12 Impressive Health Benefits of Cinnamon Tea
Cinnamon tea is an interesting beverage that may offer several health benefits.
It’s made from the inner bark of the cinnamon tree, which curls into rolls while drying, forming the recognizable cinnamon sticks. These sticks are either steeped in boiling water, or ground into a powder that can be used to make the tea.
Cinnamon tea is full of beneficial compounds that may offer various health benefits, including aiding weight loss, improving heart health, alleviating menstrual cramps, and reducing inflammation and blood sugar levels.
Here are 12 science-based health benefits of cinnamon tea.
Cinnamon tea contains lots of antioxidants, which are beneficial compounds that help keep you healthy.
Antioxidants fight off oxidation caused by free radicals, which are molecules that damage your cells and contribute to diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.
Cinnamon is particularly rich in polyphenol antioxidants. A study comparing the antioxidant activity of 26 spices reported that cinnamon is only outranked by cloves and oregano .
In addition, research shows that cinnamon tea can increase total antioxidant capacity (TAC), which is a measure of the amount of free radicals your body can fight off.
Test-tube studies suggest that compounds in cinnamon may reduce markers of inflammation. This may be immensely beneficial, given that inflammation is thought to be at the root of many chronic diseases, including heart disease .
Studies also report that cinnamon may reduce blood pressure, as well as triglyceride and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in some individuals .
What’s more, cinnamon may increase levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, which helps improve your heart health by removing excess cholesterol from your blood vessels .
A review of 10 studies found that consuming as little as 120 mg of cinnamon — less than a 1/10 teaspoon — each day may be sufficient to help you reap these benefits.
Cassia cinnamon, in particular, contains high amounts of natural coumarins, a group of compounds that helps prevent the narrowing of blood vessels and offers protection against blood clots .
However, excess intake of coumarins may reduce liver function and increase the risk of bleeding, so make sure you consume cinnamon in moderation.
Cinnamon may provide powerful antidiabetic effects by lowering blood sugar levels.
This spice appears to act in a manner similar to that of insulin, the hormone responsible for shuttling sugar out of your bloodstream and into your tissues .
What’s more, compounds found in cinnamon may further contribute to lower blood sugar levels by lowering insulin resistance, thereby increasing insulin’s effectiveness.
Cinnamon may also help slow the breakdown of carbs in your gut, preventing your blood sugar levels from spiking after meals .
Most studies observed benefits when people took concentrated doses ranging from 120 mg to 6 grams of powdered cinnamon. However, there’s evidence that cinnamon tea may also offer blood-sugar-reducing benefits.
Cinnamon tea is often touted to help with weight loss, and several studies have linked cinnamon intake to fat loss or reductions in waist circumference .
However, few of these studies have properly controlled for calorie intake, and most have failed to distinguish between fat loss and muscle loss. This makes it difficult to attribute the weight loss effects to cinnamon alone.
The only study that controlled for these factors reported that participants lost 0.7% of fat mass and gained 1.1% of muscle mass after they took the equivalent of 5 teaspoons (10 grams) of cinnamon powder per day for 12 weeks.
However, such large amounts of cinnamon may contain dangerously high amounts of coumarin. When consumed in excess, this natural compound may increase the risk of bleeding and cause or worsen liver disease .
This is especially true for Cassia cinnamon, which contains up to 63 times more coumarin than Ceylon cinnamon .
More research is needed to confirm whether any weight loss benefits occur at lower dosages, such as those found in cinnamon tea.
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