A study indicates that a cinnamon-water solution contains anti-oxidants that can slash chances of getting either disease by up to 23 percent.

The Centre for Applied Health Sciences researchers in Fairlawn, Ohio, US, studied a group of `pre-diabetic` obese people. Pre-diabetes precedes full-blown diabetes.

Half the participants were given 250 mg of water-soluble cinnamon to take daily, the other half had a placebo.

Sufferers become resistant to higher-than-normal levels of insulin -- the hormone used to regulate blood-sugar levels -- produced by the pancreas.

Blood was collected at the start and end of the survey, published by the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, with cinnamon drinkers recording a 13 to 23 percent increase in antioxidants linked to lowering blood-sugar levels.

Richard Anderson, who led the study for the US Department of Agriculture, said that more research was needed into the effectiveness of cinnamon juice in preventing diabetes and heart disease.

Text courtesy: ANI

Image: Flickr/creativecommons S.Diddy