Cinnamon: May Help You to Protect Against Cancer and HIV

We all want to be healthy. The best way to ensure a long, healthy life is to eat a nutritious and balanced diet that contains plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. It is also important to exercise regularly and get enough rest. And, if you are in the habit of indulging a little too much, adding cinnamon to your food can make all the difference.

Cinnamon is a tasty spice that has many different types, including Cassia and Ceylon. The most common one used in cooking is the flavorless variety, which has no discernible taste. And as you might expect, cinnamon does not have a strong flavor on its own. But it is a valuable ingredient for making everything from chocolate to curry even more delicious.

Cinnamon is a spice that adds a sweet, spicy flavor to food and drink. There is no reason not to add cinnamon to your diet. Not only does it taste good, but this superfood can also help you lose weight, fight viruses and bacteria, lower your blood sugar levels and lower cholesterol. What is more, it also has anti-inflammatory properties, which makes it a great natural remedy for pain relief. It has been used as a traditional remedy to relieve cold and flu symptoms, boost heart health, and more. The strong antioxidant properties of cinnamon make it an ideal supplement to add to your diet.

Here are 10 bonus health benefits of cinnamon supported by scientific research.

1. Cinnamon with Powerful Medicinal Properties

Cinnamon is a spice that is made from the inner bark of trees scientifically known as Cinnamomum. Ancient Egyptians believed that it was a gift fit for gods and kings, which explains why pharaohs were buried with cinnamon. It is still relatively cheap, available in every supermarket, and found in numerous foods and recipes.

Cassia and Ceylon are currently the two main types of cinnamon that are most used in cooking.

Ceylon cinnamon: Ceylon cinnamon is derived from the bark of a tall, evergreen tree and has a spicy, sweet flavor. This variety of cinnamon has all the health benefits of cinnamon. It can help lower blood sugar levels and cholesterol, beat blood clots and heart attacks, boost sex drive, promote eye health, and protect your skin from the harmful effects of the sun.

Cassia cinnamon: Cassia cinnamon, which is the bark of an evergreen tree belonging to the laurel family, is native to Indonesia and China. Used more commonly today than its counterpart, true cinnamon (Ceylon cinnamon), cassia cinnamon has a more assertive flavor.

Cinnamon is a strong-flavored spice that is extracted from the inner bark of cinnamon trees. It has a variety of uses in traditional Chinese medicine in treating cold symptoms. It has even been suggested that cinnamon can help regulate and stabilize blood sugar levels, making it ideal for diabetics and those who are trying to lose weight. When used as a flavoring agent, it takes on an intensely spicy smell almost overpowering, but useful enough in small doses. Cinnamon is also often used to scent foods before cooking, and some desserts and baked goods use this flavor as well.

Cinnamon has been used as an herbal treatment for health conditions for centuries. The distinct smell and flavor of cinnamon are due to the oily part, which is very high in the compound cinnamaldehyde. Scientists believe that this compound is responsible for most of cinnamon’s powerful effects on health and metabolism.

2. Cinnamon May Cure Risk of Heart Disease

Cinnamon, the flavoring that makes everything smell and tastes fresher, may also help protect your heart. And contrary to popular belief, cinnamon does not spike blood sugar. Lowers Insulin Levels: Glucose tolerance is improved with cinnamon supplementation, which leads to a reduction in fasting plasma glucose and insulin levels. This reduction may be due to the decrease of blood lipids including LDL and total cholesterol.

Cinnamon is great for your heart health! It lowers the level of total cholesterol and reduces levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol while keeping your “good” HDL cholesterol stable. In addition, cinnamon has been shown to lower blood pressure in animals. Make your heart happy and nibble on some cinnamon with your oatmeal this morning!

3. Cinnamon Prevent Against Cancer

Cinnamon is widely used as a spice and flavoring in food. Cinnamon may help to protect against cancer, based on test-tube and animal studies, cinnamon extracts may work by reducing the growth of cancer cells and by forming a barrier or “wall” to prevent new blood vessels from forming in tumors. This can starve tumors of the nutrients they need for growth.

Cinnamon has long been used to treat sore throats and colds, as well as digestive system issues. Cinnamon contains a compound called cinnamaldehyde. In lab experiments on mice with colon cancer cells, this compound not only killed the cancerous cells but also appeared to protect healthy cells.

4. Cinnamon Have Antioxidants Properties

Cinnamon is not just great for flavoring food and beverages. Antioxidants like polyphenols make this popular spice a powerful weapon in the fight against oxidative damage to your body’s cells, caused by free radicals. Some studies suggest that cinnamon is even more potent than other “superfoods” like garlic and oregano when it comes to crushing free radicals.

Cinnamon is loaded with antioxidants, making it good for your health. It packs such a powerful punch that cinnamon could even replace modern food preservatives.

5. Cinnamon Fights HIV

Cinnamon may help fight against HIV. The active ingredient in cinnamon could prevent the virus from attaching itself to immune cells, which slows down AIDS. Cassia is a type of cinnamon that may help fight HIV-1, the most common strain of HIV in humans. When cinnamon extracts were added to HIV-1 infected cells in a laboratory, it was found to inhibit the virus from infecting the T-cell.

Cinnamon has a long history of use in improving health. A laboratory study looked at cinnamon’s effects on HIV-infected cells. The researchers found that cinnamon was the most effective treatment for HIV of all 69 medicinal plants studied. However, human trials are needed to confirm these effects.

6. Cinnamon Lowers your Blood Sugar Levels and Has a Powerful Anti-Diabetic Effect

Cinnamon, that wonderful spice can help reduce blood sugar levels and has a powerful anti-diabetic effect. That power comes in part from the chemical composition of the spice which includes an ingredient called coumarin. Coumarin is present in Cinnamon sticks, Cinnamon powder, and ground cinnamon. It aids insulin secretion indirectly by activating the receptors that can stimulate the pancreas to produce more insulin.

Cinnamon can help lower blood sugar levels and has a powerful anti-diabetic effect. It does this by interfering with numerous digestive enzymes, which slows the breakdown of carbohydrates in your digestive tract. Second, a compound in cinnamon can act on cells by mimicking insulin. This improves glucose uptake by your cells, though it acts much slower than insulin itself.

Cinnamon has been proven to lower blood sugar levels and it has a powerful anti-diabetic effect. The effective dose is between 1 and 6 grams a day or 0.5 to 2 teaspoons. Cinnamon can lower blood sugar levels. Several human studies have confirmed its anti-diabetic effects, showing that it can lower fasting blood sugar levels by 10–29%.

7. Cinnamon Helps Fight Bacterial and Fungal Infections

Cinnamon is one of the best natural ingredients for treating fungal and bacterial infections such as oral candida, vaginosis, typhoid fever, leptospirosis, gonorrhoea, Lyme disease, and E. coli.

Cinnamon can help fight bacterial and fungal infections. You might have heard that cinnamon helps to keep the doctor away. It is true: cinnamon has active compounds called polyphenols, which make it effective against a wide range of pathogens – bacteria that cause food poisoning, as well as fungi that cause infection in people with weakened immune systems, such as patients with cancer and HIV. Researchers think that this effect is a result of the way cinnamon affects blood sugar levels. The compound may interfere with the pathogenesis of disease-causing bacteria and fungi by reducing glucose uptake and its conversion to pyruvate, thereby depriving them of energy.

8. Cinnamon Has Anti-Inflammatory Properties

Cinnamon is often used as a spice in sweet dishes, but you can use it in savory dishes and it has been used to reduce symptoms of upset stomach and diarrhea. Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory properties which help reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke, boost brain function, and help regulate blood glucose levels.

Studies suggest that cinnamon – and its active ingredient, cinnamaldehyde – has powerful antioxidant activity and anti-inflammatory properties. It can help reduce the intensity of symptoms for people suffering from diseases and conditions associated with chronic inflammation.

9. Cinnamon May Have Beneficial Effects on Neurodegenerative Diseases

Cinnamon contains two compounds—showing promise against neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease. In one study, cinnamon protected neurons and improved motor function in mice with Parkinson’s. Cinnamon also suppresses inflammation, which is thought to be a major contributing factor to many neurodegenerative conditions.

Cinnamon contains two compounds that appear to inhibit the build-up of a protein called tau in the brain, which is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Cinnamon may also help protect neurons, normalize neurotransmitter levels, and improve motor function in people with Parkinson’s disease.

10. Cinnamon Can Improve Sensitivity to The Hormone Insulin

Cinnamon, one of the world’s most popular and versatile spices, is commonly found in everything from savory meals to sweet desserts. But it may offer even more than just a hint of sweetness. Cinnamon may not be a cure-all for type 2 diabetes, but it can help improve the body’s sensitivity to the important hormone insulin. Not only can cinnamon lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes, but it has also been shown to improve blood sugar control in healthy people.