By SUSAN ASCHOFF and Times wires
Published December 9, 2003
A HALF-TEASPOON of cinnamon a day may reduce blood-sugar levels in diabetics, researchers report, and the effort could be as simple as soaking a cinnamon stick in your tea.
New Scientist reports that the discovery was happenstance: Researchers at the Department of Agriculture were testing common foods for their impact on blood sugar and tried apple pie, fully expecting the impact to be bad. Instead, it lowered blood sugar.
The active ingredient in cinnamon proved to be a compound called MHCP, which mimics insulin and activates its receptor. Volunteers in Pakistan were given 1, 3 or 6 grams of cinnamon powder a day in capsules after meals. All responded within weeks: Their blood sugar levels were, on average, 20 percent lower than a control group.
Although the holiday season can tempt with high-calorie cinnamon treats, instead of adding more desserts, doctors advise adding cinnamon powder to cereal, toast, juice or coffee.
THE SEASON of joy brings more aches and pains, according to a poll conducted by the makers of Tylenol. About 70 percent of adults surveyed online reported more pain over the holidays.
Waiting in line topped the list of pain triggers: A third of those surveyed said it caused headaches, backaches or sore feet. A fourth suffered pain when "finding a gift for a spouse or significant other."
More than 40 percent of the men said they get backaches from shoveling snow. For women, an aching back most often occurred from shopping and carrying gifts.
RATS FED a high-fat diet and put under stress developed atrophy in the hippocampus, the part of the brain essential for learning and remembering new information, report researchers at Tampa's James A. Haley Veterans Administration Medical Center and the University of South Florida.
Joined by colleagues from Arizona State University, the research teams placed groups of rats on varying diets and in stressful conditions.
The atrophy in the high-fat diet group showed in the reduced dendrite length. Dendrites are the connections between brain cells where information is stored.
Previous research has shown that rats on a high-fat diet produce excessive corticosterone in response to stress. The steroid is known to damage the hippocampus. Other studies have shown that rats on a high-fat diet do not perform as well in learning tasks. But the recent research looked at the consequences of both factors.
"It was the combination of the high-fat diet and stress ... that resulted in atrophy in the hippocampus," said team leader David Diamond of the veteran's medical center in a news release.
"People often crave high calorie foods such as ice cream, french fries and cheeseburgers when stressed," Diamond said. "(But) ending stressful days with (those foods) could contribute to impaired brain processing."
