Cinnamon: Balancing Blood Sugar – Defeating Diabetes

Maybe it’s ironic that cinnamon—the spicy-sweet favorite that cooks use to give sugary confections extra flavor—can help control blood sugar problems. Or maybe—given the fact that 24 million Americans have type 2 diabetes and 57 million have prediabetes—it’s Mother Nature’s way of cutting us a break.

Defeating Diabetes

The rate of type 2 diabetes in the US has doubled in the past two decades, from 5 to 10 percent of American adults, with 1.3 million new cases every year. This disease of chronically high blood sugar (fasting blood sugar levels above 125 milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dL) attacks arteries and veins, increasing the risk of heart disease six-fold. In fact, medical guidelines instruct doctors to treat a patient with type 2 diabetes as if he or she has already had a heart attack! This body-wide circulatory destruction can lead to many other health problems along with heart disease and stroke. They include painful nerve damage, hard-to-heal skin ulcers, vision loss and blindness, kidney failure, and even—as blood flow is choked—the amputation of gangrenous toes, feet, and lower limbs.

Managing type 2 diabetes requires a total approach that typically includes losing weight, eating more whole foods, exercising regularly, and taking (or injecting) glucose-controlling medications such as insulin (the pancreas-hormone that helps control blood sugar levels). Preventing diabetes or reversing prediabetes (fasting blood sugar levels from 100 to 125) is possible with lifestyle alone—and lifestyle changes are more effective than preventive medications, as the 10-year Diabetes Prevention Program Study showed. But study after study also shows that cinnamon can play a role in the everyday management of blood sugar (glucose) levels and other cardiovascular disease CVD risk factors.

Will the Real Cinnamon Please Stand Up?

You know that stuff you sprinkle on your morning toast and oatmeal called cinnamon? It’s not true cinnamon. It’s cassia.

Cassia cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) and true cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) belong to the same botanical family (Cinnamomum). They also look alike—it takes a trained eye to tell them apart. But they differ in flavor. Cassia is the sweeter and stronger of the two—and the one preferred throughout most of the world (including the US) as a culinary spice. It’s also the version that was used in all the studies discussed in this post.

Cassia cinnamon is commonly used in the United States, Europe, China, and Southeast Asia. True cinnamon is found in kitchens in Mexico, Latin America, India, and other nations in South Asia.

In some parts of the world it’s actually illegal to refer to cassia as cinnamon. In Great Britain and Australia, for example, Cinnamomum cassia can only be sold as cassia, and Cinnamomum verum can only be sold as cinnamon. In the US, both are legally sold as cinnamon.

France has solved the issue quite nicely—they call the spice cannelle, applying the name to both cassia and true cinnamon.

Cassia cinnamon is also called Chinese cinnamon. True cinnamon also goes by the names Ceylon and Sri Lankan cinnamon. You can find cassia cinnamon . . . everywhere. In the US, you can find true cinnamon in Indian marketplaces and specialty spice shops or online.

Long-term blood sugar control. In a recent study from the US, 109 people with type 2 diabetes were divided into two groups, with one receiving one gram of cinnamon a day and one receiving a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon had a 0.83 percent decrease in A1C, or glycosylated hemoglobin—the percentage of red blood cells that have been frosted (glycated) by blood sugar, and the most accurate measurement of long-term blood sugar control. (Seven percent or less means the diabetes is controlled, and a decrease from 0.5 to 1.0 percent is considered a significant improvement.) Those taking the placebo had a 0.37 percent decrease in A1C. “Taking cinnamon could be useful . . . in addition to usual care” of diabetes, concluded the study leader in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

However, cinnamon probably won’t work to control blood sugar in type 1 diabetes—an autoimmune disease that attacks the insulin-producing pancreas. In a study by researchers at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, researchers asked 72 adolescents with type 1 diabetes to take either cinnamon or a placebo. After three months, there was no change in A1C levels in either group, or the amount of insulin they had to take to control the disease.

Heart-protecting power. In another study, 30 people with type 2 diabetes took one to six grams of cinnamon a day (about ¼ to ½ teaspoon). After 40 days, they had decreases up to 29 percent in fasting blood sugar—and decreases up to 27 percent in “bad” artery-clogging LDL cholesterol, up to 26 percent in total cholesterol, and up to 30 percent in triglycerides (another blood fat, with high levels linked to heart disease). “Those who have type 2 diabetes, or those who have elevated glucose, triglycerides or total cholesterol, may benefit from regular inclusion of cinnamon in their daily diet,” concluded the researchers in Diabetes Care.

The researchers also noted that the study participants had lower levels of blood sugar and blood fats even after 20 days without taking any cinnamon—“indicating that cinnamon would not need to be consumed every day” for health benefits.

They also pointed out that cinnamon worked at every level it was tested, from one to six grams—and that “intake of less than one gram daily is likely to be beneficial in controlling blood sugar and lipid [fat] levels.”

Finally, they said that regular inclusion of cinnamon in the diet is probably a good idea not only for those with type 2 diabetes, but for everybody—“cinnamon may be beneficial for the remainder of the population to prevent . . . elevated glucose and blood lipid levels.” There’s a lot of evidence that shows they’re right.

Lowering risk factors in prediabetes. Researchers in France studied 22 people who were overweight and had prediabetes, dividing them into two groups. One group took a widely available supplement containing 250 mg of a water extract of cinnamon (Cinnulin PF). The other group took a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon supplement had much lower levels of several biomarkers ofoxidation—the destructive, cell-destroying process that contributes to the development of both diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And the lower the oxidation levels, the more stable the levels of blood sugar. “The inclusion of water soluble cinnamon compounds in the diet could reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” concluded the researchers in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Mastering the metabolic syndrome. This condition—also known as the insulin resistance syndrome and syndrome X—is characterized by blood sugar problems, overweight (especially around the abdomen), high blood pressure, and high triglycerides (but not necessarily high LDL). It’s one form of prediabetes, and, needless to say, it’s a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Cinnamon can help control it.

In one study, 22 people with metabolic syndrome were divided into two groups: one took 500 mg a day of Cinnulin PF and one took a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon had significant decreases in average fasting blood sugar (down 8.4 percent, to 106), lower systolic blood pressure (the top reading, down 4 points to 128), and more muscle, or lean body mass. (That’s good news, because additional muscle means additional ability to burn up excess blood sugar.) They also had a small drop in body fat. “This naturally-occurring spice can reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,” concluded the researchers.

Stopping spikes in blood sugar after a meal. Swedish researchers studied 14 people, feeding them the same meal twice—rice pudding, with or without a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon. The cinnamon-spiced meal significantly lowered post-meal levels of blood sugar.

Works in healthy people, too. British researchers studied healthy young men, dividing them into two groups. For two weeks, one group received three grams of cinnamon a day and the other a placebo. After two weeks, the men taking the cinnamon supplement had a much improved “glucose tolerance test”—the ability of the body to process and store glucose. They also had better “insulin sensitivity”—the ability of this hormone to usher glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells.

Richard Anderson, PhD, a scientist at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center of the US Department of Agriculture, who has conducted several studies on cinnamon and diabetes, theorizes that the spice mimics the action of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. It may stimulate insulin receptors on fat and muscle cells the same way insulin does, he said, allowing excess sugar to move out of the blood and into the cells.

And a team of Indian researchers laud cin, cinnamon’s active ingredient—which their study on experimental animals with diabetes showed can decrease blood sugar, A1C, total cholesterol, and triglycerides, and increase insulin and “good” HDL cholesterol. The findings were in Phytomedicine.

Controlling Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

There’s another disease where insulin and blood sugar levels are haywire and the sufferer is at higher risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke—polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This hormonal disorder, which strikes 5 to 10 percent of women of reproductive age in the US, lines the ovaries with small cysts. Symptoms include menstrual abnormality, extra facial and body hair, acne, and overweight. It’s also the most common cause of female infertility.

In a study by a team of American researchers from Columbia University, the University of Hawaii, and the US Department of Agriculture, 13 women with PCOS were asked to take either a daily cinnamon supplement (333 mg, three times a day) or a placebo. After eight weeks, those taking cinnamon had a 17 percent decrease in fasting glucose, a significant decrease in insulin resistance, and 21 percent reduction in levels of blood sugar after a glucose tolerance test. The researchers called the findings “interesting” and encouraged other scientists to conduct additional studies to validate their findings, which were reported in Fertility and Sterility.

Manhandling Microbes

Cinnamon has the power to fight disease-causing microbes such as bacteria and fungi.

Preserving food. Scientists proved cinnamon’s ability to preserve food and help prevent food poisoning in a kitchen experiment with two pots of vegetable broth. They added cinnamon oil to one pot but not the other and let the two sit in the refrigerator—for two months! When they took off the lids, the pot without the cinnamon was teeming with bacteria. The other pot? Good enough to eat. In fact, the scientists said the added cinnamon improved the flavor! (Don’t try this at home.)

Fighting fungi. Cinnamon is also effective against Candida albicans, the fungus that causes most cases of vaginal yeast infections. In laboratory tests, cinnamon extracts were able to stop the growth of strains of C. albicans resistant to fluconazole (Diflucan), the medication commonly used to treat yeast infections.

Beating bacteria. Researchers in Italy found that cinnamon is effective at eradicating Helicobacter pylori infection, the bacterial cause of most stomach ulcers and a leading cause of stomach cancer. In fact, their research showed that cinnamon was more effective than the antibiotic amoxicillin (Amoxil) at killing H. pylori. And the bacteria didn’t show any resistance to the spice—important, because H. pylori are becoming more and more resistant to standard antibiotic treatment.

Cinnamon is derived from the bark of a tropical evergreen tree.

Cinnamon, On and On

There are other intriguing areas of research for cinnamon.

Cancer. American researchers found that cinnamon may slow angiogenesis, the development of new blood supplies to tumors. They concluded that an extract of the spice “could potentially be useful in cancer prevention and/or treatment.” The findings were in Carcinogenesis.

Post-stroke protection. Researchers in Korea found that cinnamon protected brain cells in the laboratory from the type of damage caused by a stroke.

Brain injury from liver failure. Similarly, cinnamon protected brain cells from the type of damage seen in hepatic encephalopathy—a type of brain damage caused by advanced liver disease.

Wound healing. In a study from Indian researchers, extracts of cinnamon bark improved wound healing in animals.

Getting to Know Cinnamon

Cinnamon’s sweet-and-spicy bite is the same as its bark—the spice is derived from the bark of a tropical evergreen tree.

That deliciously aromatic bite has been heralded since the beginning of human history. God commanded Moses to include cinnamon in a recipe for sacred anointing oil. The Song of Solomon praises its scent. The Greeks and Romans offered it to their gods.

The ancient cultures of India and China also used cinnamon—as medicine. The Ayurvedic physicians of India used it (and continue to use it) for respiratory ailments, stomach upset, muscles spasms—and, of course, for diabetes. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine used it (and continue to use it) for its “warming” qualities, particularly for respiratory problems and muscle aches. (It’s also a major ingredient in Tiger Balm, the popular Chinese ointment for pain relief.)

Of course, cinnamon is more than medicine—it’s a much-beloved ingredient in cuisines around the world. In the United States and Europe, it’s most popular in sweet dishes—apple pie, coffee cake, fruit compotes, buns, muffins, doughnuts, cakes, and cookies. It is a key ingredient in apple pie spice and mulling spice. It is sprinkled on toast and whipped cream. Cinnamon sticks are stirred into hot beverages, including mulled cider and wine.

The English are very fond of what they call cassia. (For more on the difference between “true cinnamon” and cassia, please see the box.) Many households keep a large sterling silver canister on the table for sprinkling cassia onto sweets and into beverages. It is an ingredient in English fruitcakes, stewed fruits, and pastries.

In Spain, cinnamon is a popular addition to chocolate dishes and confections. In Germany, it’s used in apple strudel, to flavor sweet and sour dishes, and in foods containing raisins. In the Netherlands, cinnamon is the dominant flavor in the Christmas spiced cookie called speculaas. Italians put whole cinnamon sticks in mostarda, a classic chutney-like condiment.

Can Chewing Gum Make You Smarter?

Maybe—if you chew cinnamon gum. In fact, you don’t even have to chew it. Just smelling cinnamon might boost your thinking ability.

That’s the result of a study conducted by Phillip R. Zoladz, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio Northern University, who found students scored better on several mental performance tests after smelling or tasting cinnamon.

In the first part of the study, Dr. Zoladz gave a group of students one of the following to chew: cinnamon, peppermint, cherry, or flavorless gum. In the second part, he asked students to sniff cinnamon, peppermint, jasmine, or no odor.

In both parts of the study, the students who chewed the cinnamon gum or smelled cinnamon scored best—with the best memory, the most focused attention, and the fastest reflexes between connecting what they saw and what they had to do.

Dr. Zoladz and his colleagues concluded that cinnamon has potential for decreasing test anxiety—and even preventing age-related memory loss!

The French favor canelle (their word for cinnamon) in savory foods featuring game, such as duckling à la Montmorency, a classic dish flavored with cinnamon and spiked with cherry sauce. It’s one of the four ingredients in the French spice quatre épices, which is most often used to enhance game dishes.

In Asia, cinnamon is almost exclusively used in savory dishes. In China, it’s used in braises and clay pot cooking, or what is often called “red cooking.” In this technique, you simmer cinnamon, star anise, and orange zest in water, rice wine, and soy sauce, then cook a chicken breast side down in the liquid until it is red and cooked through. Cinnamon is also one of the five spices in Chinese five-spice powder.

Cooks in the Middle East use cinnamon as a flavoring in meat stew. It’s a popular spice in many Moroccan spice blends, including the famous ras-el-hanout. It also gives a tang to Moroccan stews calledtagines. In Syria, it’s one of only two spices found in the kitchen. (The other is allspice.) In Iran it’s a key spice in khoresht, a thick tart stew made with pomegranate juice.

In India, it’s a common spice in curry cooking, and in rich dishes called biryanis. Indian cooks fry a whole cinnamon stick in hot oil to release its aroma, then add it to the curry or rice as it is being cooked. It’s also used in many Indian spice blends, and is a key flavoring in the ubiquitous garam masala.

Vietnamese use it in pho bos, long-simmering beef soups, which are served with noodles.

Mexicans are fond of cinnamon tea (té de canela), which is made from broken cinnamon quills. It’s also an ingredient in Mexican moles.

Cinnamon is also used in a wide array of non-food products. It is put in toothpastes to mask the taste of pyrophosphate, an unpleasant-tasting compound that inhibits the formation of plaque. It is used in making toiletries, pharmaceutical products, and even tobacco.

How to Buy Cinnamon

Virtually all of the cinnamon imported into the United States is cinnamon cassia. (For the difference between cassia and so-called “true cinnamon,” please see the box.) If you want to find “true cinnamon,” take a trip to an Indian marketplace or shop online. Cassia cinnamon is usually called cinnamon, cassia, or Chinese cinnamon. True cinnamon is usually called true cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon, or Sri Lankan cinnamon.

Cinnamon may help prevent and/or treat:

Cancer

Cholesterol problems

(high total cholesterol, high “bad” LDL cholesterol, low “good” HDL cholesterol)

Diabetes, type 2

Food poisoning

Heart disease

High blood pressure (hypertension)

Insulin resistance (prediabetes)

Metabolic syndrome

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

Stroke

Triglycerides, high

Ulcer

Vaginal yeast infection

Wounds

___________________________________

Cinnamon pairs well with these spices:

Caraway

Cardamom

Clove

Cocoa

Coriander

Cumin

Ginger

Mint

Nutmeg

Star anise

Sun-dried tomato

Tamarind

Turmeric

and complements recipes featuring:

Apples

Baked or stewed fruit

Bananas

Cantaloupe

Cauliflower

Chicken

Chocolate

Corn

Curries

Grapes

Hot toddies

Pastries

Oranges

Pork

Both cinnamon and true cinnamon are harvested from dried bark and rolled, scroll-like, into tight quills—or what we call cinnamon sticks.

Quills of cinnamon are usually cut into four or five-inch pieces that easily fit in a spice jar. The quills are thick and are dark reddish-brown in appearance and deliver a sweet and strong aroma. It is grown in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

True cinnamon is cut the same way, but the quills are longer, have a brittle, paper-like appearance, and are light-brown in color. The taste is mild, delicate, and sweet. Though true cinnamon grows wild in South India, the best comes from Sri Lanka, off the coast of South India.

The best quality cinnamon is harvested from the trunk and is graded according to its length, breadth, and thickness.

The best quality quills are tightly rolled, evenly colored, and blemish free. When transported, the quills often break and are then sold as second-grade quillings. The next grade is called featherings, which are the inner bark of twigs and small shoots that were not large enough to form a full quill. They are still considered cinnamon, but lack the visual appeal of good quality quills. The lowest grade is cinnamon chips, made from shavings and trimmings. The lower grade featherings and chips generally come from the Seychelles Islands or Madagascar, which accounts for much of the world’s supply of lower-grade cinnamon bark.

Once ground, cinnamon begins to lose the fragrance that comes from its volatile oils, so it’s best to buy whole quills and grind them as needed. The quills are somewhat tough, so you’ll need a sturdy spice grinder.

If your only option is to buy ground cinnamon, you’ll get the most fragrance from the finest quality, which is smooth rather than gritty. Ground cinnamon quills are the best grade, though the spice is also ground from quillings and featherings. Ground cassia, often called “baker’s cinnamon,” is usually lower-priced than the ground quills of true cinnamon.

Whole quills keep for three years, as long as they aren’t in extreme heat. Ground cinnamon begins to fade in flavor after a few months.

In the Kitchen with Cinnamon

All the studies on the health benefits of cinnamon were done on . . . cinnamon (cassia, Chinese cinnamon)—the spice you’re familiar with and that is sold in supermarkets. Culinary experts generally agree (with some dissenters) that cinnamon cassia also has the best flavor—more robust, more perfume. Cassia goes best with other strong flavors, liked dried fruit. The more delicate true cinnamon is a better complement to fresh fruit. But there’s no rule that says you can’t mix the two and get the best of both worlds!

Other recipes containing cinnamon:

Apple Pie Spice

Baharat

Berbere

By-the-Bay Fisherman’s Chowder

Chesapeake Bay Seafood Seasoning

Chinese Five-Spice Powder

Garam Masala

Grilled Lamb Patty Pockets with Cucumber Mint Sauce

Grilled Pork Chile Adobo

Jamaican Jerk Marinade

La Kama

Malaysian Curry Paste

Mulling Spice

Pears Poached in Port and Star Anise

Pickling Spice

Quatre Épices

Ras-el-hanout

Sambaar Masala

Spiced Milk Tea

Spiced Mixed Nuts

Spicy Vanilla Rice Pudding

Banana Cinnamon French Toast

Cinnamon is a classic on toast—and is even better on a special dish like French toast.

2 large very ripe bananas

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

4 eggs, cracked

8 slices thick whole grain bread

3 tablespoons butter

Maple syrup

1. Place the bananas, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg in a blender or food processor. Add the cracked eggs and process until smooth. Transfer to a large baking pan large. Add the bread slices, turning occasionally, under the bread has absorbed most of the mixture, about 30 minutes.

2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium head. Add the bread in batches and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Serve with maple syrup.

Makes 4 servings.

Ground cinnamon is more commonly used in the US because it is the form that is generally used in baking. Quills are preferred for liquid-based savory dishes; they’re used to infuse flavor and are discarded after cooking and before eating.

Whatever form of cinnamon you choose and use, make sure you don’t overcook it. Cinnamon turns bitter if it’s in the pot too long.

Here are some ideas to help get more cinnamon in your diet:

• Put a cinnamon quill in beef or vegetarian stews, or in lentil soup.

• Make spiced wine: Put a bottle of wine in a large pot and gently simmer it with ½ cup of sugar, a cinnamon stick, and a lemon studded with cloves for 15 minutes.

• Make spiced tea: Put a quart of brewed tea in a pot, add two cups of apple juice, and gently simmer it with a sliced lemon and two cinnamon sticks for 10 minutes.

• Sprinkle some cinnamon into pastry dough for pies and quiches.

• Sprinkle cinnamon on apples, bananas, melons, and oranges.

• Mix cinnamon with mint and parsley in ground beef for burgers or meatloaf.

• Combine equal parts of cinnamon, cardamom, and black pepper and rub it into pork tenderloin or lamb before baking.

• Mix cinnamon into rice pilaf.

• Add cinnamon to hot cocoa to enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

Cinnamon: Balancing Blood Sugar – Defeating Diabetes

Maybe it’s ironic that cinnamon—the spicy-sweet favorite that cooks use to give sugary confections extra flavor—can help control blood sugar problems. Or maybe—given the fact that 24 million Americans have type 2 diabetes and 57 million have prediabetes—it’s Mother Nature’s way of cutting us a break.

Defeating Diabetes

The rate of type 2 diabetes in the US has doubled in the past two decades, from 5 to 10 percent of American adults, with 1.3 million new cases every year. This disease of chronically high blood sugar (fasting blood sugar levels above 125 milligrams per deciliter, or mg/dL) attacks arteries and veins, increasing the risk of heart disease six-fold. In fact, medical guidelines instruct doctors to treat a patient with type 2 diabetes as if he or she has already had a heart attack! This body-wide circulatory destruction can lead to many other health problems along with heart disease and stroke. They include painful nerve damage, hard-to-heal skin ulcers, vision loss and blindness, kidney failure, and even—as blood flow is choked—the amputation of gangrenous toes, feet, and lower limbs.

Managing type 2 diabetes requires a total approach that typically includes losing weight, eating more whole foods, exercising regularly, and taking (or injecting) glucose-controlling medications such as insulin (the pancreas-hormone that helps control blood sugar levels). Preventing diabetes or reversing prediabetes (fasting blood sugar levels from 100 to 125) is possible with lifestyle alone—and lifestyle changes are more effective than preventive medications, as the 10-year Diabetes Prevention Program Study showed. But study after study also shows that cinnamon can play a role in the everyday management of blood sugar (glucose) levels and other cardiovascular disease CVD risk factors.

Will the Real Cinnamon Please Stand Up?

You know that stuff you sprinkle on your morning toast and oatmeal called cinnamon? It’s not true cinnamon. It’s cassia.

Cassia cinnamon (Cinnamomum cassia) and true cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) belong to the same botanical family (Cinnamomum). They also look alike—it takes a trained eye to tell them apart. But they differ in flavor. Cassia is the sweeter and stronger of the two—and the one preferred throughout most of the world (including the US) as a culinary spice. It’s also the version that was used in all the studies discussed in this post.

Cassia cinnamon is commonly used in the United States, Europe, China, and Southeast Asia. True cinnamon is found in kitchens in Mexico, Latin America, India, and other nations in South Asia.

In some parts of the world it’s actually illegal to refer to cassia as cinnamon. In Great Britain and Australia, for example, Cinnamomum cassia can only be sold as cassia, and Cinnamomum verum can only be sold as cinnamon. In the US, both are legally sold as cinnamon.

France has solved the issue quite nicely—they call the spice cannelle, applying the name to both cassia and true cinnamon.

Cassia cinnamon is also called Chinese cinnamon. True cinnamon also goes by the names Ceylon and Sri Lankan cinnamon. You can find cassia cinnamon . . . everywhere. In the US, you can find true cinnamon in Indian marketplaces and specialty spice shops or online.

Long-term blood sugar control. In a recent study from the US, 109 people with type 2 diabetes were divided into two groups, with one receiving one gram of cinnamon a day and one receiving a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon had a 0.83 percent decrease in A1C, or glycosylated hemoglobin—the percentage of red blood cells that have been frosted (glycated) by blood sugar, and the most accurate measurement of long-term blood sugar control. (Seven percent or less means the diabetes is controlled, and a decrease from 0.5 to 1.0 percent is considered a significant improvement.) Those taking the placebo had a 0.37 percent decrease in A1C. “Taking cinnamon could be useful . . . in addition to usual care” of diabetes, concluded the study leader in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

However, cinnamon probably won’t work to control blood sugar in type 1 diabetes—an autoimmune disease that attacks the insulin-producing pancreas. In a study by researchers at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, researchers asked 72 adolescents with type 1 diabetes to take either cinnamon or a placebo. After three months, there was no change in A1C levels in either group, or the amount of insulin they had to take to control the disease.

Heart-protecting power. In another study, 30 people with type 2 diabetes took one to six grams of cinnamon a day (about ¼ to ½ teaspoon). After 40 days, they had decreases up to 29 percent in fasting blood sugar—and decreases up to 27 percent in “bad” artery-clogging LDL cholesterol, up to 26 percent in total cholesterol, and up to 30 percent in triglycerides (another blood fat, with high levels linked to heart disease). “Those who have type 2 diabetes, or those who have elevated glucose, triglycerides or total cholesterol, may benefit from regular inclusion of cinnamon in their daily diet,” concluded the researchers in Diabetes Care.

The researchers also noted that the study participants had lower levels of blood sugar and blood fats even after 20 days without taking any cinnamon—“indicating that cinnamon would not need to be consumed every day” for health benefits.

They also pointed out that cinnamon worked at every level it was tested, from one to six grams—and that “intake of less than one gram daily is likely to be beneficial in controlling blood sugar and lipid [fat] levels.”

Finally, they said that regular inclusion of cinnamon in the diet is probably a good idea not only for those with type 2 diabetes, but for everybody—“cinnamon may be beneficial for the remainder of the population to prevent . . . elevated glucose and blood lipid levels.” There’s a lot of evidence that shows they’re right.

Lowering risk factors in prediabetes. Researchers in France studied 22 people who were overweight and had prediabetes, dividing them into two groups. One group took a widely available supplement containing 250 mg of a water extract of cinnamon (Cinnulin PF). The other group took a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon supplement had much lower levels of several biomarkers ofoxidation—the destructive, cell-destroying process that contributes to the development of both diabetes and cardiovascular disease. And the lower the oxidation levels, the more stable the levels of blood sugar. “The inclusion of water soluble cinnamon compounds in the diet could reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease,” concluded the researchers in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Mastering the metabolic syndrome. This condition—also known as the insulin resistance syndrome and syndrome X—is characterized by blood sugar problems, overweight (especially around the abdomen), high blood pressure, and high triglycerides (but not necessarily high LDL). It’s one form of prediabetes, and, needless to say, it’s a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Cinnamon can help control it.

In one study, 22 people with metabolic syndrome were divided into two groups: one took 500 mg a day of Cinnulin PF and one took a placebo. After three months, those taking the cinnamon had significant decreases in average fasting blood sugar (down 8.4 percent, to 106), lower systolic blood pressure (the top reading, down 4 points to 128), and more muscle, or lean body mass. (That’s good news, because additional muscle means additional ability to burn up excess blood sugar.) They also had a small drop in body fat. “This naturally-occurring spice can reduce risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,” concluded the researchers.

Stopping spikes in blood sugar after a meal. Swedish researchers studied 14 people, feeding them the same meal twice—rice pudding, with or without a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon. The cinnamon-spiced meal significantly lowered post-meal levels of blood sugar.

Works in healthy people, too. British researchers studied healthy young men, dividing them into two groups. For two weeks, one group received three grams of cinnamon a day and the other a placebo. After two weeks, the men taking the cinnamon supplement had a much improved “glucose tolerance test”—the ability of the body to process and store glucose. They also had better “insulin sensitivity”—the ability of this hormone to usher glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells.

Richard Anderson, PhD, a scientist at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center of the US Department of Agriculture, who has conducted several studies on cinnamon and diabetes, theorizes that the spice mimics the action of insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar. It may stimulate insulin receptors on fat and muscle cells the same way insulin does, he said, allowing excess sugar to move out of the blood and into the cells.

And a team of Indian researchers laud cin, cinnamon’s active ingredient—which their study on experimental animals with diabetes showed can decrease blood sugar, A1C, total cholesterol, and triglycerides, and increase insulin and “good” HDL cholesterol. The findings were in Phytomedicine.

Controlling Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

There’s another disease where insulin and blood sugar levels are haywire and the sufferer is at higher risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke—polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This hormonal disorder, which strikes 5 to 10 percent of women of reproductive age in the US, lines the ovaries with small cysts. Symptoms include menstrual abnormality, extra facial and body hair, acne, and overweight. It’s also the most common cause of female infertility.

In a study by a team of American researchers from Columbia University, the University of Hawaii, and the US Department of Agriculture, 13 women with PCOS were asked to take either a daily cinnamon supplement (333 mg, three times a day) or a placebo. After eight weeks, those taking cinnamon had a 17 percent decrease in fasting glucose, a significant decrease in insulin resistance, and 21 percent reduction in levels of blood sugar after a glucose tolerance test. The researchers called the findings “interesting” and encouraged other scientists to conduct additional studies to validate their findings, which were reported in Fertility and Sterility.

Manhandling Microbes

Cinnamon has the power to fight disease-causing microbes such as bacteria and fungi.

Preserving food. Scientists proved cinnamon’s ability to preserve food and help prevent food poisoning in a kitchen experiment with two pots of vegetable broth. They added cinnamon oil to one pot but not the other and let the two sit in the refrigerator—for two months! When they took off the lids, the pot without the cinnamon was teeming with bacteria. The other pot? Good enough to eat. In fact, the scientists said the added cinnamon improved the flavor! (Don’t try this at home.)

Fighting fungi. Cinnamon is also effective against Candida albicans, the fungus that causes most cases of vaginal yeast infections. In laboratory tests, cinnamon extracts were able to stop the growth of strains of C. albicans resistant to fluconazole (Diflucan), the medication commonly used to treat yeast infections.

Beating bacteria. Researchers in Italy found that cinnamon is effective at eradicating Helicobacter pylori infection, the bacterial cause of most stomach ulcers and a leading cause of stomach cancer. In fact, their research showed that cinnamon was more effective than the antibiotic amoxicillin (Amoxil) at killing H. pylori. And the bacteria didn’t show any resistance to the spice—important, because H. pylori are becoming more and more resistant to standard antibiotic treatment.

Cinnamon is derived from the bark of a tropical evergreen tree.

Cinnamon, On and On

There are other intriguing areas of research for cinnamon.

Cancer. American researchers found that cinnamon may slow angiogenesis, the development of new blood supplies to tumors. They concluded that an extract of the spice “could potentially be useful in cancer prevention and/or treatment.” The findings were in Carcinogenesis.

Post-stroke protection. Researchers in Korea found that cinnamon protected brain cells in the laboratory from the type of damage caused by a stroke.

Brain injury from liver failure. Similarly, cinnamon protected brain cells from the type of damage seen in hepatic encephalopathy—a type of brain damage caused by advanced liver disease.

Wound healing. In a study from Indian researchers, extracts of cinnamon bark improved wound healing in animals.

Getting to Know Cinnamon

Cinnamon’s sweet-and-spicy bite is the same as its bark—the spice is derived from the bark of a tropical evergreen tree.

That deliciously aromatic bite has been heralded since the beginning of human history. God commanded Moses to include cinnamon in a recipe for sacred anointing oil. The Song of Solomon praises its scent. The Greeks and Romans offered it to their gods.

The ancient cultures of India and China also used cinnamon—as medicine. The Ayurvedic physicians of India used it (and continue to use it) for respiratory ailments, stomach upset, muscles spasms—and, of course, for diabetes. Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine used it (and continue to use it) for its “warming” qualities, particularly for respiratory problems and muscle aches. (It’s also a major ingredient in Tiger Balm, the popular Chinese ointment for pain relief.)

Of course, cinnamon is more than medicine—it’s a much-beloved ingredient in cuisines around the world. In the United States and Europe, it’s most popular in sweet dishes—apple pie, coffee cake, fruit compotes, buns, muffins, doughnuts, cakes, and cookies. It is a key ingredient in apple pie spice and mulling spice. It is sprinkled on toast and whipped cream. Cinnamon sticks are stirred into hot beverages, including mulled cider and wine.

The English are very fond of what they call cassia. (For more on the difference between “true cinnamon” and cassia, please see the box.) Many households keep a large sterling silver canister on the table for sprinkling cassia onto sweets and into beverages. It is an ingredient in English fruitcakes, stewed fruits, and pastries.

In Spain, cinnamon is a popular addition to chocolate dishes and confections. In Germany, it’s used in apple strudel, to flavor sweet and sour dishes, and in foods containing raisins. In the Netherlands, cinnamon is the dominant flavor in the Christmas spiced cookie called speculaas. Italians put whole cinnamon sticks in mostarda, a classic chutney-like condiment.

Can Chewing Gum Make You Smarter?

Maybe—if you chew cinnamon gum. In fact, you don’t even have to chew it. Just smelling cinnamon might boost your thinking ability.

That’s the result of a study conducted by Phillip R. Zoladz, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at Ohio Northern University, who found students scored better on several mental performance tests after smelling or tasting cinnamon.

In the first part of the study, Dr. Zoladz gave a group of students one of the following to chew: cinnamon, peppermint, cherry, or flavorless gum. In the second part, he asked students to sniff cinnamon, peppermint, jasmine, or no odor.

In both parts of the study, the students who chewed the cinnamon gum or smelled cinnamon scored best—with the best memory, the most focused attention, and the fastest reflexes between connecting what they saw and what they had to do.

Dr. Zoladz and his colleagues concluded that cinnamon has potential for decreasing test anxiety—and even preventing age-related memory loss!

The French favor canelle (their word for cinnamon) in savory foods featuring game, such as duckling à la Montmorency, a classic dish flavored with cinnamon and spiked with cherry sauce. It’s one of the four ingredients in the French spice quatre épices, which is most often used to enhance game dishes.

In Asia, cinnamon is almost exclusively used in savory dishes. In China, it’s used in braises and clay pot cooking, or what is often called “red cooking.” In this technique, you simmer cinnamon, star anise, and orange zest in water, rice wine, and soy sauce, then cook a chicken breast side down in the liquid until it is red and cooked through. Cinnamon is also one of the five spices in Chinese five-spice powder.

Cooks in the Middle East use cinnamon as a flavoring in meat stew. It’s a popular spice in many Moroccan spice blends, including the famous ras-el-hanout. It also gives a tang to Moroccan stews calledtagines. In Syria, it’s one of only two spices found in the kitchen. (The other is allspice.) In Iran it’s a key spice in khoresht, a thick tart stew made with pomegranate juice.

In India, it’s a common spice in curry cooking, and in rich dishes called biryanis. Indian cooks fry a whole cinnamon stick in hot oil to release its aroma, then add it to the curry or rice as it is being cooked. It’s also used in many Indian spice blends, and is a key flavoring in the ubiquitous garam masala.

Vietnamese use it in pho bos, long-simmering beef soups, which are served with noodles.

Mexicans are fond of cinnamon tea (té de canela), which is made from broken cinnamon quills. It’s also an ingredient in Mexican moles.

Cinnamon is also used in a wide array of non-food products. It is put in toothpastes to mask the taste of pyrophosphate, an unpleasant-tasting compound that inhibits the formation of plaque. It is used in making toiletries, pharmaceutical products, and even tobacco.

How to Buy Cinnamon

Virtually all of the cinnamon imported into the United States is cinnamon cassia. (For the difference between cassia and so-called “true cinnamon,” please see the box.) If you want to find “true cinnamon,” take a trip to an Indian marketplace or shop online. Cassia cinnamon is usually called cinnamon, cassia, or Chinese cinnamon. True cinnamon is usually called true cinnamon, Ceylon cinnamon, or Sri Lankan cinnamon.

Cinnamon may help prevent and/or treat:

Cancer

Cholesterol problems

(high total cholesterol, high “bad” LDL cholesterol, low “good” HDL cholesterol)

Diabetes, type 2

Food poisoning

Heart disease

High blood pressure (hypertension)

Insulin resistance (prediabetes)

Metabolic syndrome

Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)

Stroke

Triglycerides, high

Ulcer

Vaginal yeast infection

Wounds

___________________________________

Cinnamon pairs well with these spices:

Caraway

Cardamom

Clove

Cocoa

Coriander

Cumin

Ginger

Mint

Nutmeg

Star anise

Sun-dried tomato

Tamarind

Turmeric

and complements recipes featuring:

Apples

Baked or stewed fruit

Bananas

Cantaloupe

Cauliflower

Chicken

Chocolate

Corn

Curries

Grapes

Hot toddies

Pastries

Oranges

Pork

Both cinnamon and true cinnamon are harvested from dried bark and rolled, scroll-like, into tight quills—or what we call cinnamon sticks.

Quills of cinnamon are usually cut into four or five-inch pieces that easily fit in a spice jar. The quills are thick and are dark reddish-brown in appearance and deliver a sweet and strong aroma. It is grown in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

True cinnamon is cut the same way, but the quills are longer, have a brittle, paper-like appearance, and are light-brown in color. The taste is mild, delicate, and sweet. Though true cinnamon grows wild in South India, the best comes from Sri Lanka, off the coast of South India.

The best quality cinnamon is harvested from the trunk and is graded according to its length, breadth, and thickness.

The best quality quills are tightly rolled, evenly colored, and blemish free. When transported, the quills often break and are then sold as second-grade quillings. The next grade is called featherings, which are the inner bark of twigs and small shoots that were not large enough to form a full quill. They are still considered cinnamon, but lack the visual appeal of good quality quills. The lowest grade is cinnamon chips, made from shavings and trimmings. The lower grade featherings and chips generally come from the Seychelles Islands or Madagascar, which accounts for much of the world’s supply of lower-grade cinnamon bark.

Once ground, cinnamon begins to lose the fragrance that comes from its volatile oils, so it’s best to buy whole quills and grind them as needed. The quills are somewhat tough, so you’ll need a sturdy spice grinder.

If your only option is to buy ground cinnamon, you’ll get the most fragrance from the finest quality, which is smooth rather than gritty. Ground cinnamon quills are the best grade, though the spice is also ground from quillings and featherings. Ground cassia, often called “baker’s cinnamon,” is usually lower-priced than the ground quills of true cinnamon.

Whole quills keep for three years, as long as they aren’t in extreme heat. Ground cinnamon begins to fade in flavor after a few months.

In the Kitchen with Cinnamon

All the studies on the health benefits of cinnamon were done on . . . cinnamon (cassia, Chinese cinnamon)—the spice you’re familiar with and that is sold in supermarkets. Culinary experts generally agree (with some dissenters) that cinnamon cassia also has the best flavor—more robust, more perfume. Cassia goes best with other strong flavors, liked dried fruit. The more delicate true cinnamon is a better complement to fresh fruit. But there’s no rule that says you can’t mix the two and get the best of both worlds!

Other recipes containing cinnamon:

Apple Pie Spice

Baharat

Berbere

By-the-Bay Fisherman’s Chowder

Chesapeake Bay Seafood Seasoning

Chinese Five-Spice Powder

Garam Masala

Grilled Lamb Patty Pockets with Cucumber Mint Sauce

Grilled Pork Chile Adobo

Jamaican Jerk Marinade

La Kama

Malaysian Curry Paste

Mulling Spice

Pears Poached in Port and Star Anise

Pickling Spice

Quatre Épices

Ras-el-hanout

Sambaar Masala

Spiced Milk Tea

Spiced Mixed Nuts

Spicy Vanilla Rice Pudding

Banana Cinnamon French Toast

Cinnamon is a classic on toast—and is even better on a special dish like French toast.

2 large very ripe bananas

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

4 eggs, cracked

8 slices thick whole grain bread

3 tablespoons butter

Maple syrup

1. Place the bananas, milk, cinnamon and nutmeg in a blender or food processor. Add the cracked eggs and process until smooth. Transfer to a large baking pan large. Add the bread slices, turning occasionally, under the bread has absorbed most of the mixture, about 30 minutes.

2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium head. Add the bread in batches and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes on each side. Serve with maple syrup.

Makes 4 servings.

Ground cinnamon is more commonly used in the US because it is the form that is generally used in baking. Quills are preferred for liquid-based savory dishes; they’re used to infuse flavor and are discarded after cooking and before eating.

Whatever form of cinnamon you choose and use, make sure you don’t overcook it. Cinnamon turns bitter if it’s in the pot too long.

Here are some ideas to help get more cinnamon in your diet:

• Put a cinnamon quill in beef or vegetarian stews, or in lentil soup.

• Make spiced wine: Put a bottle of wine in a large pot and gently simmer it with ½ cup of sugar, a cinnamon stick, and a lemon studded with cloves for 15 minutes.

• Make spiced tea: Put a quart of brewed tea in a pot, add two cups of apple juice, and gently simmer it with a sliced lemon and two cinnamon sticks for 10 minutes.

• Sprinkle some cinnamon into pastry dough for pies and quiches.

• Sprinkle cinnamon on apples, bananas, melons, and oranges.

• Mix cinnamon with mint and parsley in ground beef for burgers or meatloaf.

• Combine equal parts of cinnamon, cardamom, and black pepper and rub it into pork tenderloin or lamb before baking.

• Mix cinnamon into rice pilaf.

• Add cinnamon to hot cocoa to enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

Bay Leaf: An Infusion of Antioxidants – Taming the Sugar Disease

Who would have guessed that so much healing could come from one small dried leaf! But that’s bay leaf—infusing your body with antioxidant protection as easily as it infuses flavor into poached fish.

While cooking, the aroma of bay leaf intensifies as it releases its volatile oils—its scent-giving plant compounds that are also among the most powerful antioxidants in existence.

In fact, when researchers in Korea tested 120 spices, herbs, and vegetables for their antioxidant power—their power to reduce oxidation, the internal rust that can erode every cell of your body (and the precious DNA within cells)—they found bay leaf was at the top of the list. It was stronger than vitamin C, an A-1 antioxidant. It was stronger than BHA and BHT, synthetic antioxidants so powerful they’re routinely used to preserve food. And it was equal to several antioxidant superstars, such as the resveratrol in red wine and the EGCG in green tea.

There are more than 80 active compounds in bay leaf, but the specific antioxidants that it uses to help keep disease at bay are the volatile oil cineole (also found in eucalyptus) and a class of compounds called sesquiterpenes. And they may be particularly effective against an epidemic blighting the health of more than 20 million Americans: type 2 diabetes, the disease of excess of blood sugar (glucose).

Taming the Sugar Disease

A team of researchers (led by Richard Anderson, PhD, a scientist at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Laboratory of the US Department of Agriculture, who is an expert in natural treatments for type 2 diabetes) studied 40 people with the disease, dividing them into four groups.

Three of the groups took bay leaf supplements—either one, two, or three grams a day. Another group took a placebo.

After one month, the bay leaf groups had big drops in blood sugar levels—up to 26 percent. But that’s not all. They also had a 32 to 40 percent drop in “bad” artery-clogging LDL cholesterol, a 20 to 24 percent drop in total cholesterol, a 20 to 29 percent rise in “good” artery-cleaning HDL cholesterol, and a 25 to 34 percent drop in triglycerides, another heart-harming blood fat. Meanwhile, the placebo group had no changes in any of those parameters.

How did this spice produce such a powerful effect? Writing in the Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition, the researchers speculate that the “bioactive compounds” in bay leaf might improve: insulin sensitivity (the ability of the hormone insulin to usher glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells), glucose uptake (the ability of the cells to deal with insulin once it arrives), antioxidant status (less oxidation translates into better control of glucose), inflammatory response (ditto for less chronic inflammation), and glucose emptying (the speed at which glucose is absorbed—with slower being better for balanced blood sugar).

Given the fact that type 2 diabetes increases the risk of heart disease six-fold, with 75 percent of people with diabetes dying from cardiovascular disease—those results are, well, heartening.

Healing by the Bay

But bay leaf doesn’t stop at type 2 diabetes.

Cellular and animal studies—the first scientific steps in proving the power of the spice to improve health in us humans—show that it might be natural medicine for:

Cancer. Several studies on cancer cells show that parthenolide—a compound in bay leaf—works several ways to foil cancer. And in a Russian study, an injection of bay leaf extract slowed the appearance and growth of breast tumors in mice with experimentally induced breast cancer. Other studies show that bay leaf inhibits leukemia and cervical cancer.

Arthritis. Bay leaf is a traditional remedy for the symptoms of arthritis. And in animal experiments, doctors in the Middle East found its volatile oils could alleviate the pain and swelling of the disease. Bay leaf possesses anti-inflammatory properties “comparable to those of analgesics [painkillers] and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [such as ibuprofen and naproxen],” they concluded in Phytotherapy Research.

Ulcers and poor digestion. Another traditional use of bay leaf: treating stomach problems. Recently, researchers in Turkey found bay leaf oil prevented stomach ulcers in rats. Other studies show it can aid digestion by stimulating the healthy secretion of stomach acids that break down food.

Bacterial infection. Bay leaf fights bacteria. Researchers in Morocco infected animals with 16 different strains of an infectious organism—but bay leaf helped keep the germs in check, showing a “strong inhibitory effect” on E. coli, Salmonella, and Listeria (all of which can cause food poisoning). In Pakistan, researchers found bay leaf was effective at controlling 176 different strains of bacteria.

SASARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). Bay leaf can beat back viruses, too. Research from laboratories around the world shows bay leaf oil can slow or kill the SARS virus—the cause of the highly contagious respiratory illness that, in 2003, infected 8,000 people and killed 800 before it was contained.

Wound healing. Researchers found that volatile oils in bay leaf helped speed wound healing in laboratory animals.

Mosquito bites. Essential oil from bay leaves is a traditional mosquito repellant, and a study in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology found it could repel mosquitoes for up to two hours.

Getting to Know Bay Leaf

The bay leaf is picked and dried from the bay laurel tree, a densely leafed evergreen that grows profusely along the Mediterranean Sea (although it’s cultivated in many countries). And people have been picking it for thousands of years.

When physicians in ancient Greece completed their studies they were crowned with laurel branches—baca (branches) lauris (laurel), the origin of the word baccalaureate. Likewise, for the ancient Romans, bay laurel was a symbol of victory and courage—with winners of chariot races crowned with leafy branches of bay laurel.

THE ANCIENT ROMANS CROWNED THE WINNER OF A CHARIOT RACE WITH A WREATH OF BAY LAUREL.

While people no longer wear it, we certainly cook with it. Bay leaf is one of the most popular and well-used spices in North American cooking. It’s a rare kitchen that doesn’t contain a jar of bay leaves—unless they’ve been used up! Bay leaf adds aroma to soups, stews, soups, beans, marinades, and fish boils. It’s a key ingredient in San Francisco’s famed cioppino, a fisherman’s stew simmered in a rich tomato sauce. It’s frequently used in pickling spices. And it’s one of the spices used to cure corned beef—not an American original, but definitely an American favorite.

Bay leaf is generally used in savory dishes in both the US and Europe—though the British (ever the culinary oddballs!) like to add it to custards and puddings, too.

Bay leaf and French cooking are bons amis. It’s the key spice in the bouquet garni that is enclosed in cheesecloth and added to long-simmering soups, stews, and stocks. It’s also key to the simmering poaching liquid called court boullion. It’s added to food made en papillote, a technique in which fish is wrapped in parchment to steam in its own juices. And it’s used to aromatize the French fish stewsbouillabaisse and bourride.

In fact, bay leaf is indispensable to all the cuisines in the Mediterranean basin—it’s one of the ingredients that make the Mediterranean diet among the healthiest in the world. On the Greek island of Corfu, for example, fresh bay leaves are wrapped around sikopsoma, a flat cake made of dried, spiced figs.

How to Buy Bay Leaf

The only true bay leaf—and the one used in most scientific studies—comes from the bay laurel tree. But around the world, the term bay leaf is used to describe a variety of different leaves, none of which are bay laurel. If you encounter California bay, Mexican bay, Indian bay, Indonesian bay, or West Indian bay, be aware that they’re not true bay leaf. In fact, they’re an entirely different species. Indian bay, for example, is the dried leaf of the same tree that produces cinnamon, and West Indian bay comes from the bay rum tree. Most of these bay leaves have a stronger flavor than bay laurel.

Bay leaf comes fromthe bay laurel tree.

Bay leaf is rarely sold fresh for culinary use, as its perfume is more pronounced and less bitter when dried. Dried leaves also infuse more flavor into food.

The majority of bay leaves produced and sold for export are from Turkey and Greece, with most bay leaf sold in the US from Turkey. It comes in two grades, but only one (usually referred to as “hand selected”) is considered suitable—because it’s not shipped with extraneous debris.

Look for leaves that are whole, uniform in size and color, and free of stems and bits of bark. The leaves should be clean and green. The darker the color and the larger the leaves, the better. Yellowing is a sign that they have been exposed to light for too long.

In the Kitchen with Bay Leaf

The woodsy, pungent aroma and flavor of bay leaf, with its slight hint of eucalyptus, is infused when it comes in contact with simmering liquid. The scent and flavor intensifies the longer it cooks, though if you leave bay leaf in the pot too long (more than a few hours) it starts to lose its aroma.

Bay leaf may help prevent and/or treat:

Arthritis (osteo- and rheumatoid)

Cancer

Diabetes, type 2

Food poisoning

Indigestion

Mosquito bites

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

Ulcer

Wounds

___________________________________

Bay leaf pairs well with these spices:

Amchur

Black cumin seed

Black pepper

Basil

Cinnamon

Cumin

Garlic

Onion

Oregano

Parsley

Rosemary

Sage

Thyme

and complements recipes featuring:

Pot roast

Sauces

Soups

Seafood boil

Steamed food

Stews

Tomato sauces

Caution: Bay leaves should always be removed and discarded before serving. Swallowing bay leaf can obstruct or even puncture the intestine.

___________________________________

Other recipes containing bay leaf:

Alsatian Pork and Sauerkraut

Boeuf Bourguignon

Bouquet Garni

Chesapeake Bay Seafood Seasoning

Penne and Sausage with Fennel Tomato Sauce

Spice de Provence

By-the-Bay Fisherman’s Chowder

There are as many recipes for fisherman’s stew as there are fishermen. This hearty meal-in-one is based on San Francisco’s famed cioppino, which is characterized by a tomato-based broth and, of course, by bay leaf. This recipe makes good use of other healing spices, such as cumin and cinnamon. Substitute any fish or seafood of your liking.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups chopped white onion

1 cup chopped celery

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups canned crushed tomatoes with puree

1 twenty-eight-ounce can diced tomatoes with juices

1 cup clam juice

2 cups fish or vegetable stock

1½ cups white wine

¼ tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons Asian chili sauce

½ teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground fennel

1 teaspoon celery seed

½ teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon black cumin seeds

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon dried thyme

2 bay leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

½ pound sea scallops, cut in half

½ pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, and coarsely chopped

2 pounds firm white fish, such as sea bass

1 cup fresh parsley

1. Heat the oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and celery and sauté until soft but not brown, about six minutes. Add garlic and cook one minute more. Lower the heat and add the crushed and diced tomatoes and their juices and simmer 10 minutes.

2. Add the clam juice, stock, wine, red wine vinegar, and Asian chili sauce. Combine the oregano, fennel, celery seeds, chili powder, black cumin, cumin, cinnamon, and thyme. Add the combined spices and bay leaves. Simmer, partially covered, for 30 minutes. Add the salt and pepper to taste.

3. Add the scallops, shrimp, and fish to the broth, cover and simmer until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning and turn off the heat. Let the soup sit for about an hour. Reheat and serve, sprinkled with parsley.

Makes 6 servings.

Bay leaf goes with virtually any food simmered in liquid, especially roasting meat and boiled seafood. Steaming brings out even more of its natural flavor.

One or two medium-sized bay leaves are all that you need to flavor a dish for a family-size meal. Add it at the beginning of cooking.

Generally, bay leaf is used in savory dishes, but it will enhance sweets based in milk or cream sauces.

Bay leaves are used for flavoring only, as their infused oils permeate the ingredients in which they’re cooked. Make sure you discard the leaves when cooking is complete. (The medical literature doesn’t only contain research about bay leaf’s many virtues—it’s also filled with scary stories of digestive damage after a spiky bay leaf was mistakenly consumed.)

Here are ideas for getting more bay leaf in your life and your diet:

• Add a leaf or two to the water when boiling carrots, potatoes, or noodles.

• Add bay leaf to simmering tomato sauces, even when you are heating up commercial pasta sauce.

• Steam shrimp in beer infused with bay leaf.

• Add more fragrance to rice by putting a bay leaf or two into your dried rice canister.

• Add a bay leaf to meat or to fish baked or grilled in foil.

• Make a French court bouillon for poaching fish, by combining two parts water to one part white wine, along with chopped carrots, onions, a pinch of thyme, and a bay leaf. Cover and simmer one hour before adding fish. Use enough liquid to immerse the fish completely.

Tips about healthiest Fruits to eat – Blood sugar

Your Are Here: Health tips ? Nutrition ? Fruits ? Tips about healthiest Fruits to eat – Blood sugar

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Ten Ways to Keep Blood Sugar Steady

Know that starches, such as white potatoes and rice, can raise blood sugar faster and higher than eating sugar or candy. However, rice differs. Sticky cooked rice where grains clump together has a high GI. Basmati rice, where grains separate when cooked, has a low GI. Both brown rice and pasta have GIs similar to white rice and pasta. It’s also a myth that pasta has a high GI and makes you fat. All pastas are fairly low GI foods, helping dampen blood sugar, appetite, and tendency to gain weight.Eat legumes with abandon. All legumes are slowly digested, causing slow, gradual rises in blood sugar, and thus have low GI ratings ranging from 48 to 18. This includes baked beans, butter beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, navy beans, soybeans, and peanuts, which technically are a legume and not a nut.If you eat high GI foods, combine them with low GI foods. That reduces the overall GI of a meal. Combin­ing dried beans and rice, for example, produces an inter­mediate GI. When you eat snacks alone, choose ones with a low GI, such as apples, peanuts, popcorn. A high GI food, such as jelly beans eaten alone, is sure to spike blood sugar.Eat lots of vegetables and nuts. You can think of salad vegetables, such as carrots, tomatoes, onions, cucum­bers, lettuce, broccoli, avocado, as well as nuts as “free” foods, with no significant impact on blood sugar. Their GI is effectively “zero” says Dr. Brand-Miller. Meat does not raise blood sugar, but its fat promotes insulin resis­tance. It’s important to restrict high fat foods as well as high GI foods, she cautions, although lean meat can be nutritious.Restrict processed foods made with finely ground flour, such as bread, cereals, cookies, crackers. They have a high GI because the fine particles of starch zip right through your digestive tract. Many cereals and both white and whole wheat bread made from highly processed flour have higher GIs than table sugar, which has a GI of 60-65. White or whole wheat bread has a GI of 70. Most cold cereals have high GIs, above 70. Some with a low GI: AllBran with extra fiber, Bran Buds with psyllium, Special K, muesli.

THE BEST AND THE WORST

Here is a capsule look at common foods with high and low glycemic index values, according to the lat­est Australian research. Best are those with low glycemic index values.

Food:                       Low GI                                 High GI

                         (slowly digested)                  (quickly digested)

Bread:                  Sourdough (52)                 French baguette (95)

Hot Cereal:         Oats, old fashioned (49)         Oats quick (65)

Cold Cereal:            Muesli (43)                       Corn flakes (84)

All Bran (51)

Dried Fruit:          Apricots (31)                     Dates (103)

Fresh Fruit:         Cherries(22)                       Watermelon (72)

Vegetable:              Sweet potato (54)             Red skin potato (93)

Grains:                      Pasta, fettucine (32)    Instant rice (87)

Dairy                         Yogurt, fat                   Ice cream (61)

Products:                  free (14)

fruit flavored with sugar (33)

Candy:                 M&M Peanuts (33)          Jelly beans (80)

Snacks:                Peanuts (14)                      Pretzels (83)

The Ravages of High Blood Sugar and How to Save Your Brain from it

Sugar Excess: An Alarming Epidemic

Undeniably, you need sufficient blood sugar to power your brain. And quick jumps in blood sugar can be beneficial when you are taxing your brain to learn something new or when an aging or demented brain needs extra stimulation. But the truth is millions of American brains are threatened by the opposite hazard: chronically high circulating levels of blood sugar and its companion, the hormone insulin. Such high levels of glucose and insulin day after day can result in degradation of memory and mental functioning, partly because of so-called “insulin resistance” or “predia­betes.” If you are genetically susceptible, especially if you are overweight, such insulin resistance may also lead to Type 2 diabetes with increasing likelihood of blood sugar control, heart disease, and neurological complications, even Alzheimer’s disease.

How You Make Blood Sugar

Here’s what happens: When you eat carbohydrate—plain sugar or starch, such as pasta, potato, bread, beans—it is digested and converted mainly into the single sugar mole­cule, glucose, that is absorbed into the bloodstream. This infusion of glucose signals the pancreas to make more insulin, the hormone needed to usher glucose into the cells where it can be burned as fuel. Insulin’s job is to efficiently process the glucose, getting blood sugar levels back to nor­mal.

It usually goes smoothly if blood sugar rises are gradual. But if blood sugar surges too high, too fast, from eating lots of quickly digested carbohydrates, the pancreas must churn out more insulin in attempts to control glucose. If that hap­pens over and over, year after year, the pancreas can become exhausted, eventually putting out insulin that is too weak and insufficient to control blood sugar. The cells then become insensitive or “resistant” to the insulin. The pan­creas frantically spews out more insulin to try to clear blood sugar. The potential catastrophic result is a condition called “insulin resistance”—the inability to fully utilize insulin—that can lead to Type 2 diabetes or independently to vascu­lar problems, such as high blood pressure and thickened carotid arteries, affecting the brain.

Insulin resistance is a hallmark of diabetes. Addition­ally, millions of Americans—an estimated 25 percent of adults—not known to have diabetes are insulin resistant. The condition is a rapidly growing epidemic, tied to high-fat, high-processed-foods diets, with severe consequences for the brain.

BOTTOM LINE: High levels of blood sugar or glucose create high blood levels of insulin. These twin devils can be hazardous to your brain, blood vessels, and the rest of your body.

HOW HIGH BLOOD SUGAR AND INSULIN HARM YOUR BRAIN

High insulin levels are a prelude to high blood pressure, a prime risk factor for intellectual decline in later life.High blood sugar and high insulin tend to make arteries more stiff and less elastic, restricting blood flow to the brain.High blood sugar and high insulin stimulate a thickening of the walls of the carotid arteries. Such carotid thickening is a major factor linked to a loss of cognitive function with age.

Insulin resistance is tied to a sensitivity to sodium that tends to raise brain-damaging blood pressure.

The Mental Ravages of High Blood Sugar

There’s extensive and growing evidence that your brain rebels against persistent high blood sugar. Undeniably, abnormalities in blood sugar and insulin cause disturbances in memory and brain function. It happens in youngsters and adults, in those with active diabetes and in countless mil­lions who don’t even know they have hazardously high blood sugar. The mental toll is most apparent in older people when years of cumulative damage begin to show up as severe loss of memory and intellectual functioning. The clear message: Controlling high blood sugar, and insulin, should be a high brain-saving priority at all ages.

Here’s some of the compelling evidence:

Abnormally high blood sugar in diabetic children can cause a significant drop in IQ scores.

Older people with “persistent impaired glucose toler­ance,” probably due to high insulin levels, score lower on tests of overall mental function and long-term memory. Older diabetics are three times more apt to show signs of cognitive decline in standard mental testing.

Striking evidence of the dangers of chronic high blood sugar to intellectual functioning comes from the so-called Zutphen Elderly Study by Dutch investigators. In the study, men between ages sixty-nine and eighty-nine were given oral glucose tolerance tests and a standard measure of cog­nitive function called the Mini-Mental State Examination. The results: The number of errors on the mental function test climbed along with levels of fasting blood sugar.

Specifically, known diabetics (with the highest blood sugar levels) made 23 percent more errors on the test, newly diagnosed diabetics, 16 percent more errors, and those with impaired glucose tolerance (prediabetes) made 18 percent more errors than those with normal blood sugar tolerance. Further, nondiabetics with the highest blood insulin levels made 25 percent more mistakes on the mental test than those with the lowest insulin blood levels. Nondiabetic sub­jects with impaired glucose tolerance and abnormally high insulin had impaired cognitive function as measured by the routine mental test.

One theory: High insulin might be detrimental to “synaptic activity” in the brain, interfering with message transmission between brain cells, concluded researchers.

High blood sugar predicts strokes. Diabetics have three times the risk of stroke as nondiabetics. Even nondiabet­ics with nonfasting high blood sugar (over 225 mg/dL) have double the odds of “blood clot” stroke than men with low to normal blood sugar, (under 151 mg/dL), according to a recent twenty-two-year study of about 7500 Japanese-American men. High blood sugar did not raise the chances of a bleeding or hemorraghic stroke. Further, high blood sugar was tied to more strokes regardless of whether the men had high blood pressure.

Why is unclear. But autopsies show that diabetics have more severe atherosclerosis in the small blood vessels of the brain as well as in the carotid (neck) arteries that feed the brain.

High blood sugar and insulin encourage age-related dementia (general intellectual decline) and Alzheimer’s dis­ease. A recent study at the Mayo Clinic found that Type 2 (adult onset) diabetics were 66 percent more apt to develop all types of dementia, and male diabetics had more than twice the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Diabetes tripled the odds of dementia and Alzheimer’s in a recent large-scale study at the University of California at Davis.

Main message: A jump in blood sugar levels is okay sometimes (it’s normal after eating) and can benefit learn­ing and memory on a short-term basis. Chronic high lev­els of blood sugar and insulin over long periods of time are dangerous and can be detrimental to optimal brain func­tion.

DIABETES OF THE BRAIN?

It’s a new and controversial idea: that insulin affects memory, learning, and general brain function far more deeply than previously thought. Some researchers even contend that neurons, just like other cells, need insulin to process glucose—an idea that flies in the face of long-time conventional belief.

Such scientists suggest that insufficient or “low voltage” insulin could starve neurons of glucose, leading to a partial power outage or “brownout” of the brain, resulting in weak­ened message transmission, a slump in learning, and memory failure of the type seen in age-related impair­ment and Alzheimer’s disease. In a word, memory dis­turbances due to ineffectual insulin inside brain cells might be a kind of “diabetes” or prediabetes of the brain.

That’s what neuroscientist Siegfried Hoyer at the University of Heidelberg in Germany theorizes. He finds that rats with brains made resistant or insensi­tive to insulin quickly develop memory loss, which pro­gresses to an Alzheimer’s-like state. He, as well as neuroscientist Suzanne Craft at the University of Washington, have found insulin disturbances in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. “We believe that some cases of Alzheimer’s disease are like diabetes mellitus,” says Dr. Hoyer.

How to Save Your Brain from High Blood Sugar

What can you do to avoid this brain menace? What makes blood sugar and insulin soar and stay at abnormally dan­gerous levels? Obviously, genetic makeup influences blood sugar; some people are blessed at birth with good blood sugar control. Others are more genetically vulnerable to developing insulin resistance and diabetes. But genes are far from destiny. Lifestyle, including the foods you eat, can dramatically influence blood sugar and insulin levels and override a predisposition to such conditions.

Indeed, evi­dence shows that the rise in insulin resistance and dia­betes is closely tied to diet. Restricting saturated animal fat can go a long way to avoiding and correcting insulin resistance and diabetes. Also critical are the carbohy­drates—sweets and starches—you eat, for carbohydrates, especially of the “wrong” type, can spike blood sugar and insulin, often leading to persistent high blood sugar, insulin resistance and diabetes, and possibly compromised men­tal function.

Brain Perils of Your Diet

Our modern diet is a minefield of hazards to blood sugar normalcy, and quite out of sync with the diet of our ancient ancestors. The prehuman evolutionary diet that formed our brains, mandating high requirements for glucose, was rich in carbohydrates just as high as ours—about 65 per­cent of calories. The difference is the type of carbohy­drates. The early carbs came from fruits, vegetables, and beans, as well as honey.

Ours come from refined sugar and finely processed flour made into blood-glucose-spiking cereals, bread, and other baked goods. Although grains and dairy foods are “new” in evolutionary terms, even they, ten thousand years ago, were quite different in their impact on blood sugar. They were mostly whole grains and yogurt; consequently they produced gradual blood sugar rises that were compatible with good brain function.

Today’s staples, such as bread, are made from fine-particle flours that fly through our digestive system, spiking our blood sugar.

“With the advent of high speed roller mills in the nine­teenth century, it was possible to produce white flour so fine that it resembled talcum powder in appearance and texture. . . . As a consequence . . . the blood sugar rise after a meal was higher and more prolonged, stimulat­ing the pancreas to produce more insulin. . . . Thus, one of the most important ways in which our diet differs from that of our ancestors is the speed of carbohydrate digestion and the resulting effect on blood sugar and insulin levels.” —Dr. Jennie Brand-Miller, University of Sydney in Australia, The Glucose Revolution

Unquestionably, carbohydrates, as well as animal fats, can play havoc with blood sugar and insulin, and thus with memory and other mental functions. But this does not mean you must avoid carbohydrates. Because of the newly discovered hazards of carbohydrates in promoting high cir­culating levels of blood sugar and insulin, as well as obe­sity, a flurry of popular advice warns against the intake of carbohydrates. This erroneously assumes carbohydrates of all types are hazardous.

The confusion comes from a mis­perception that carbohydrates are equally treacherous in their ability to endanger the brain by dy’sregulating blood sugar and insulin. That is far from true. Certain carbohy­drates nourish your brain without upsetting blood sugar and insulin. The trick is to know which carbohydrates are good for your blood sugar and brain, and which are not.