Q: I heard that cinnamon has great qualities. It seems that the daily use of cinnamon in our regular foods, tea or cinnamon powder with honey etc. may help reduce the blood sugar level and cholesterol. Is this correct? Please clarify.

A:It is currently in fashion to attribute multiple benefits, for a great variety of diseases, to the popular spices and herbs. Unfortunately the quality of the published research on the properties of most of these agents is quite unsatisfactory and further research is needed to evaluate even the popular ones. Thus, garlic is supposed to have numerous benefits, but this popular food has not been shown to be as effective or useful as the claims have suggested. At present the properties of cinnamon (and turmeric) are actively being researched but their benefit in diseases such as diabetes seems to be minimal at best. Maybe they like garlic should be regarded as pleasant condiment-type foods.