Cinannamon has been used as a spice and herbal medicine for thousands of years ago. In traditional Chinese medicine they use cinnamon as a means to provide relief from menstrual pain, colds, flatulence, nausea and diarrhea. It’s also believed to improve blood circulation, acting as an anti-microbial, boosting brain function, and protecting against heart disease.

Recent studies have found that Cinnamon may help lower blood sugar levels, triglycerides (fatty acids in the blood), LDL (or “bad”) cholesterol, and total cholesterol in people who have diabetes.

Scientists, led by Dr. Richard A. Anderson from the Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, United States Department of Agriculture examined  60 people in Pakistan with Type 2 diabetes. This study had demonstrated that intake of 1, 3, or 6 g of cinnamon per day lowered fasting blood sugar by 18 to 29 percent, triglycerides by 23 to 30 percent, LDL cholesterol by 7 to 27 percent, and total cholesterol by 12 to 26 percent. One gram is the equivalent of about a half a teaspoon.

The study ran for forty days, but the healthful effects persisted even through the twenty day washout period from when the subjects stopped taking the cinnamon capsules and the last blood work of the study was performed.

But research results have not been consistent. As for cholesterol control, the effects seen in the Pakistan study don’t equal those of better-studied statin.

According to Dr. Frank Sacks, a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and a professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health found that Cinnamon is a lot less effective than statins” at lowering cholesterol levels in the blood,

Anderson has cautioned that powdered cinnamon in your spice rack is not water soluble, meaning it can build up in your body’s fat tissues. The toxic effect of high levels of cinnamon are not well understood. Also, saliva can break down some of the beneficial chemicals in cinnamon, so it must be taken in capsule form to be effective.

Cinnamon contain cinnamaldehyde and coumarin. These compound can be toxic in large doses, a regular use of substantial amounts (e.g. 1/2 teaspoon amounts) of ground cinnamon may be unsafe. Recent information provided by the Federal Institute of Risk Assessment “states that coumarin may damage the liver of particularly sensitive individuals.

The best advice is to always consult with your doctor before starting any medications or supplements if you have a health condition or if you’re taking any medication. Take note that consuming a large amount of cinnamon (usually as a supplement) may cause you to experience a fast heart rate, upset stomach and excessive perspiration.

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If you have found out from your doctor or from doing home cholesterol test that you have a high total cholesterol level, one of the first things you need to do is to change your diet to a low cholesterol diet to help you lower your cholesterol. This is because a high cholesterol level is very dangerous for you and might cause you serious heart diseases or even a heart attack.

A low cholesterol diet does not have to be hard to stick to, as you can still enjoy some of the foods you always like. However, you really need to stay away from foods that contain saturated or trans fats, as they are among the major leading causes to having a high cholesterol level.

To have a low cholesterol diet means that you should replace the saturated fat in your diet with unsaturated fat besides eating less high-cholesterol food and choosing foods that are high in complex carbohydrates. You should also make sure that you get more physical activity and try reducing your weight if you are overweight.

Determining What is Low Cholesterol Food and What Isn’t

Before starting on a low cholesterol level, you should first know what low cholesterol food is and what isn’t. This will help you create a diet which is low in cholesterol to help you lower your total cholesterol levels. There are many different types of food that can be classified as low cholesterol foods, so that you do not need to give all the food you love to have a low cholesterol diet.

Cholesterol is most usually found in foods of animal origin, such as meat, poultry, and eggs, including milk and cheese. In animals, cholesterol is part of the cell membrane structure of all cells. That is why removing the skin from a chicken will remove most of the fat, but will not remove all the cholesterol.

However, in dairy foods the amount of cholesterol involved depends on the amount of fat as milk is secreted from animal cells and not made up of cells like meat. Although it has no cholesterol-containing cell membranes, but because cholesterol is fat soluble, it can b found in fats in milk and milk-based foods. That is why if a dairy product contains more fat, it will also contain more cholesterol, so always choose low fat dairy products when sticking to a low cholesterol diet.

Converting To A Low Cholesterol Recipe

If you found out that you have high cholesterol, you must start converting some of foods you love to a low cholesterol version. You must also learn to live without some of the foods that have been causing you to get a high cholesterol level in the first place. Learning how to make your foods using a low cholesterol recipe is one way to lower your cholesterol levels

Converting your food to a low cholesterol recipe is not a very difficult thing to do. All you need is a little bit of willpower and you can start enjoying cholesterol free or lower cholesterol version of your favorite foods. The taste will not differ much as long as you know how to add flavor into your cooking without using saturated fats and other harmful foods that contribute to more cholesterol problems.

The easiest way to get started on low cholesterol recipe is to start with one day’s menu. You can include a safe amount of food fats into your diet at first so that you can ease the transition period from your normal food to the low cholesterol diet, and make this change easier on you.

A good way to start a low cholesterol diet with a low cholesterol recipe is trying a serving of oatmeal, honey, and an apple for breakfast. Mixing oats, fat free milk, and a little honey and chopped apple will make a great delicious cholesterol free breakfast. For lunch, you can follow up with a salmon and tomato sandwich with a side salad. For tasty salad dressing, you can try using lemon juice and black pepper as a low cholesterol option. For dinner, you can have stir-fried chicken breast, veggies, and some rice will make you enjoy your low cholesterol diet. You can also try using brown rice instead of white rice for a lower cholesterol diet.

Make changes one step at a time, and in no time you will start enjoying a healthier life with lower cholesterol level. These changes will prevent you from having heart diseases caused by your diet. You will soon find that you enjoy the low cholesterol food as much as or more than your previous high cholesterol food.

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