Effect of oral cinnamon intervention on metabolic profile and body composition of Asian Indians with metabolic syndrome: a randomized double -blind control trial

Abstract

Nutritional modulation remains central to the management of metabolic syndrome. Intervention with cinnamon in individuals with metabolic syndrome remains sparsely researched. Methods: We investigated the effect of oral cinnamon consumption on body composition and metabolic parameters of Asian Indians with metabolic syndrome. In this 16-week double blind randomized control trial, 116 individuals with metabolic syndrome were randomized to two dietary intervention groups, cinnamon [6 capsules (3 g) daily] or wheat flour [6 capsules (2.5 g) daily]. Body composition, blood pressure and metabolic parameters were assessed. .9, 1.5) p = 0.001] was observed in the cinnamon group compared to placebo group. Other parameters which showed significantly greater improvement were: waist-hip ratio, blood pressure, serum total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, serum triglycerides, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Prevalence of defined metabolic syndrome was significantly reduced in the intervention group (34.5%) vs. the placebo group (5.2%). Conclusion: A single supplement intervention with 3 g cinnamon for 16 weeks resulted in significant improvements in all components of metabolic syndrome in a sample of Asian Indians in north India. Trial registration: The clinical trial was retrospectively registered (after the recruitment of the participants) in ClinicalTrial.gov under the identification number: NCT02455778 on 25th May 2015.

Effects of cinnamon supplementation on body weight and composition in adults: A systematic review and meta‐analysis of controlled clinical trials

“…The majority of the studies used cinnamon powder in the form of capsule (17 studies) (Akilen et al, ; Aldayel, ; Askari et al, ; Azimi et al, ; Blevins et al, ; Borzoei et al, ; Gupta Jain et al, ; Haghighian et al, ; Hajimonfarednejad et al, ; Mirfeizi et al, ; Nakhaei et al, ; Shishehbor et al, ; Soni & Bhatnagar, ; Torabi et al, ; Vafa et al, ; Wainstein et al, ; Zare et al, ), and the four remaining studies used the cinnamon extract (Anderson et al, ; Talaat & Ammar, ; Weitgasser et al, ; Ziegenfuss et al, ). The 11 trials were conducted in individuals with T2DM (Akilen et al, ; Azimi et al, ; Blevins et al, ; Haghighian et al, ; Mirfeizi et al, ; Soni & Bhatnagar, ; Torabi et al, ; Vafa et al, ; Wainstein et al, ; Weitgasser et al, ; Zare et al, ), and the other trials included women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) (three trials) (Borzoei et al, ; Hajimonfarednejad et al, ; Talaat & Ammar, ), participants with overweight (two trials) (Aldayel, ; Nakhaei et al, ), MetS and prediabetes (three trials) (Anderson et al, ; Gupta Jain et al, ; Ziegenfuss et al, ), nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) (one trials) (Askari et al, ), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (one trial) (Shishehbor et al, ). In general, the administered dose of cinnamon for these included trials ranged between 336 mg/d of cinnamon extract to 10,000 mg/day of cinnamon powder.…”

“…No indication of bias because of selective reporting or attrition was observed. In total, seven trials had a low risk of bias (Akilen et al, ; Askari et al, ; Gupta Jain et al, ; Hajimonfarednejad et al, ; Shishehbor et al, ; Wainstein et al, ; Zare et al, ), 12 trials were judged to be “unclear risk” (Anderson et al, ; Blevins et al, ; Borzoei et al, ; Haghighian et al, ; Mirfeizi et al, ; Nakhaei et al, ; Soni & Bhatnagar, ; Talaat & Ammar, ; Torabi et al, ; Vafa et al, ; Weitgasser et al, ; Ziegenfuss et al, ), and two studies were “high risk” (Aldayel, ; Azimi et al, ).…”

“…Twenty trials with twenty‐two treatment arms (n = 1458) reported the effect of the cinnamon on BMI (Akilen et al, ; Aldayel, ; Anderson et al, ; Askari et al, ; Blevins et al, ; Borzoei et al, ; Gupta Jain et al, ; Haghighian et al, ; Hajimonfarednejad et al, ; Mirfeizi et al, ; Nakhaei et al, ; Shishehbor et al, ; Soni & Bhatnagar, ; Talaat & Ammar, ; Torabi et al, ; Vafa et al, ; Wainstein et al, ; Weitgasser et al, ; Zare et al, ). The meta‐analysis revealed that cinnamon supplementation reduces the BMI by −0.40 kg/m 2 (95% CI: −0.58, −0.23 kg/m 2 ; p < .001) and a substantial heterogeneity was seen between the included studies (Cochran's Q test, Q statistic = 99.32, p < .001, I 2 = 78.9%) (Figure ).…”

“…Lifestyle change including dietary interventions and physical activity is regarded as an inevitable part of obesity treatment strategies (Swift, Johannsen, Lavie, Earnest, & Church, ). Although reduced dietary energy intake is an important part of weight‐reducing diets, a number of studies have revealed that including functional foods like cinnamon, ginger, pepper, cumin, and garlic (Ebrahimzadeh Attari, Ostadrahimi, Asghari Jafarabadi, Mehralizadeh, & Mahluji, ; Gupta Jain, Puri, Misra, Gulati, & Mani, ; Szulinska et al, ; Zare, Heshmati, Fallahzadeh, & Nadjarzadeh, ; Zheng, Zheng, Feng, Zhang, & Xiao, ) in the diet might improve the weight reduction.…”

“…Although several studies have supported the anti‐obesity effect of cinnamon (Aldayel, ; Gupta Jain et al, ; Mirfeizi et al, ; Zare, Nadjarzadeh, Zarshenas, Shams, & Heydari, ; Ziegenfuss, Hofheins, Mendel, Landis, & Anderson, ), the others have led to conflicting results (Askari, Rashidkhani, & Hekmatdoost, ; Azimi, Ghiasvand, Feizi, Hariri, & Abbasi, ; Talaat & Ammar, ; Wainstein, Stern, Heller, & Boaz, ; Weitgasser et al, ). A recent meta‐analysis indicated that cinnamon might not have a significant impact on body weight, waist circumference (WC), and body mass index (BMI) (Namazi et al, ) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.…”