A Look At Cinnamon And Heart Health Research

While, there is no proven link between cinnamon and heart health, there are several reasons that friends, family and even those in the health industry may suggest cinnamon for heart health.

If you are interested in heart health, you should first understand the controllable risk factors. Type II, adult onset or diabetes mellitus, obesity, unhealthy cholesterol levels, physical inactivity and high blood pressure are among the risk factors that are considered controllable. This means that with proper diet, exercise and, in some cases, medication these factors can be treated or controlled.

Clinical trials in Europe in 2003 and 2006 support the use of cinnamon to lower blood glucose levels in patients with type-2 diabetes. Since this is one of the risk factors for developing heart disease, these studies may have lead to the promotion of cinnamon for heart health.

There is some confusion over which type of cinnamon was used in the trials. There are several types. In the United States, the most common type sold for flavoring is cassia. Some health agencies have advised against consuming high amounts of cassia, because of a component found in the plant which is toxic to the liver and kidneys.

Cinnamon is widely used in "fat-burners". You have probably seen them advertised in magazines on the internet or TV. They are typically sold in health supplement stores. These products are supposed to help you lose weight by helping your body burn more fat. There is no clear scientific evidence that they will work for everyone, but some research does support their use and some people swear by them.

The American Heart Association and other groups involved in collecting and researching information related to heart health has this advice about weight. If you are overweight, it is important for the health of your heart to lose the weight. But, it is also very important to keep the weight off. Gaining and losing twenty or thirty pounds over the course of your lifetime is believed to be unhealthy, possibly as unhealthy as chronic obesity. If someone has recommended that you try cinnamon for heart health and you are overweight, it may be because of cinnamons possible fat-burning attributes.

A study published in the Indian Journal of Experimental Biology in 1999 seems to support the use of cinnamon as a fat burner, possibly supporting a link between cinnamon and heart health. In this study, the type of cinnamon used was Cinnamomum Verum, sometimes referred to as "true cinnamon". Southern India is one of the places where this plant was originally cultivated. Unlike cassia, no health risks are associated with the use of cinnamomum verum, but it may be harder to find.

In the study, rats were fed a diet high in fat, complemented with cinnamon. Researchers did not see the expected increase in cholesterol levels in the blood stream. This may indicate that cinnamon can help reduce or control unhealthy cholesterol levels, but more research is needed.

Clomid and Other Fertility Drugs a Cause of Autism

On May 20, 2010, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health presented their findings from a study exploring the possible relationship between the use of fertility drugs and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The scientists reported to attendees at the International Meeting for Autism Research in Philadelphia that women who used fertility drugs to get pregnant had almost double the risk of having a child with ASD verses nonusers. The drugs studied included Clomid (clomiphene citrate) and Pergonal (gonadotropin).

This recent study is part of a growing body of research that strengthens the argument that Clomid and other similar drugs are a cause of ASD via their ability to deny cholesterol to a developing embryo shortly after conception. About 58% of ASD children have low total cholesterol (<160 mg/dL) and about 19% have extremely low total cholesterol (<100 mg/dL). The average level for children is 165 mg/dL. It has also been observed that a high percentage of children born with Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS), in addition to a wide array of birth defects are also born with ASD. Infants with SLOS are born with a defective enzyme that impairs the body's ability to convert a precursor (7-dehydrocholesterol) to cholesterol. About 71-86% of these children suffer from ASD. Cholesterol is essential for growth of the myelin membranes that cover the brain and abnormalities in the myelin sheath are believed to be a contributing cause of ASD. Many experts thus believe that low cholesterol during early embryonic development is one of the causes of ASD.      

Clomid has a long half-life and is present during the embryonic period (first 8 weeks) even when taken before conception. Studies have shown it to be biologically active for up to 54 days after ingestion and that it can accumulate over successive cycles of treatment. In the Harvard study they found that the longer the use of fertility drugs, the higher the risk of developing ASD. A critically important fact - and one not known by most physicians prescribing the drug - is that Clomid is a cholesterol inhibitor and impairs its production by acting upon enzymes in the body similar to Lipitor and other statin drugs. Its chemical structure is also similar to the cholesterol-reducing drug, Triparanol, which was briefly available during the 1960s. Animal studies have shown that Clomid and Triparanol both act on the same enzyme and affect developing organs in a similar way, with Triparanol being slightly more potent.

Pergonal (also known as human menopausal gonadotropin or hMG) likewise reduces cholesterol, but by way of a different mechanism. Namely, it suppresses cholesterol levels in early pregnancy via its ability to elevate estrogen production. Studies have established that following hyperstimulation of the ovaries by Pergonal, the resulting elevated estrogen during the luteal (post-ovulation) phase of the cycle suppresses the level of total cholesterol.  In fact, there is an inverse correlation between concentrations of estrogen and the level of total cholesterol - the higher the level of estrogen, the lower the concentration of total cholesterol.    

The GOOD NEWS is that many ASD children with low cholesterol, treated with cholesterol supplementation, have shown dramatic improvement. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center, led by Dr. Richard Kelley, have shown such treatment resulting in improved mobility, verbalization, growth, behavior, sociability and alertness. More importantly, once we have a full understanding about a cause of ASD, we will be in a position to eliminate that cause and reduce the number of families impacted by this tragic abnormality.