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Cinnamon tea is an interesting beverage that may offer several health benefits.
It’s made from the inner bark of the cinnamon tree, which curls into rolls while drying, forming the recognizable cinnamon sticks. These sticks are either steeped in boiling water, or ground into a powder that can be used to make the tea.
Cinnamon tea is full of beneficial compounds that may offer various health benefits, including aiding weight loss, improving heart health, alleviating menstrual cramps, and reducing inflammation and blood sugar levels.
Loaded with antioxidants
Cinnamon tea contains lots of antioxidants, which are beneficial compounds that help keep you healthy.
Antioxidants fight off oxidation caused by free radicals, which are molecules that damage your cells and contribute to diseases like diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.
Cinnamon is particularly rich in polyphenol antioxidants. A study comparing the antioxidant activity of 26 spices reported that cinnamon is only outranked by cloves and oregano (1Trusted Source, 2, 3Trusted Source).
In addition, research shows that cinnamon tea can increase total antioxidant capacity (TAC), which is a measure of the amount of free radicals your body can fight off (2, 4Trusted Source, 5).
Lowers inflammation and may improve heart health
Test-tube studies suggest that compounds in cinnamon may reduce markers of inflammation. This may be immensely beneficial, given that inflammation is thought to be at the root of many chronic diseases, including heart disease (6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).
Studies also report that cinnamon may reduce blood pressure, as well as triglyceride and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in some individuals (8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source).
What’s more, cinnamon may increase levels of HDL (good) cholesterol, which helps improve your heart health by removing excess cholesterol from your blood vessels (5, 9Trusted Source).
A review of 10 studies found that consuming as little as 120 mg of cinnamon — less than a 1/10 teaspoon — each day may be sufficient to help you reap these benefits (9Trusted Source).
Cassia cinnamon, in particular, contains high amounts of natural coumarins, a group of compounds that helps prevent the narrowing of blood vessels and offers protection against blood clots (10Trusted Source, 11Trusted Source, 12Trusted Source).
However, excess intake of coumarins may reduce liver function and increase the risk of bleeding, so make sure you consume cinnamon in moderation (9Trusted Source).
May help reduce blood sugar
Cinnamon may provide powerful antidiabetic effects by lowering blood sugar levels.
This spice appears to act in a manner similar to that of insulin, the hormone responsible for shuttling sugar out of your bloodstream and into your tissues (13Trusted Source, 14Trusted Source).
What’s more, compounds found in cinnamon may further contribute to lower blood sugar levels by lowering insulin resistance, thereby increasing insulin’s effectiveness (15Trusted Source, 16Trusted Source).
Cinnamon may also help slow the breakdown of carbs in your gut, preventing your blood sugar levels from spiking after meals (17Trusted Source).
Most studies observed benefits when people took concentrated doses ranging from 120 mg to 6 grams of powdered cinnamon. However, there’s evidence that cinnamon tea may also offer blood-sugar-reducing benefits (4Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source).
May promote weight loss
Cinnamon tea is often touted to help with weight loss, and several studies have linked cinnamon intake to fat loss or reductions in waist circumference (18Trusted Source).
However, few of these studies have properly controlled for calorie intake, and most have failed to distinguish between fat loss and muscle loss. This makes it difficult to attribute the weight loss effects to cinnamon alone.
The only study that controlled for these factors reported that participants lost 0.7% of fat mass and gained 1.1% of muscle mass after they took the equivalent of 5 teaspoons (10 grams) of cinnamon powder per day for 12 weeks (19Trusted Source).
However, such large amounts of cinnamon may contain dangerously high amounts of coumarin. When consumed in excess, this natural compound may increase the risk of bleeding and cause or worsen liver disease (9Trusted Source, 20Trusted Source).
This is especially true for Cassia cinnamon, which contains up to 63 times more coumarin than Ceylon cinnamon (12Trusted Source).
More research is needed to confirm whether any weight loss benefits occur at lower dosages, such as those found in cinnamon tea.
