Secret Superfood: Cinnamon

For some weird reason cinnamon has turned into the sidekick of about every baked dessert on earth. When you think about cinnamon what pops into your head? Cinnamon buns, cinnamon raisin bagels, apple-cinnamon pie, egg nog with cinnamon, yada yada yada...what the hell is going on!! No doubt cinnamon tastes absolutely phenomenal when paired with sweet, fatty, sugary deliciousness, but did you know that cinnamon is in fact one of the healthiest foods on earth? It's pretty incredible that a little sprinkle of brown, sweet-smelling, flavor-packed ground cinnamon can have so many potential health benefits. Here's to cinnamon and recreating its image as a health food. 

The Many Health Benefits of Cinnamon:

• Extremely high antioxidant content: Statistically, on a gram by gram basis, cinnamon has the third highest antioxidant content of any food or spice on earth. That's some powerful stuff. The high antioxidant content helps protect against early aging, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, inflammation, and a boatload of other health conditions (click here if you want the full story on antioxidants).
• Prevents excess blood clotting: The cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon prevents platelets from clumping up excessively, which can cause blockages and restrict blood flow. 
• Prevents inflammation and reduces arthritis pain: Cinnamon inhibits the body's release of arachidonic acid, a fatty acid that causes excessive inflammation in the body. Inflammation is most notably known for causing the pain that goes along with arthritis, but it also causes heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other health conditions.
• Kills bacteria and serves as a natural preservative: The oil in cinnamon can help kill many species of harmful bacteria, as well as prevent the growth of fungi. Not only does this kill nasty foodborne pathogens that often make people sick, but it also prevents foods from spoiling.
• Controls blood sugar, prevents type-2 diabetes, and reduces the storage of body fat: Cinnamon slows the rate at which carbs leave the stomach and reduces how fast blood sugar levels rise after you eat a meal. This is extremely beneficial because it helps minimize spikes in insulin levels, which reduces the potential for your body to store carbs as body fat. Keeping blood sugar levels under control also helps prevent the development of type-2 diabetes and decreases appetite. It's interesting to think about, but this is probably one of the reasons why sugary baked goods are so often made with cinnamon.
• Helps with weight management: Via controlled blood sugar levels, which reduces the storage of body fat and helps regulate hunger levels.
• Increases insulin sensitivity: Cinnamon helps improve the body's ability to respond to insulin. When the body begins to lose its ability to react to insulin, the product of repeatedly spiking blood sugar levels and releasing excess insulin, it embarks on the path towards type-2 diabetes. Cinnamon can help reduce this insulin resistance (aka increases the body's sensitivity to insulin). Considering just how fast the prevalence of diabetes is rising in the US, I think cinnamon should officially be added to all processed carbohydrates, sugary foods, cereals, and baked goods. Just saying.
• In people with type-2 diabetes, cinnamon has been shown to reduce levels of triglycerides, LDL cholesterol (bad) and total cholesterol, all of which are major risk factors for coronary heart disease: In 2003, the medical journal Diabetes Care conducted a study to test the effects of cinnamon supplementation on 60 type-2 diabetes patients. After 40 days the cinnamon group showed a 23-30% decrease in triglycerides, 12-26% decrease in total cholesterol, 7-27% decrease in LDL cholesterol, and a 18-29% reduction in blood sugar, while the control group showed no noticeable health improvements. That's a pretty incredible reduction for a short two month period.
• Lowers LDL cholesterol (bad) in all people
• Effective remedy for migraines and headaches
• Alleviates toothache pain
• No calories
• Adds a lot of flavor without any extra fat, sugar, or calories
• Great source of manganese (enzyme) and dietary fiber