The favorite bark of choice among many Americans today, and in Southeast Asia for centuries, would be cinnamon! That’s right, cinnamon, the spice we all know and love, is made from the inner bark of trees called cinnamomum!
The iconic flavor and smell of cinnamon comes from the oily compound cinnameldehyde which forms after the bark is dried. Cinnameldehyde is the component of cinnamon that has so many health benefits and metabolizing abilities! Here are some of cinnamon’s key health benefits!
- Cinnamon promotes your cardiovascular health!
A gram of cinnamon a day proved to lower markers of increased cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes patients. These markers included blood pressure and cholesterol.
More specifically the LDL cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein or the “bad” cholesterol, was decreasing whereas the HDL cholesterol or “good” cholesterol remained stable!
This decrease in bad cholesterol and subsequent continued prevalence of good cholesterol , the HDL cholesterol is described as a “scavenger cell” which seeks to remove the bad cholesterol from your system, lead to a decrease towards a healthier blood pressure!
- Cinnamon boosts your metabolism!
Similar to eating a hot pepper, your body actually has to work a little harder in order to metabolize this particular ingredient, making it a go to for many who see weightloss as part of their fitness goals!
Additionally, cinnamon has the unique ability to act like insulin when it is in your body, which makes it a very relevant spice for those with diabetic needs as it can greatly reduce the glycemic index of many foods.
The reason I mention this is because not only does this affect how sugar is processed in your body, but this carries over to carbohydrates. Essentially, this means that it is encouraging the foods that enter your body to metabolize in as speedy of a manner as it takes to metabolize itself!
- Cinnamon is full of antioxidants!
A spice that has antioxidants in spades, cinnamon especially has polyphenols which are plant based molecules which promote cell stimulation and enzyme production!
A study was even conducted which put cinnamon’s antioxidant powers against 26 other “superfoods”, and was given top marks even beating out garlic and oregano!
- Unfortunately, not all cinnamon is made equal.
There are two kinds of cinnamon that are massively produced: Ceylon or “true” cinnamon, and Cassia.
Although all cinnamon has the variety of health benefits mentioned herein, the Cassia variety which is the most common variety often found in stores actually can be harmful IF consumed in large quantities.
This is due to the presence of “coumarin”, which you can think of as the plants defense mechanism in the scope of evolution, but as long as you stick to cinnamon as a spice rather than a meal at every meal you should be fine.
Simply purchase the Ceylon cinnamon and avoid coumarin all together if you like! Cinnamon can be incorporated in a variety of ways into your diet with the simplest being to just add it to a cup of warm water in the morning! Happy cinnamon-ing!
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