Here are 5 ways cinnamon could be transforming your health

A 2012 study conducted on 66 Chinese participants with Type II diabetes showed that cinnamon could be helpful in reducing blood sugar levels. After taking 120 to 360 milligrams of cinnamon every day for 3 months, patients saw a decrease in blood glucose levels.

Another study, published in 2013 in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, suggested that cinnamon could stimulate the enzymes that control glucose metabolism, thereby lowering blood sugar. The spice could also be useful for stimulating insulin release. This is promising for the future, but further studies are needed to solidify these results in the medical world.

While these studies suggest that cinnamon could be helpful to diabetics, it is important that all patients continue to follow their doctor's medical recommendations as improper cinnamon dosages could cause health risks.

High blood pressure raises the risks of heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and atherosclerosis (a disease where the inner walls of the arteries become covered in plaque). So keeping your blood pressure in check is a high priority.

Health Impact News reports that supplementing your diet with cinnamon could help lower blood pressure, especially in pre-diabetic and diabetic people. And it could work even better when combined with another blood pressure-lowering ingredient, magnesium.

Livestrong suggests that a half a teaspoon a day of cinnamon could be enough to help.

A compound in cinnamon, cinnamealdehyde, could be used as an anti-microbial because it can inhibit the growth of Listeria and E. coli in food products. This means that your favorite foods could have a longer shelf life.

A 2015 study in the journal Nutrients suggested that cinnamon's anti-microbial properties could also be used to combat oral cavity infections and to create cosmetics that could prevent skin infections.

Antioxidants fight free radicals in our bodies, which are free-roaming, highly-reactive molecules that can attach to other molecules and wreak havoc in the body. It has been shown that consuming cinnamon in regular and sufficient quantities could provide the body with the antioxidant powers it needs to help stop these free radicals. Cinnamon is a good suppressor of oxidative stress, and extracts from cinnamon bark are potent scavengers of free radical activity in the body. These cinnamon compounds could recognize unstable hydrogen and oxygen molecules inside us and prevent them from reacting with other cells.

Rice University explained that the incorporation of antioxidants into our diet is necessary to improve our health.

While cinnamon has a lot of promising health benefits, it's important not to go overboard with it. The spice contains a chemical, coumarins, that can be toxic in high doses coumarins and which has been linked to liver damage in some individuals.

Overconsumption of cinnamon isn't necessarily a huge concern for most of the population. Moderation is the key to a healthy lifestyle, and cinnamon is no exception.