and Alzheimer are also sorted out with cinnamon’s help.
- There are 2 compounds present in cinnamon blocks the buildup of a protein known as tau in the brain that are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
- In a research conducted on the effects of Parkinson’s disease in mice, cinnamon did help in saving neurons, neurotransmitter levels are normalized and enhances motor function but more research is going on it’s effects on human brains.
- These effects need to be studied further in humans beings.
Safe guards you against Cancer
- Cancer is a dreadful disease that no one wants to get infected affected with. No one is ready to discuss it’s symptoms with anyone, and the public comes to know when it reaches a drastic stage, turning fatal.
- It is characterized by enormous cell growth. Cinnamon has the talent to stop this production.
- It plays the role of a thing that reduces cell growth and causes hiccups in the formation of blood vessels in tumors and is toxic to the cancer cells, means kill them all.
- A study was conducted on mice to find it’s effects on colon cancer, showing it to be a potent activator of detoxifying enzymes present in the colon section, thus stopping the growth of cancer.
- Further studies also showed the same effect in human colon section.
Saves human bodies against fungal, bacterial & viral infections:
- One of it’s main ingredients, Cinnamaldehyde helps in fighting against various infections. Cinnamon helps in cleaning the respiratory tracts which gets blocked by fungus.
- It also hinders the growth of certain bacteria like Listeria and Salmonella
- The study which was conducted to know how much it did affect the fungus and bacteria is still midway and it needs to be completed at the earliest.
- But it’s microbial effects have shown the safe guarding effects from tooth decay and strips down the bad breath.
- Cinnamon also protects you by enhancing the sensitivity to the hormones of insulin and growth of HIV virus.
- Its combats the growth of HIV virus especially against HIV-1 the most usual strained virus found in humans.
Note
- Do not eat it in excessive quantity otherwise you will need to face the music as it has lots of side effects.
- Both the type of cinnamon’s doesn’t possess the same qualities.
- Just stick to buying the Ceylon type; you can use the Cassia variety too, but in tiny doses only to reap in the maximum benefits. It’s the best spice on the planet Earth.
