Is Cinnamon Good for Weight Loss?

Cinnamon is one of the oldest and most widely used spices in the world. It is used either in the form of cinnamon sticks from barks or by crushing it into cinnamon powder, which is a more common form that can be found at the supermarkets. It helps stimulate thermogenesis, by promoting the fat metabolism in adipocytes.

Cinnamon was already studied and is widely known for its benefits in diseases like type-2 diabetes by increasing insulin sensitivity and Alzheimer’s. People also have been using it in home remedy mixtures against sore throats and coughs. The cinnamaldehyde molecule that makes up the ninety percent of cinnamon gives it the nice smell and taste and is proven to prevent obesity in lab mice.

Cinnamon is very high in antioxidants that help fight the free radicals- a teaspoon of cinnamon is equal to a cup of pomegranate juice in terms of antioxidant content. And when the researchers injected the cinnamic aldehyde into the human adipocytes which store energy as fat- lipids. In the old days, the human body would convert the extra stored fat into energy but these days you have a problem when you have excess fat in your body.

Cinnamon helps maintain steady blood glucose levels and by lowering both the blood glucose and cholesterol it helps relieve the pancreas, decrease the inflammation and stimulate the metabolism. Researchers found that cinnamal aldehyde molecule is linked to the improved gene expression for stimulation lipid metabolism. They also observed an increase in Fgf21 and Ucp1 proteins that are part of the heat production process in your body, thermogenesis.

By activating metabolism your body is more able to burn the extra fat. Cinnamon is already known to warm the body in winter months, increasing the metabolism by the thermogenesis process which also clearly helps with weight loss. It creates heat in the human body because of a chemical reaction. Your body reacts to this heat increase by accelerating the metabolism to equilibrate the body temperature. This is a good way of burning the excess calories.

The researchers achieved the results by observing people of different ages and body mass indices. It is really quite simple: By thermogenesis, cinnamaldehyde molecule in cinnamon activates the metabolic activity of lipids and cinnamon helps fight weight problems and obesity. But further research is certainly needed to validate these results of a limited study. And you should not consume large amounts of cinnamon hoping to lose weight faster.

Different types of cinnamon from different parts of the world have varying amounts of coumarin compound that thins the blood, which may lead to hemorrhage if you consume too much overtime and especially if you’re taking anticoagulant drugs. And most of the cinnamon you can buy at the shops are the cassia variety that is high in coumarin, due to lower cost.

You can eat cinnamon in either powder or bark/stick form, drink as a tea, use it in your dessert and in many other ways- in your cookies, cakes, soups. The recommended daily dose is half to 3/4 teaspoon of powder or 1 to 4g of bark. And with cinnamon oil, the dose is usually up to 0.2g each day. You can prepare cinnamon tea with honey and have it before bed at night and when you wake up early in the morning.

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