Effectiveness of Cinnamon for Lowering Hemoglobin A1C in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

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Figure 1.
Randomization diagram with reasons for exclusion and complete accounting of patients.

Table 1.

Summary of Current Randomized Controlled Trials Evaluating Cinnamon Use in Diabetic Patients

Author, Date (Reference)	Number of Patients and Setting	Dose of Cinnamon	Placebo	Duration of Trial	Findings
Khan et al, 2003 (6)	60 Pakistani adults >40 years of age with many exclusions and mean fasting glucose of 200–250	1, 3, or 6 g	Yes	40 days	Glucose decreased 18% to 29% LDL cholesterol decreased 7% to 27%
Vanschoonbeek et al, 2006 (7)	25 Dutch postmenopausal women with many exclusions and mean HbA1C of 7.1% to 7.4%	1.5 g	Yes	6 weeks	No change in HbA1C No change in lipids
Mang et al, 2006 (8)	79 German adults with many exclusions and mean HbA1C of 6.7% to 6.9%	3 g	Yes	4 months	Glucose decreased 10.3%
Altschuler et al, 2007 (9)	72 US adolescent patients with type 1 diabetes and mean HbA1C of 8.4% to 8.7%	1 g	Yes	90 days	No change in HbA1C
Blevins et al, 2007 (10)	58 US adults with many exclusions and mean HbA1C of 7.1% to 7.2%	1 g	Yes	3 months	No change in glucose No change in HbA1C No change in lipids

Table 2.

Baseline Characteristics of Treatment and Control Groups

	Treatment Group (n = 55)	Control Group (n = 54)	P
Age (years)	60.5 ± 10.7	59.9 ± 9.2	.73
Race			.55
White	76 (42)	76 (41)
Black	16 (9)	13 (7)
Latino	2 (1)	5 (3)
Asian	5 (3)	5 (3)
Sex			.46
Male	58 (32)	59 (32)
Female	42 (23)	41 (22)
Body mass index (kg/m²)	31.9 ± 6.4	32.9 ± 6.4	.38
Patients using insulin	38 (21)	33 (18)	.46
Cinnamon intake			.32
High	5 (3)	2 (1)
Normal	95 (52)	98 (53)
Baseline hemoglobin A1c (%)	8.47 ± 1.8	8.28 ± 1.3	.54
Diabetes medications, baseline (n)	1.76 ± 0.9	1.91 ± 0.9	.39
Diabetes medications, final (n)	1.74 ± 0.9	2.02 ± 0.9	.12
Diabetes medication dosage adjustments per patient (n)	0.3 ± 0.2	0.3 ± 0.2	1.0
Patients with new diabetes medications added during the study period (n)	4	5
Patients who had diabetes medications stopped during the study period (n)	4	4
>75% compliant with taking cinnamon	—	91 (42)

Table 3.

Effect of Cnnamon on Hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) in Type 2 Diabetics

	Baseline HbA1C	Final HbA1C	Difference	P^*	P^†
Treatment group (n = 55)	8.47 ± 1.8	7.64 ± 1.7	−0.83 (95% CI, 0.46–1.20)	<.001
Control group (n = 54)	8.28 ± 1.3	7.91 ± 1.5	−0.37 (95% CI, 0.15–0.59)	.16
					<.04

* Value between baseline and final HbA1C; unpaired 2-sample t test.
† Value of mean difference between control and treatment; unpaired 2-sample t test.