Recent studies have shown that taking small amounts of cinnamon with a meal actually reduces blood sugar results. The active ingredient is not in cinnamon oils. But powdered spice can be added to toast, cereal, juice or coffee. Usually available in its dried tubular form known as a quill or as ground powder, cinnamon is found in the inner bark of a tropical evergreen tree native to India and Sri Lanka.
Scientists have discovered that cinnamon has insulin-like properties, which are able to decrease blood glucose levels as well as triglycerides and cholesterol, all of which are important especially for type 2 diabetes patients.
USDA research indicates that Cinnamon reduces the amount of insulin necessary for glucose metabolism. The discovery was initially made by accident, by Richard Anderson at the US Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland.
Mr. Anderson was originally looking at the effects of common foods on blood sugar. One was apple pie, which is usually spiced with cinnamon. He expected it to be bad. But it actually helped to reduce glucose levels in the bloodstream. He conducted human studies that indicated consuming roughly one half of a teaspoon of cinnamon per day or less leads to dramatic improvements in blood sugar, cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides. Intake of cinnamon, at these levels, is very safe and there should not be any side effects.
The active ingredient in cinnamon turned out to be a water-soluble polyphenol compound called MHCP. In test tube experiments, MHCP mimics insulin, activates its receptor, and works synergistically with insulin in cells.