Attributed Medicinal Properties

True Cinnamon is a spice with an impressively high ORAC [antioxidant] value of 267536, second only to clove. Adding a little cinnamon to your diet may do more than provide antioxidant protection, it can also help to moderate the blood glucose elevations that occur after a meal. Sprinkling some onto your cereal in the morning or into your coffee may be just what the doctor ordered to protect your cells from damage.

Recent studies have determined that consuming as little as one-half teaspoon of True Cinnamon each day may reduce blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels by as much as 20% in Type II diabetes patients who are not taking insulin it is mildly carminative and used to treat nausea and flatulence. It is also used alone or in combination to treat diarrhea. Chinese herbalists tell of older people, in their 70s and 80s, developing a cough accompanied by frequent spitting of whitish phlegm. A helpful remedy, they suggest, is chewing and swallowing a very small pinch of powdered cinnamon. This remedy can also help people with cold feet and hands, especially at night. Germany's Commission E approves True Cinnamon for appetite loss and indigestion. The primary chemical constituents of this herb include cinnamaldehyde, gum, tannin, mannitol, coumarins, and essential oils (aldehydes, eugenol, pinene). True Cinnamon is predominantly used as a carminative addition to herbal prescriptions. It is used in flatulent dyspepsia, dyspepsia with nausea, intestinal colic and digestive atony associated with cold & debilitated conditions. It relieves nausea and vomiting, and, because of its mild astringency, it is particularly useful in infantile diarrhea. The cinnamaldehyde component is hypotensive and spasmolytic, and increases peripheral blood flow. The essential oil of this herb is a potent antibacterial, anti-fungal, and uterine stimulant. The various terpenoids found in the volatile oil are believed to account for Cinnamon’s medicinal effects. Test tube studies also show that True Cinnamon can augment the action of insulin. Use of True Cinnamon to improve the action of insulin in people with diabetes has yet to be proven in clinical trials, however there is much anecdotal evidence that it works.

Links
World’s Healthiest Foods:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=68

Cinnamon Health (About.com):
http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhealthinformation/a/cinnamonhealth.htm

Home Remedies:
http://www.homeremediesweb.com/cinnamon_health_benefits.php