Cinnamon Extract for Prediabetes -- (Ivanhoe First)
Reported November 30, 2005

By Heather Kohn, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research shows the cinnamon extract Cinnulin PF may not only help prediabetic patients regulate blood glucose levels but may also reduce body fat and build lean mass.

Exercise Scientist Tim Ziegenfuss, Ph.D., CEO of the Ohio Research Group in Wadsworth, Ohio, and colleagues studied 24 prediabetic patients. Prediabetes is a condition of elevated blood sugar that often precedes type 2 diabetes. It is strongly associated with both obesity and heart disease. Patients in the study took either the Cinnulin PF extract twice a day for 12 weeks or the placebo for 12 weeks.

Dr. Ziegenfuss tells Ivanhoe: "With no lifestyle intervention, there was a body composition improvement. [Patients'] body fat dropped about a percentage, and their lean mass went up about a percentage." Dr. Ziegenfuss says that aspect is the most exciting result as well as the fact that: "People didn't exercise. All we asked them to do was take their assigned supplement." Researchers expected improved blood sugar changes, but Dr. Ziegenfuss says this is the first study to show the extract can improve body composition. There is extensive existing literature on the potential for cinnamon extract to enhance insulin sensitivity.

This study will be likely published in the next few years. Further research will provide a closer look at the effects of Cinnulin PF.

SOURCE: Ivanhoe interview with Tim Ziegenfuss, Ph.D., and CEO of the Ohio Research Group