If you have ever tried to have a cup of coffee, you know that there is a wide selection of additives that you can add to it. These additives make a cup of coffee taste amazing. The most common ones are sugar, cream, flavorings, milk, etc.
What you might not know is that they are some healthier additive alternatives that you can put in your coffee. One of these is the aromatic spice known as cinnamon. But what are the benefits of cinnamon? How does it help the body? Are there any side effects of putting cinnamon in coffee?
All these questions are important to answer before you begin putting cinnamon in your coffee. Here you will find the answers to the wonderful benefits of cinnamon!
How To Add Cinnamon To Coffee
We will go into the many benefits of adding cinnamon to coffee in a moment but first of all you need to know how to add cinnamon to coffee properly.
If you were to simply just sprinkle cinnamon into your brewed coffee you will find that it will just clump up into a cinnamon ball and not infuse with the coffee. This is obviously not the way to do it.
The best way to add cinnamon to coffee is to sprinkle some into your coffee grounds before you make the coffee. This will allow the water to infuse with the cinnamon and coffee grounds and create a beautiful cinnamon flavor.
Be careful with sprinkling cinnamon into your coffee grounds when using coffee filters for pour over coffee as it will also just stick to the filter paper if you are not careful.
With French press coffee, crack a cinnamon stick in half and place it into your coffee grounds. Then prepare your French press coffee as you would normally. This will create a wonderfully aromatic cinnamon taste.
If you do want to add cinnamon to your already brewed coffee, the best way is to add it to your milk before pouring the milk into your coffee. This will reduce the clumping of the cinnamon.
The 10 Benefits Of Adding Cinnamon To Coffee
There are 10 benefits in total that helps the human body. We will list them and explain each:
- Substituting Sugar: By adding cinnamon, you make your coffee taste sweet without the aid of sugar, making it a healthier alternative. You should put at least a teaspoon or two of cinnamon or use a stick for your coffee.
- It Increases Antioxidants In Your Body: According to a study done by Penn State and Health.com, cinnamon has the same level of antioxidants as blueberries. Because of these antioxidants, cinnamon helps with the health of your skin.
- Cinnamon Gets Your Mind Running: Since coffee makes your brain function throughout the day, adding cinnamon will enhance this even further. According to research done by Wheeling Jesuit University, cinnamon assists your brain by improving cognitive processing, brain functions, and master visual and motor responses.
- Cinnamon Defends Your Body From High Blood Sugar: Since you can substitute cinnamon, it not only makes your coffee sweeter but also prevents you from getting high blood sugar. A study at the University of Georgia shows that cinnamon in coffee slows blood sugar down after eating, improves the body’s insulin, and decreasing the chance of getting inflammation.
- Cinnamon Calms Down Cold Symptoms: Do you have a common cold and want to soothe the symptoms? Then it is best to add cinnamon in your hot cup of joe! As Everyday Roots discusses in their article, drinking coffee with cinnamon clears sinuses and reduces the production of mucus.
- You Get A Kick Of Energy: If you have problems with fatigue, you should consider putting cinnamon in your coffee! Cinnamon is proven to balance your energy levels without the need of eating anything sugary.
- Cinnamon Keeps The Heart Running: As we mentioned in number 2, cinnamon has antioxidants that benefit the heart. It lowers your risk of getting heart ailments and illnesses. To understand it more, cinnamon decreases triglycerides (a type of lipid found in the body that can cause clogged arteries if you eat too much food) by 30 percent.
- You Won’t Eat Too Much: Always wondered why people have coffee in the morning? Coffee is proven to prevent people from eating too much food during the day. By adding cinnamon, you don’t feel like eating sugary snacks or stopping cravings because of its increasing insulin benefits.
- Cinnamon Fends Off Illness: Other than the common cold, cinnamon boosts your immune system by stopping bacteria from growing, lowering cholesterol, and keeping your body healthy overall.
- Cinnamon Gives You Necessary Vitamins And Nutrients: Last but not least on the cinnamon benefit list is the vitamins and nutrients cinnamon gives your body. With only one teaspoon of cinnamon in coffee, it holds 4 grams of fiber, 68% of manganese, 8% of calcium, 4% of daily iron, and 3% of vitamin K according to Dr. Josh Axe.
These are the benefits that cinnamon gives you and your body. With all of these amazing factors, you should start putting cinnamon in your cup of coffee. But are there any side effects to putting cinnamon in coffee?
If you happen to put too much cinnamon in your coffee, it does have side effects which we will talk about in the next section.
Side Effects Of Putting Too Much Cinnamon In Coffee
Despite the good benefits cinnamon gives you, there are some side effects you should know if you put too much of it in your coffee:
- Pregnant Woman Can’t Have Cinnamon: This one only applies to pregnant women. While this doesn’t pertain to putting too much cinnamon as pregnant women shouldn’t consume any, it is important to note this because cinnamon causes premature labor or uterine contractions.
- Cinnamon Can Be A Choking Hazard: Swallowing too much cinnamon can cause tremendous damage to your lungs. So make sure you don’t put too much in your coffee.
- Makes Your Blood Sugar Too Low: While high blood sugar is a problem and cinnamon can lower your chances of making your blood sugar high, having too much cinnamon will lower it too much. If you lower your blood sugar too much, it can lead to dizziness, tiredness, and fainting.
- Don’t Have Too Much If You Are On Medications: The type of medications you should be wary of are ones that are for diabetes, heart disease, and liver disease. The reason why you need to consume less cinnamon if you are on these prescriptions is that the cinnamon will interact with it, which will enhance the side effects of the medication.
- Too Much Cinnamon Causes Mouth Sores: Cinnamon contains cinnamaldehyde, a compound that causes an allergic reaction if taken in large amounts. Other than mouth sores, too much of this spice also cause tongue or gum swelling, burning or itching sensations, or gives your mouth white patches.
There are other risks that we haven’t mentioned if you put too much cinnamon in your coffee, but these are some side effects that we want to warn you about.
To avoid these side effects, don’t add too much cinnamon in your coffee. Only put about one or two teaspoons of it in your coffee. Exclude putting cinnamon in your coffee or consuming any if you are pregnant, if your blood sugar is too low, or if you are taking medications for diabetes or heart and liver disease
Other than that, adding cinnamon in your coffee will brighten your health and body!
