title: Effect of short-term administration of cinnamon on blood pressure in patients with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to systematically review and evaluate the effect of short-term administration of cinnamon on blood pressure regulation in patients with prediabetes and type 2 diabetes by performing a meta-analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical literature for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the effect of cinnamon on blood pressure was systematically searched; three original articles published between January 2000 and September 2012 were identified from the MEDLINE database and a hand search of the reference lists of the articles obtained through MEDLINE. The search terms included cinnamon or blood pressure or systolic blood pressure (SBP) or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) or diabetes. A random effects model was used to calculate weighted mean difference and 95% confidence intervals (CI).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The pooled estimate of the effect of cinnamon intake on SBP and DBP demonstrated that the use of cinnamon significantly decreased SBP and DBP by 5.39 mm Hg (95% CI, -6.89 to -3.89) and 2.6 mm Hg (95% CI, -4.53 to -0.66) respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Consumption of cinnamon (short term) is associated with a notable reduction in SBP and DBP. Although cinnamon shows hopeful effects on BP-lowering potential, it would be premature to recommend cinnamon for BP control because of the limited number of studies available. Thus, undoubtedly a long-term, adequately powered RCT involving a larger number of patients is needed to appraise the clinical potential of cinnamon on BP control among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. rakilen22@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Rajadurai
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Akilen
authors.forename: Zeller
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pimlott
authors.forename: Amalia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsiami
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Robinson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects*; D002935:Cinnamomum zeylanicum / Q000737:chemistry*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D011236:Prediabetic State / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose
keywords: Blood glucose; Blood pressure; Cinnamon; Diabetes; Randomized control trials