(Andrea Busalacchi) Convivial dinners and plenty of food are typical of Christmas holidays. After having fat and caloric food, we have to face the scales and our health. But don’t worry, because it is possible to reduce consequences of these pleasant Christmas “vices”. Cinnamon lovers will be happy to know that this spice has got fundamental and really useful qualities for our health.

According to Imperial College of London’s studies, cinnamon carries out an hypoglycemic and hypolipidic action in our organism. For 12 weeks, a sample of 55-year-old individuals suffering from type 2 diabetes – because of this disease, body doesn’t produce enough insulin or cells ignore insulin – received a 2-gram-cinnamon food supplement or some placebo in a random order. Results were striking: 2 grams of cinnamon per day managed to reduce blood glucose (-20%), and to protect the organism of people suffering from diabetes (cinnamon contains polyphenol MHCP, a substance able to activate insulin receptors).

And that’s not all. Cinnamon doesn’t carry out only a hypoglycemic action, but cuts also values of arterial pressure, blood cholesterol and triglycerides. To cut blood glucose down allows cinnamon to take care of our figure. To add half a teaspoon of cinnamon to what we usually eat a day is enough to watch our figure.