15 Amazing Cinnamon Spice Benefits

THE SECRETS OF CINNAMON SPICE BENEFITS

 

Mmm, cinnamon, that aroma that calls us to the kitchen. The scent of cinnamon often makes one’s emotions calm and troubles melt away. Worldwide, cinnamon is one of the most identifiable spices. Often, it reminds people of the holidays, newly baked cookies, or your favorite candle. Moreover, there are a lot of cinnamon spice benefits, which you may not know.

It brings warm smells to your kitchen and adds incredible taste to so many dishes. Most people remember using cinnamon for as long as they can remember. Usually, we use it to add flavor to our favorite foods. However, many people find it incredible that this spice offers great benefits for its medicinal properties.

Cinnamon contains antioxidants that are a safe dietary ingredient that help neutralize free radicals. This then stops them from harming the body’s cells. Cinnamaldehyde also shows some antibacterial properties which can delay cancer cell development.

In fact, at one time, people considered cinnamon more precious than gold. Of course, most of us would prefer to get our hands on 24 karats rather than 24 ounces these days. However, it turns out that this aromatic tree bark may show more useful benefits than gold, especially when it comes to health benefits.

 

What is Cinnamon?

Cinnamon comes from the bark of different species of the cinnamon tree. The cinnamon tree is cut down, the outer bark is discarded. At this point, the inner bark is extracted and then dried. Naturally, when it dries due to a tree trunk’s spherical form, it curves in on both ends. Thus, cinnamon sticks form quite naturally.

For centuries, natural medicine enthusiasts have used cinnamon as a treatment in western Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine In fact, people use cinnamon as a home solution for acid reflux, heartburn, and sickness. Cinnamon also shows advantages related to digestion and gastrointestinal problems.

 

What is the difference between Cassia and Ceylon?

What a lot of people don’t know is that two types of cinnamon exist:

• Cassia cinnamon
• Ceylon Cinnamon

 

 Cassia cinnamon

 

Cassia cinnamon, also known as Cinnamomum aromaticum, comes from the Cinnamomum cassia tree. It originated and is also known as Chinese Cinnamon in Southern China. However, some subspecies are now commonly cultivated in Eastern and Southern Asia.

With thicker sticks and a rougher appearance than Ceylon cinnamon, Cassia appears to be a rich brown-red color. The more inferior quality is known to be Cassia cinnamon. It is very inexpensive and is the form most widely consumed worldwide. The cassia type is almost every cinnamon sold in supermarkets.

In cooking and traditional Chinese medicine, Cassia has long been used. Cinnamaldehyde, which gives Cassia a robust, spicy taste, is around 95% of its oil.

 

 

• Ceylon Cinnamon

Ceylon is native to Sri Lanka and the southern parts of India, or’ true cinnamon.’ It’s made from the Cinnamomum verum tree’s inner bark. Ceylon is tan-brown and comprises soft layers of several tight sticks. These features have consistency and texture that is highly desired.

Ceylon cinnamon is less natural, and as a cooking spice, it has long been coveted. Compared with the more popular cassia variety, it is very costly. It is defined as appropriate for desserts with a delicate and slightly sweet taste. Cinnamaldehyde, which is very small relative to Cassia, is between 50-63 percent of the essential oil.

 

 Ceylon cinnamon spice benefits for health

Ceylon cinnamon, also called true cinnamon, has many health benefits for human beings. Ceylon Cinnamon has been shown to support well-being in various ways; however, there has been inconclusive evidence that specifically connects cinnamon to cure multiple ailments.

Many of the cinnamon’s extraordinary properties come from one substance, cinnamaldehyde, which is naturally found in cinnamon. The cause of all of the antifungal and antibacterial properties is cinnamaldehyde, making cinnamon such a perfect addition to your diet.

If you need more explanations to sprinkle cinnamon on your overnight oats or your latte, cinnamon has 15 health benefits.

• Help to treat diabetes

Perhaps the most promising research pointing to the health benefits of Ceylon cinnamon is linked to diabetes. Although this metabolic disorder has no treatment, cinnamon may help treat the symptoms. Cinnamon has been tested in people with diabetes and metabolic syndrome to make insulin more powerful.

Delaying gastric emptying is one way that cinnamon helps regulate blood sugar levels in people with diabetes. Since gastroparesis patients undergo very delayed gastric emptying, leading to adverse health effects, these people will want to reduce their cinnamon intake.

Cinnamon has been found to reduce the amount of glucose that reaches your bloodstream. It achieves this by interacting with various digestive enzymes that slow down the digestive tract’s carbohydrate breakdown.

Second, by mimicking insulin, a compound in cinnamon will function on cells. This massively increases the cells’ glucose absorption, though it works somewhat slower than insulin itself.

Various human trials have confirmed the anti-diabetic effects of cinnamon, demonstrating that it can decrease fasting blood sugar levels by 10-29 percent. Usually, the effective dosage is 1–6 grams or about 0.5–2 teaspoons of cinnamon a day.

• Help manage metabolic disease.

Interestingly, cinnamon shows the ability to reduce blood sugar levels. This offers a positive impact on type 2 diabetes, Experts believe it might also be useful for metabolic disease control. A 2016 literature review showed cinnamon potentially helps manage and decrease metabolic syndrome risks, morbidity, and mortality.

Moreover, It helps to regulate blood pressure, glucose in plasma, obesity, and dyslipidemia. But while these potential outcomes of cinnamon intake are encouraging, more well-designed subject trials are needed before it is possible to draw valid conclusions. Owing to its naturally sweet flavor, cinnamon can also be used as an appetite suppressant for sugar addiction people.

• Might Help Prevent or Delay Alzheimer’s disease

Another significant cinnamon spice benefit is the treatment of neurological disorders. Some animal research has proposed that Ceylon cinnamon can help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. According to researchers, an extract found in cinnamon bark, called CEppt, contains properties that may prevent symptoms from forming.

If further study supports its potency, this extract may help develop treatments for Alzheimer’s, but not necessarily whole cinnamon.

Mice that obtained the extract experienced a reduction in Alzheimer’s traits, such as amyloid plaques, and changes in their thought and reasoning ability.

• Help manage HIV

The antimicrobial effects of cinnamon apply to viruses, thereby suggesting that it can help combat or control HIV. “Research shows that by preventing the virus from entering cells, the cinnamon extract may help fight HIV.”The cinnamon extract could, therefore, potentially contribute to HIV management.”

Research in peer-reviewed PLoS One finds that a material extracted from cinnamon could block viral entry, which is one of the most promising ways to prevent the growth of HIV into AIDS, the study states. However, To show this advantage conclusively, further clinical trials are required.

• Help prevent tooth decay

To help reduce tooth decay and plaque by reducing the oral bacteria that cause them, cinnamon has been researched. And it even takes care of the bacteria that cause poor breath, as a bonus. This is one of the expected cinnamon spice benefits.

• Preventing multiple sclerosis

Experts tested the efficacy of cinnamon against multiple sclerosis (MS). Researchers offered a mixture of cinnamon powder and water to mice in one sample and performed several experiments. It seems that the influence of cinnamon on the central nervous system, including areas of the brain, maybe anti-inflammatory.

Studies have also indicated that regulatory T cells, or ‘Tregs,’ which influence immune responses, may be covered by cinnamon. Individuals with MS tend to have lower Treg levels than individuals without the disorder. Cinnamon therapy has avoided the loss of specific proteins unique to Tregs in mouse experiments.

•  Manage Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Researchers from Columbia University find cinnamon to help treat the effects of polycystic ovary syndrome. In specific, insulin tolerance can be strengthened by cinnamon, thereby restoring a regular menstrual cycle.

•  Preventing cancer

Antitumor and anticancer effects can be found in cinnamaldehydes. In the research, scientists used an extract of cinnamon and cardamom to treat mice with cancer. In the melanoma cells of the mice undergoing the medication, studies showed reduced levels of oxidative stress.

Cancer, marked by unchecked cell proliferation, is a severe illness. Cinnamon has been researched extensively for its potential application in the prevention and treatment of cancer. Overall, the data is limited to test tubes and animal tests showing that cinnamon extracts can protect against cancer. However, it can consider as an essential benefit of Ceylon cinnamon

Test tube studies have confirmed these results, demonstrating that cinnamon stimulates defensive antioxidant responses in human colon cells. Moreover, it is essential to verify whether cinnamon affects the living, breathing humans in controlled trials.

• Improving fungal infections

Some forms of fungal infections can be treated with cinnamon oil. A 2016 laboratory study showed that against a condition of Candida that affects the bloodstream, cinnamon oil was successful. This may be because of its antimicrobial characteristics. Cinnamon oil might play a role in treating this form of infection if further research confirms these findings.

Cinnamon oil has been shown to cure fungi-induced respiratory tract infections successfully. The growth of such bacteria, including Listeria and Salmonella, may also be prevented.

However, the data is limited, and cinnamon has not been seen to decrease infections anywhere in the body so far.

 

• Cinnamon could treat candidiasis.

Likewise, the antimicrobial effects of cinnamon apply to fungi, thereby making it a promising candidiasis therapy. However, cinnamon has been shown to have efficacy against Candida in vitro experiments. Moreover, clinical trials, including a pilot study in five HIV-positive oral candidiasis patients, have shown mixed outcomes, according to a 2011 research analysis. To show these advantages conclusively, further clinical trials are required.

• healing chronic wounds

Scientists have discovered a way of packing peppermint and cinnamon antimicrobial compounds into tiny capsules that can also destroy bacterial biofilms and actively encourage healing. Peppermint and cinnamon could become part of medication to heal contaminated wounds in this manner.

• Cinnamon has antioxidant benefits.

In several trials, cinnamon has been shown to have significant antioxidant benefits: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that cinnamon could increase the antioxidant status of people who are overweight or obese.

Cinnamon’s strong antioxidant content may help defend the body from free radical damage and minimize inflammation. Moreover, decreasing the risk of cancer and other diseases.

• Prevent the Risk of Heart Disease

 

Cinnamon has been associated with a lowered risk of heart disease. This is the most prevalent cause of premature death globally. It has been shown that 1 gram or about half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day has positive effects on blood markers in people with type 2 diabetes.

The cardiovascular system can benefit from diverse compounds in cinnamon. In an animal sample, for instance, cinnamaldehyde reduced blood pressure. In a 2014 report, rats who received long-term cinnamon and aerobic exercise therapy had more significant heart function than rats who did not.

 

• Cinnamon can help your eyes

Some studies have shown that cinnamon can help treat eye conditions, including conjunctivitis and dry eyes. However, when used in combination with other herbs. Moreover, other ingredients, cinnamon, and turmeric showed that the preparation might be useful for treating these and other eye disorders.

•  Combat acne

Cinnamon often stops acne-causing bacteria. To try it, mix three tablespoons of honey with one tablespoon of ground cinnamon to produce one big-smelling acne mask. Please take 10 minutes to keep it on your skin, then wash it off and enjoy your refreshed face.

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

One of the most delicious and healthiest spices on the planet is cinnamon. With so many cinnamon spice benefits, including it in your diet makes sense. It often reduces blood sugar levels, decreases risk factors for heart disease, and have many other excellent health benefits. To ensure the most health benefits, use Ceylon cinnamon rather than the less beneficial cassia variety.

Although cinnamon’s health benefits have extensively been studied, according to the NIH, the jury is still out on its ultimate effectiveness. If you intend to take it in replacement form or plan to use cinnamon for preventive use, make sure to contact a specialist.

 

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