Cinnamon can reverse changes in the brains of mice with Parkinsons

[lvs]

Because it's clear there isn't a lot of expertise in this thread, I'd like to make clear that nobody should be doing the cinnamon challenge based on these results, or the results of the authors' previous study on the topic. So far, the authors have some interesting data from cell lines and now a mouse model of PD. Specifically, the mouse model is generated by chemical intoxication with a molecule called MPTP, which results in damage to dopaminergic cells in the substantia nigra, the region of the brain whose degeneration is predominantly implicated in the etiology of PD. There is good reason to be skeptical about whether this animal model of the disease is clinically relevant to sporadic PD seen in patients. Furthermore, dramatic results seen in a very obscure journal (i.e. not a mainline journal for neurodegenerative research) should generally result in knee-jerk skepticism until others repeat the work and a more significant review process has taken place. It should go without saying that there have been many compounds in the past two decades to show some interesting results at a preclinical stage that have not passed muster when moving to real patients.

[autokad]

i dont care what you say, i see this as a green light to eat more cinnabuns.

[fragsworth]

It's sort of gimmicky to say that Cinnamon does this, because it's known to be sodium benzoate that causes this effect.

In 2012 they discovered that sodium benzoate has an effect on Parkinson's disease proteins: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21701815.

This new study is, at least, a confirmation of the older study, and is also an attempt to use it to treat the disease.

[nate]

Interesting. I didn't realize cinnamon metabolized to sodium benzoate. I've actually been trying to avoid sodium benzoate, especially in soft drinks because of worry what that preservative could possibly be doing to us (especially in the presence of vitamin c) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_benzoate But I've been purposefully eating a bunch of Cinnamon.

It's hard to reconcile sometimes what might be good for me or if it's killing me - Nicotine may have helped a young girl with epilepsy. http://www.clickorlando.com/news/central-florida-doctor-find...

[mojobot]

I don't think it's gimmicky. Cinnamon is cheap and easy to make and easy to deliver to the patient. Those practical implications are lost if it's only referred to as sodium benzoate. I don't know if this research is done with the same grants as the MS/Cinnamon study from the NIH, but it sounds like it: http://www.rush.edu/webapps/MEDREL/servlet/NewsRelease?id=15...

[theophrastus]

weelllll the effect is supported in mice; likely after absorption. that is, starting with sodium benzoate may not survive the digestion process sufficiently before arrival at the target tissue (possibly the substantia nigra)

besides: cinnamon rolls! (with the more cinnamon the better)

[dnautics]

For US HN'ers, "cinnamon" that is commonly used as a flavorant in the US is Cassia; Ceylon cinnamon has a milder taste that is slightly different and may be a little bit unusual for American tongues.

[driverdan]

If you want the really good stuff try Vietnamese cinnamon (also known as Saigon). It has the highest essential oil content and is very aromatic.

[realrocker]

Naive comment: Indian food is loaded with cinnamon. Especially sweets. So why is India host to second largest population of Parkinsons afflicted[1]? Or maybe people are not served cinnamon rich food as they grow older because they are also rich in fat and sugar? I guess orthogonal studies like these don't have much value. There are obviously several other factors at work here.

1. http://www.epda.eu.com/en/parkinsons/life-with-parkinsons/pa...

Edit: Explicit naivety Edit 2: Hold on. Just glossed over the fact that we also have the second largest population on earth. In that case, there might be a correlation after all.

[SoftwareMaven]

The real question is why is the US so high? Our rates are almost as high as India's, with 1/3 the population. I have a feeling it is likely diet related, and possibly due to either the "low fat" craze not providing building blocks in the brain or the industrial fats (in particular trans fats but maybe the massive quantities of n-6 fats) causing structures to be built incorrectly or causing excess inflammation.

So, that's my hypothesis based on having done a lot of nutrition research but no Parkinson's research. Does anybody have any real info about why the US rates are so high?

[pedroo]

Was just going to comment prior to your edit, but we really should compare rates of occurrance rather than population size.

[hangonhn]

Don't underestimate the value of "naivety". Gives people a fresh set of perspectives.

[alexholehouse]

Original article http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11481-014-9552-2 (paywalled)

[Scitr]

http://scitr.com/a14

[f4stjack]

Dammit, I first understood this as the Desktop Manager and awkwardly asked "How can a software change the... oh!"

Need to take a vacation it seems XD

[AnonymousGriper]

To get a better perspective here, I wish there was discussion around ... I dunno ... the full text of the actual study discussing dosage levels, etc. Also some knowledge of gram-per-gram conversion of cinnamon to sodium benzoate through its hepatic metabolism might be informative. But, sigh, let's just rant and call each other names.

[jzymbaluk]

My mom was kind of a health nut when we were a kid, she was getting organic food way before it was in vogue to do so, and I remember when she got us Cinnamon capsules to take in the morning with our other vitamins. I always thought it was silly to take a caplet full of cinammon, but I guess maybe there was something to it

[Someone1234]

Are you seriously suggesting that people should go buy a bunch of junk from the organic food shops just in case one of them turns out to be good for you in the future?

Adversely, what happens if one of them turns out to be a carcinogen or otherwise something that adversely affects health?

Your mom isn't wise, she just threw enough unproven stuff down her kid's throats so that it was inevitable that one of them one day might prove useful. I wonder how many damaging things (or potentially damaging) you also consumed?

[hughes]

Something to it, as in it prevented your childhood-onset parkinsons?

[caycep]

Once they figure out the dosing, etc, it'd be amusing if the effect size of the human trial is better than Azilect, which gets trumpeted a lot by marketing, but doesn't do that much and has a $400-$700/month copay for patients...

[return0]

Mice don't even get Parkinson's. The misleading title is not even in the university's press release of the mouse model study: "Cinnamon May Be Used to Halt the Progression of Parkinson’s disease"

[dheer01]

You can read up all of this science and keep adjusting your diet - or you can just shift to Indian food - recent medical research is ceiling its place as the healthiest diets on plant earth.

[lazyant]

Reminds me of http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?n=1174

[mrfusion]

I've read cinnamon might help with diabetes too? Would that be the same mechanism?

[rosser]

The mechanism here appears to be the metabolism of compounds in cinnamon into sodium benzoate, which we already knew was helpful with Parkinson's.

The mechanism behind cinnamon's effects on blood glucose, OTOH, seems not to be terribly well-studied, given a few minutes' searching. One paper I found says, "cinnamon enhances glucose uptake by activating the insulin receptor kinase activity, auto-phosphorylation of the insulin receptor, and glycogen synthase activity." [1] Otherwise, the literature seems all to be, "We observed this effect..."

EDIT: Pointers to better sources welcome.

[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3326760/

[bagrow]

Good grief, maybe I'm getting old, but is up with that font size?

[bignaj]

I'm 23 and I agree, it's tiny.

[batmansbelt]

Cinnamon can also reverse changes in the brains of people with Unity.

[wilhil]

Glozell is never getting Parkinsons!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyk7utV_D2I

[Havoc]

I'm starting to think I should munch a mix of powders every morning. Cinnamon, tummeric, garlic etc.

[tachyonbeam]

The bioavailability of curcumin (found in turmeric) is much better when taken along with piperine (found in black pepper).

Also, welcome to the club: http://www.reddit.com/r/supplements

[saraid216]

Yeah, that's called a curry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry_powder#Ingredients

[ajju]

Or just eat a lot of Indian food :)

[imgabe]

If you don't have Parkinson's, and the associated brain changes that this is reversing, what would be the point?

[option_greek]

May be you should just have some Indian curry or spicy biryani. Both are loaded with all of those.

[rodedwards]

Make yourself a really weird smoothie!

[hajderr]

Natural products rules!

[lsiebert]

best window manager ever ;-)

[blisterpeanuts]

Cool, I wonder if I can try it on OpenSuSE (although I'm pretty well married to KDE).

Who knew that an article on Parkinson's would lead to learning about another window manager!

[mendoncakr]

YOLO

[mendoncakr]

haters gon' hate

[concernedctzn]

The spice must flow

[usumoio]

He who controls the SPICE! Controls the UNIVERSE!!!

[enraged_camel]

Downvotes make me sad. HN has no sense of humor.

[JetSpiegel]

I knew that using Linux Mint was good for my health!

[bagosm]

Although the challenge will be to actually get the spoon inside his mouth... Now I feel bad about both of us :(