Wednesday, September 11, 2013

cinnamon and Diabetes

Will a Spoonful of Cinnamon Help the Diabetes Meds Go Down?

Marlene Busko
Sep 09, 2013

In a new meta-analysis of 10 studies in patients with type 2 diabetes, taking cinnamon supplements improved fasting blood glucose and cholesterol levels, but not glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels.
HbA1c likely was not affected because the studies were too short, and they were also very small and diverse, making it difficult to draw any clinical implications, caution Robert W. Allen (then a PharmD student at Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California) and coauthors in their paper published September 9 in the Annals of Family Medicine (Ann Fam Med. 2013;11:452-459.).
Based on this meta-analysis, "I wouldn't recommend cinnamon instead of [diabetes] medication," and long-term effects are unknown, senior author Olivia Phung, PharmD, from Western University of Health Sciences, told Medscape Medical News. However, small doses of a cinnamon supplement could be used along with traditional diabetes medication, she conceded.
Nicole White, PharmD, from Creighton University, in Omaha, Nebraska, who was not involved in this study, agrees that cinnamon might play a role as an adjunct to traditional medicine./.../

No comments:

Post a Comment