Is TikTok right? Can adding a teaspoon of cinnamon to your coffee help you burn fat?
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Cinnamon has been long used around the world in both sweet and savoury dishes and drinks.
But a new TikTok trend claims adding a teaspoon of cinnamon to your daily coffee (and some cocoa to make it more palatable) for one week can help you burn fat. Is there any truth to this?
Not all cinnamon is the same
There are two types of cinnamon, both of which come from grinding the bark of the cinnamomum tree and may include several naturally occurring active ingredients.
Cassia cinnamon is the most common type available in grocery stores. It has a bitter taste and contains higher levels of one of the active ingredient cinnamaldehyde, a compound that gives cinnamon its flavour and odour. About 95% of cassia cinnamon is cinnamaldehyde.
The other is Ceylon cinnamon, which tastes sweeter. It contains about 50-60% cinnamaldehyde.
Does cinnamon burn fat? What does the research say?
A review of 35 studies examined whether consuming cinnamon could affect waist circumference, which is linked to increased body fat levels. It found cinnamon doses below 1.5 grams per day (around half a teaspoon) decreased waist circumference by 1.68cm. However, consuming more than 1.5g/day did not have a significant effect.
A meta-analysis of 21 clinical trials with 1,480 total participants found cinnamon also reduced body mass index (BMI) by 0.40kg/m² and body weight by 0.92kg. But it did not change the participants’ composition of fat or lean mass.
Another umbrella review, which included all the meta-analyses, found a small effect of cinnamon on weight loss. Participants lost an average of 0.67kg and reduced their BMI by 0.45kg/m².
So overall, the weight loss we see from these high-quality studies is very small, ranging anywhere from two to six months and mostly with no change in body composition.
The studies included people with different diseases, and most were from the Middle East and/or the Indian subcontinent. So we can’t be certain we would see this effect in people with other health profiles and in other countries. They were also conducted over different lengths of time from two to six months.
The supplements were different, depending on the study. Some had the active ingredient extracted from cinnamon, others used cinnamon powder. Doses varied from 0.36g to 10g per day.
They also used the two different types of cinnamon – but none of the studies used cinnamon from the grocery store.
How could cinnamon result in small amounts of weight loss?
There are several possible mechanisms.
It appears to allow blood glucose (sugar) to enter the body’s cells more quickly. This lowers blood glucose levels and can make insulin work more effectively.
It also seems to improve the way we break down fat when we need it for energy.
Finally, it may make us feel fuller for longer by slowing down how quickly the food is released from our stomach into the small intestine.
What are the risks?
Cinnamon is generally regarded as safe when used as a spice in cooking and food.
However, in recent months the United States and Australia have issued health alerts about the level of lead and other heavy metals in some cinnamon preparations.
Lead enters as a contaminant during growth (from the environment) and in harvesting. In some cases, it has been suggested there may have been intentional contamination.
Some people can have side effects from cinnamon, including gastrointestinal pain and allergic reactions.
One of the active ingredients, coumarin, can be toxic for some people’s livers. This has prompted the European Food Authority to set a limit of 0.1mg/kg of body weight.
Cassia cinnamon contains up to 1% of coumarin, and the Ceylon variety contains much less, 0.004%. So for people weighing above 60kg, 2 teaspoons (6g) of cassia cinnamon would bring them over the safe limit.
What about the coffee and cocoa?
Many people may think coffee can also help us lose weight. However there isn’t good evidence to support this yet.
An observational study found drinking one cup of regular coffee was linked to a reduction in weight that is gained over four years, but by a very small amount: an average of 0.12kg.
Good-quality cocoa and dark chocolate have also been shown to reduce weight. But again, the weight loss was small (between 0.2 and 0.4kg) and only after consuming it for four to eight weeks.
So what does this all mean?
Using cinnamon may have a very small effect on weight, but it’s unlikely to deliver meaningful weight loss without other lifestyle adjustments.
We also need to remember these trials used products that differ from the cinnamon we buy in the shops. How we store and how long we keep cinnamon might also impact or degrade the active ingredients.
And consuming more isn’t going to provide additional benefit. In fact, it could increase your risk of side effects.
So if you enjoy the taste of cinnamon in your coffee, continue to add it, but given its strong taste, you’re likely to only want to add a little.
And no matter how much we’d like this to be true, we certainly won’t gain any fat-loss benefits by consuming cinnamon on doughnuts or in buns, due to their high kilojoule count.
If you want to lose weight, there are evidence-backed approaches that won’t spoil your morning coffee.
Evangeline Mantzioris, Program Director of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Accredited Practising Dietitian, University of South Australia
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Built to Move – by Kelly starrett & Juliet Starrett
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In our everyday lives, for most of us anyway, it’s not too important to be able to run a marathon or leg-press a car. Rather more important, however, are such things as:
- being able to get up from the floor comfortably
- reach something on a high shelf without twinging a shoulder
- being able to put our socks on without making a whole plan around this task
- get accidentally knocked by an energetic dog or child and not put our back out
- etc
Starrett and Starrett, of “becoming a supple leopard” fame, lay out for us how to make sure our mobility stays great. And, if it’s not already where it needs to be, how to get there.
The “ten essential habits” mentioned in the subtitle “ten essential habits to help you move freely and live fully”, in fact also come with ten tests. No, not in the sense of arduous trials, but rather, mobility tests.
For each test, it’s explained to us how to score it out of ten (this is an objective assessment, not subjective). It’s then explained how to “level up” whatever score we got, with different advices for different levels of mobility or immobility. And if we got a ten, then of course, we just build the appropriate recommended habit into our daily life, to keep it that way.
The writing style is casual throughout, and a strong point of the book is its very clear illustrations, too.
Bottom line: if you’d like to gain/maintain good mobility (at any age), this book gives a very reliable outline for doing so.
Click here to check out Built to Move, and take care of your body!
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Thinking about trying physiotherapy for endometriosis pain? Here’s what to expect
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Endometriosis is a condition that affects women and girls. It occurs when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus ends up in other areas of the body. These areas include the ovaries, bladder, bowel and digestive tract.
Endometriosis will affect nearly one million Australian women and girls in their lifetime. Many high-profile Australians are affected by endometriosis including Bindi Irwin, Sophie Monk and former Yellow Wiggle, Emma Watkins.
Symptoms of endometriosis include intense pelvic, abdominal or low back pain (that is often worse during menstruation), bladder and bowel problems, pain during sex and infertility.
But women and girls wait an average of seven years to receive a diagnosis. Many are living with the burden of endometriosis and not receiving treatments that could improve their quality of life. This includes physiotherapy.
Netpixi/Shutterstock How is endometriosis treated?
No treatments cure endometriosis. Symptoms can be reduced by taking medications such as non-steriodal anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen, aspirin or naproxen) and hormonal medicines.
Surgery is sometimes used to diagnose endometriosis, remove endometrial lesions, reduce pain and improve fertility. But these lesions can grow back.
Whether they take medication or have surgery, many women and girls continue to experience pain and other symptoms.
Pelvic health physiotherapy is often recommended as a non-drug management technique to manage endometriosis pain, in consultation with a gynaecologist or general practitioner.
The goal of physiotherapy treatment depends on the symptoms but is usually to reduce and manage pain, improve ability to do activities, and ultimately improve quality of life.
What could you expect from your first appointment?
Physiotherapy management can differ based on the severity and location of symptoms. Prior to physical tests and treatments, your physiotherapist will comprehensively explain what is going to happen and seek your permission.
They will ask questions to better understand your case and specific needs. These will include your age, weight, height as well as the presence, location and intensity of symptoms.
You will also be asked about the history of your period pain, your first period, the length of your menstrual cycle, urinary and bowel symptoms, sexual function and details of any previous treatments and tests.
They may also assess your posture and movement to see how your muscles have changed because of the related symptoms.
During the consultation, your physio will assess you for painful areas and muscle tightness. Netpixi/Shutterstock They will press on your lower back and pelvic muscles to spot painful areas (trigger points) and muscle tightness.
If you consent to a vaginal examination, the physiotherapist will use one to two gloved fingers to assess the area inside and around your vagina. They will also test your ability to coordinate, contract and relax your pelvic muscles.
What type of treatments could you receive?
Depending on your symptoms, your physiotherapist may use the following treatments:
General education
Your physiotherapist will give your details about the disease, pelvic floor anatomy, the types of treatment and how these can improve pain and other symptoms. They might teach you about the changes to the brain and nerves as a result of being in long-term pain.
They will provide guidance to improve your ability to perform daily activities, including getting quality sleep.
If you experience pain during sex or difficulty using tampons, they may teach you how to use vaginal dilators to improve flexibility of those muscles.
Pelvic muscle exercises
Pelvic muscles often contract too hard as a result of pain. Pelvic floor exercises will help you contract and relax muscles appropriately and provide an awareness of how hard muscles are contracting.
This can be combined with machines that monitor muscle activity or vaginal pressure to provide detailed information on how the muscles are working.
Yoga, stretching and low-impact exercises
Yoga, stretching and low impact aerobic exercise can improve fitness, flexibility, pain and blood circulation. These have general pain-relieving properties and can be a great way to contract and relax bigger muscles affected by long-term endometriosis.
These exercises can help you regain function and control with a gradual progression to perform daily activities with reduced pain.
Low-impact exercise can reduce pain. ABO Photography/Shutterstock Hydrotherapy (physiotherapy in warm water)
Performing exercises in water improves blood circulation and muscle relaxation due to the pressure and warmth of the water. Hydrotherapy allows you to perform aerobic exercise with low impact, which will reduce pain while exercising.
However, while hydrotherapy shows positive results clinically, scientific studies to show its effectiveness studies are ongoing.
Manual therapy
Women frequently have small areas of muscle that are tight and painful (trigger points) inside and outside the vagina. Pain can be temporarily reduced by pressing, massaging or putting heat on the muscles.
Physiotherapists can teach patients how to do these techniques by themselves at home.
What does the evidence say?
Overall, patients report positive experiences pelvic health physiotherapists treatments. In a study of 42 women, 80% of those who received manual therapy had “much improved pain”.
In studies investigating yoga, one study showed pain was reduced in 28 patients by an average of 30 points on a 100-point pain scale. Another study showed yoga was beneficial for pain in all 15 patients.
But while some studies show this treatment is effective, a review concluded more studies were needed and the use of physiotherapy was “underestimated and underpublicised”.
What else do you need to know?
If you have or suspect you have endometriosis, consult your gynaecologist or GP. They may be able to suggest a pelvic health physiotherapist to help you manage your symptoms and improve quality of life.
As endometriosis is a chronic condition you may be entitled to five subsidised or free sessions per calendar year in clinics that accept Medicare.
If you go to a private pelvic health physiotherapist, you won’t need a referral from a gynaecologist or GP. Physiotherapy rebates can be available to those with private health insurance.
The Australian Physiotherapy Association has a Find a Physio section where you can search for women’s and pelvic physiotherapists. Endometriosis Australia also provides assistance and advice to women with Endometriosis.
Thanks to UTS Masters students Phoebe Walker and Kasey Collins, who are researching physiotherapy treatments for endometriosis, for their contribution to this article.
Peter Stubbs, Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy, University of Technology Sydney and Caroline Wanderley Souto Ferreira, Visiting Professor of Physiotherapy, University of Technology Sydney
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Magnesium Glycinate vs Magnesium Citrate – Which is Healthier?
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Our Verdict
When comparing magnesium glycinate to magnesium citrate, we picked the citrate.
Why?
Both are fine sources of magnesium, a nutrient in which it’s very common to be deficient—a lot of people don’t eat many leafy greens, beans, nuts, and so forth that contain it.
A quick word on a third contender we didn’t include here: magnesium oxide is probably the most widely-sold magnesium supplement because it’s cheapest to make. It also has woeful bioavailability, to the point that there seems to be negligible benefit to taking it. So we don’t recommend that.
Magnesium glycinate and magnesium citrate are both absorbed well, but magnesium citrate is the most well-absorbed form of magnesium supplement.
In terms of the relative merits of the glycine or the citric acid (the “other part” of magnesium glycinate and magnesium citrate, respectively), both are also great nutrients, but the amount delivered with the magnesium is quite small in each case, and so there’s nothing here to swing it one way or the other.
For this reason, we went with the magnesium citrate, as the most readily bioavailable!
Want to try them out?
Here they are on Amazon:
Magnesium glycinate | Magnesium citrate
Enjoy!
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Why Psyllium Is Healthy Through-And-Through
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Psyllium is the powder of the husk of the seed of the plant Plantago ovata.
It can be taken as a supplement, and/or used in cooking.
What’s special about it?
It is fibrous, and the fiber is largely soluble fiber. It’s a “bulk-forming laxative”, which means that (dosed correctly) it is good against both constipation (because it’s a laxative) and diarrhea (because it’s bulk-forming).
See also, because this is Research Review Monday and we provide papers for everything:
In other words, it will tend things towards being a 3 or 4 on the Bristol Stool Scale ← this is not pretty, but it is informative.
Before the bowels
Because of how it increases the viscosity of substances it finds itself in, psyllium slows stomach-emptying, and thus improves feelings of satiety.
Here’s a study in which taking psyllium before breakfast and lunch resulted in increased satiety between meals, and reduction in food-related cravings:
Satiety effects of psyllium in healthy volunteers
Prebiotic benefits
We can’t digest psyllium, but our gut bacteria can—somewhat! Because they can only digest some of the psyllium fibers, that means the rest will have the stool-softening effect, while we also get the usual in-gut benefits from prebiotic fiber first too:
The Effect of Psyllium Husk on Intestinal Microbiota in Constipated Patients and Healthy Controls
Cholesterol-binding
Psyllium can bind to cholesterol during the digestive process. Why only “can”? Well, if you don’t consume cholesterol (for example, if you are vegan), then there won’t be cholesterol in the digestive tract to bind to (yes, we do need some cholesterol to live, but like most animals, we can synthesize it ourselves).
What this cholesterol-binding action means is that the dietary cholesterol thus bound cannot enter the bloodstream, and is simply excreted instead:
Heart health beyond cholesterol
Psyllium supplementation can also help lower high blood pressure but does not significantly lower already-healthy blood pressure, so it can be particularly good for keeping things in safe ranges:
❝Given the overarching benefits and lack of reported side effects, particularly for hypertensive patients, health care providers and clinicians should consider the use of psyllium supplementation for the treatment or abatement of hypertension, or hypertensive symptoms.❞
Read in full: The effect of psyllium supplementation on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials ← you can see the concrete numbers here
Is it safe?
Psyllium is first and foremost a foodstuff, and is considered very safe unless you have an allergy (which is rare, but possible).
However, it is still recommended to start at a low dose and work up, because anything that changes your gut microbiota, even if it changes it for the better, will be easiest if done slowly (or else, you will hear about it from your gut).
Want to try some?
We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon
Enjoy!
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The Problem With Sweeteners
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The WHO’s new view on sugar-free sweeteners
The WHO has released a report offering guidance regards the use of sugar-free sweeteners as part of a weight-loss effort.
In a nutshell, the guidance is: don’t
- Here’s the report itself: Use of non-sugar sweeteners: WHO guideline
- Here’s the WHO’s own press release about it: WHO advises not to use non-sugar sweeteners for weight control in newly released guideline
- And it was based on this huge systematic review: Health effects of the use of non-sugar sweeteners: a systematic review and meta-analysis
They make for interesting reading, so if you don’t have time now, you might want to just quickly open and bookmark them for later!
Some salient bits and pieces:
Besides that some sweeteners can cause gastro-intestinal problems, a big problem is desensitization:
Because many sugar substitutes are many times (in some cases, hundreds of times) sweeter than sugar, this leads to other sweet foods tasting more bland, causing people to crave sweeter and sweeter foods for the same satisfaction level.
You can imagine how that’s not a spiral that’s good for the health!
The WHO recommendation applies to artificial and naturally-occurring non-sugar sweeteners, including:
- Acesulfame K
- Advantame
- Aspartame
- Cyclamates
- Neotame
- Saccharin
- Stevia
Sucralose and erythritol, by the way, technically are sugars, just not “that kind of sugar” so they didn’t make the list of non-sugar sweeteners.
That said, a recent study did find that erythritol was linked to a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and early death, so it may not be an amazing sweetener either:
Read: The artificial sweetener erythritol and cardiovascular event risk
Want to know a good way of staying healthy in the context of sweeteners?
Just get used to using less. Your taste buds will adapt, and you’ll get just as much pleasure as before, from progressively less sweetening agent.
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In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts – by Dr. Gabor Maté
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We’ve reviewed books by Dr. Maté before, and this one’s about addiction. We’ve reviewed books about addiction before too, so what makes this one different?
Wow, is this one so different. Most books about addiction are about “beating” it. Stop drinking, quit sugar, etc. And, that’s all well and good. It is definitely good to do those things. But this one’s about understanding it, deeply. Because, as Dr. Maté makes very clear, “there, but for the grace of epigenetics and environmental factors, go we”.
Indeed, most of us will have addictions; they’re (happily) just not too problematic for most of us, being either substances that are not too harmful (e.g. coffee), or behavioral addictions that aren’t terribly impacting our lives (e.g. Dr. Maté’s compulsion to keep buying more classical music, which he then tries to hide from his wife).
The book does also cover a lot of much more serious addictions, the kind that have ruined lives, and the kind that definitely didn’t need to, if people had been given the right kind of help—instead of, all too often, they got the opposite.
Perhaps the greatest value of this book is that; understanding what creates addiction in the first place, what maintains it, and what help people actually need.
Bottom line: if you’d like more insight into the human aspect of addiction without getting remotely wishy-washy, this book is probably the best one out there.
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