Can cinnamon lower blood sugar?
The short answer is Yes.
Studies have shown several benefits of consuming cinnamon including:
- Decreased oxidative stress
- Improved blood lipids (cholesterol)
- Improved blood glucose
- Improved insulin sensitivity
You can read more about the benefits over here.
There are many ways we can include more cinnamon in our daily routines, including adding it to desserts or smoothies, and of course in tea. So today I've got some super simple instructions on how to make cinnamon tea, and some great alternatives you can use to give your cinnamon tea a twist.
Benefits Of Cinnamon Tea
Organic Authority says: “Chinese medicine and Ayurveda have long revered cinnamon as a superpower used to treat things such as colds, indigestion and cramps and also believed to improve energy, vitality and circulation”.
- It's a powerful antioxidant
- A potent anti-inflammatory agent
- It can help lower cholesterol
- It contains anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties
- And cinnamon has loads of benefits for type 2 diabetes!
How To Make Cinnamon Tea
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Making pure cinnamon tea really couldn't be easier.
Roughly break up 1 cinnamon stick into a small pot, add 3 cups water, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. That's it!
Pour the tea into a tea pot and serve. The pure cinnamon tastes sweet enough and you can drink it straight. This may sound strange but cinnamon has a naturally sweet flavor all on it's own.
Of course you can add just a drop of liquid stevia extract if you really need a bit of extra sweetness, and I've also got some more recipe alterations to try below.
Just one more tip: Leave the cinnamon stick soaking in a little of the water and you can just keep adding extra water, bring it back up to the simmer for 5 minutes, and drink again.
You can do this for a few rounds to get the most out of each cinnamon stick.
Recipe #1: Lemon Ginger Cinnamon Tea
Add 1/2 small squeezed lemon (so the juice), 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger, and a few drops liquid stevia extract for a spicy tea that is helpful for colds and flu, and also helps to boost metabolism.
Recipe #2: Cinnamon Chai Dandelion Latte
Dandelion is a fantastic liver detox herb, so combined with cinnamon and the wonderful aromas and benefits of cloves, cardamom, and cloves, this tea is a great addition to your menu.
Here's how to make it.
Add the following ingredients to a small saucepan.
- 2 roasted dandelion root tea bags
- 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
- 3-4 cardamom pods, crushed (or use scissors to cut them up)
- 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
- 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger, thinly sliced
- 5 cups water
Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10-20 minutes on low. Add milk or coconut milk to the pan, enough to your taste – meaning if you like it stronger, don't add so much milk. Add a few drops of liquid stevia extract for sweetness, then serve into mugs and enjoy.
Can be reheated over a low heat.
Recipe #3: Cinnamon Turmeric Green Tea
Green tea and both cinnamon and turmeric have powerful anti-inflammatory properties, so drinking them all together triples the potent effect and helps reduce the inflammation associated with diabetes.
Place a green tea bag into a cup along with 1/2 stick cinnamon and a pinch of ground turmeric, leave for a few minutes and then drink away. Optionally add a twist of lemon. You can reuse the cinnamon stick 4-5 times.
Recipe #4: Cinnamon Ceylon Tea
Do the same as you did with the green tea above, just add the half stick cinnamon directly to the cup along with your regular tea bag. And for a cheats version, add 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon directly to the cup instead.
Recipe #5: Pure Cinnamon Tea
Simply stick with the original recipe above and drink it in it's pure form. Drink it hot, or…put it on ice and drink it cold, it still tastes fantastic!
Whatever way you choose to drink it, cinnamon tea definitely makes a great beverage, and adds plenty of health benefits that can help diabetes too.
Give it a try and see if you like it.
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Is Green Tea Good For Diabetes?
Cinnamon is used a lot in Indian cooking and I used to drink an infusion of it to help ease menstruation pains as a teenager as suggested by a friend’s Mom and it worked. Thank you for sharing more about this magical stick and how to make an interesting tea in case one gets bored with a simple infusion!
Hello Vatasala,
It certainly does have MANY uses beyond blood sugar help! Thanks for sharing.
I have heard and read that Ceylon cinnamon is better for you, especially in regards to the liver… What are your thoughts on Ceylon vs. Acacia cinnamon?
Hi Kathy,
Are you referring to Cassia cinnamon? I have not heard of Acacia cinnamon. Both varieties (Ceylon and Cassia) have been shown in studies to help lower blood sugar levels. The Cassia variety contains significant amounts of a compound called coumarin, which is believed to be harmful in large doses.
Yes, I meant Cassia cinnamon. 🙂 Thank you for your input.
You’re welcome, Kathy!
I would like to be able to print out a copy of the recipes for tea. But I’m worried that all the comments will be copied too.
Hi Irene,
You should be able to just highlight the recipe and print the highlighted portion.
I don’t have the time to make the tea every day I work nights about 8-10 hours sometimes 6 hours come home can’t really sleep because husband sleeps with a CPAP noisy as heck so I do hair when I come home ,wash clothes,iron clothes, mop floors watch TV, then it’s time for him to wake up I fix him his breakfast which is sauteed spinach with either chicken that is in a can , tuna in a can, tiny shrimp in a can sardines in a can all these are in water not oil , a half of an avocado and a poached egg with 8 oz.. of lactose milk then fix his lunch which consists of a green salad with vinaigrette the salad is either arugula,baby spinach, mixed greens or power greens sprinkled with some goya the green one it has more garlic than anything else see him off at 2:30 but the baby is here by one thirty so I fix her some lunch then we go over ABC’s 123’s and she goes home around 7:30pm I then literally drop dead until 9:30 get my shower and leave for work mind you I might not have eaten and don’t because either I’m still dragging about and don’tthink of food not even at work and then the cycle starts again and by the way I’m 189 lbs and I don’t lose any weight so what’s my problem and I’m type2 diabetic don’t take the meds though. I need to make a gallon of my cinnamon lemon tea so I can at least not have to make it everyday just pour out some and nuke it in the microwave.
Making the tea in large batches sounds like a reasonable solution to your problem! However, I think it’s also important for you to step back and look at your overall health and well-being.
It sounds like you have a lot to take care of, but think about how important it is for you to also take care of YOU so that you can continue to help those that NEED YOU! The meals you are preparing for your husband sound so delicious and healthy- why don’t you eat breakfast with him? And I would imagine that re-starting your medications would be another huge step in caring for yourself. What other easy snacks can you keep on hand to easily grab before or after work? I usually recommend things like nuts, jerkey, or hard boiled eggs.
Hi. Wonderful information on this site. Been studying it all week long. About a year ago my Hba1c was 9.6. Last visit it was down to 6.8. I did not want to add medication to my metformin and got the doctor to give me better blood sugar monitoring options, and nutritionist support. I ignored the advice about eating diabetic diet allowing pasta, carbs, and used the information I learned over the years about low glycemic “sugar busters” diet and from Atkins low carb too supplement the advice the nutritionist gave me. I then used constant blood sugar testing to see what foods did and did not work. I found your website after all this. Wish I had seen it before!!! The eating approach that brought my number from 9.6 to 6.8 is very similar to what you recommend. People who find this site can save ten years of time that it took me to discover this on my own. Your approach seems a much easier, and therefore easier to sustain and understand version of the approach used by Atkins. I would be curious to know your thoughts on this. In any case I have been using cinnamon for awhile, but in a haphazard way. The tea seems like a good thing to try. Let me ask you this, are you suggesting one consume the three cups of cinnamon tea each day? Is this much cinnamon safe for the kidneys? Also note that about a half cup of the water boils off in the twenty minutes simmer time.Thank you.
Not necessarily. You can keep the tea in the fridge and drink it when you feel like it. Unfortunately most of the research on cinnamon is for supplements so I cannot definitively answer the second question. However, studies on cinnamon have not shown any adverse effects. Great to hear you’re in better health!
where do you buy the cinnamon sticks
Most grocery stores will sell whole cinnamon sticks in the spice isle.
How do you make cinnamon tea, what kind of tea do you use. I want to know so i will know.
The instructions for making cinnamon tea are writter in this article: Roughly break up 1 cinnamon stick into a small pot, add 3 cups water, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. That’s it!
You do not need any special tea; all you need is water and cinnamon and those two ingredients create the tea. Although, you certainly could make any flavor tea you like and add cinnamon to that if you prefer- that would just be a slightly different drink.
Nice article, with good recipe variations. I especially like the dandelion cinnamon tea.
Isn’t Ceylon cinnamon the preferred type of cinnamon? That was taught in a Spices for Health class I took a few years ago.
Ps…diagnosed as pre diabetic last year, I’ve got my A1 C down to 5.6 in a year. I used a few ideas from your site.
Yes Michelle, according to research ceylon cinnamon is the best choice. Great to hear our info has been helpful. And congrats on your great results!
Thanks, I’m going to try all of these!
Hello Jedha, today is my 1st day trying out cinnamon tea…
Thank You
Pat Budin
Hope you enjoy it Pat!
Cinnamon tea immediately reduced my sugar. I made a pot of it and drink it iced daily. My after dinner average and fasting average have both come down by more than 10 points. Thank you!
Glad to hear it helped Debbie! Plus, it’s delicious to drink. 🙂
Jedha;
Hi,I drink roiboose tea with cinnamon and stevia powder or the liquid and lactose free natrel milk and it tastes really good.i haven’t tried to make your cinnamon tea yet but I will make it soon.i just copied down your sugar free low carb diabetic chocolate milkshake recipe and I am going to make it in my black magic bullet blender for 1 person as soon as I buy the avocado,cocoa powder and if I can find it here in Edmonton the chocolate stevia extract.
Kim
I am a type 2 diabetic since January 2012 which is still a challenge to control my blood sugar but I try hard everyday to keep it under control and sometimes it can cause me some stress but I do things like listen to music,have pet therapy,learning how to meditate.
Stress can wreak havoc on your sugar levels, but it sounds like you are on the right track! Let us know how you like the chocolate milkshake recipe.
Isn’t it ok to use Splenda in the tea?
In general, we recommend avoiding artificial sweeteners, however out of all of them Splenda does have the most research backing it’s safety! Here is some information about other good sweeteners for diabetics.