Cinnamon and Blood Glucose

MALMÖ, Sweden—A recent study found 3 g of cinnamon reduced postprandial serum insulin and increased glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) concentrations without significantly affecting blood glucose, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), the ghrelin concentration, satiety or gastric emptying rate (GER) in healthy subjects (Am J Clin Nutr. 2009;90:815-21). Fifteen healthy subjects ingested rice pudding with and without 1 or 3 g of cinnamon. The addition of 1 or 3 g of cinnamon had no significant effect on GER, satiety, glucose, GIP or the ghrelin response. The insulin response at 60 minutes and the area under the curve (AUC) at 120 minutes were significantly lower after ingestion of rice pudding with 3 g of cinnamon (P=0.05 and P=0.036, respectively). The change in GLP-1 response and the change in the maximum concentration were both significantly higher after ingestion of rice pudding with 3 g of cinnamon (P=0.0082 and P=0.0138, respectively). The results indicate a relation between the amount of cinnamon consumed and the decrease in insulin concentration.