Cinnamon can cool your body, improve health

Melbourne

Adding cinnamon to diet can cool your body by up to two degrees and lead to a significant improvement in overall health, researchers including one of Indian origin have claimed.

The results of the study on pigs show that cinnamon maintained the integrity of the stomach wall, said project leader Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, from RMIT University in Australia.

"When pigs feed at room temperature, carbon dioxide (CO2) gas increases in their stomach.

"Cinnamon in their food reduces this gas by decreasing the secretion of gastric acid and pepsin from the stomach walls, which in turn cools the pigs' stomachs during digestion," said Kalantar-zadeh.

"When the pigs are hot, they hyperventilate, which reduces CO2 production. With cinnamon treatment, CO2 decreases even further. This not only cools the pigs but leads to a significant improvement in their overall health," said Kalantar-zadeh.

"Altogether cinnamon cooled the stomach by up to two degrees Celsius. No wonder cinnamon is so popular in warm regions as taking it makes people feel better and gives them a feeling of cooling down," said Dr Jian Zhen Ou, fellow researcher along with Naresh Pillai from RMIT University             Kalantar-zadeh said gut gases were the by-product of digestion and could provide valuable insights into the functioning and health of the gut.

"Our experiments with pigs and cinnamon show how swallowable gas sensor capsules can help provide new physiological information that will improve our understanding of diet or medicine," said Kalantar-zadeh.

"They are a highly reliable device for monitoring and diagnosing gastrointestinal disorders. They will revolutionise food science as we know it," said Kalantar-zadeh. — PTI