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Just recently the European Society of Cardiology stated that obesity is not just an important risk factor in heart disease, but more specifically for heart failure. At the 2009 Heart Failure Congress, researchers explained that obesity is at least as great a risk factor for heart failure as it is for heart attack or stroke, and that obesity doubles the risk for heart failure. Researchers confirmed a similar risk for diabetes and found that when the two risk factors are present together (obesity and diabetes), treatment becomes very difficult.

Weight loss will not only help lower BMI and risk of heart disease, stroke, and heart failure, it also helps to lower risk of developing diabetes or better manage diabetes in those diagnosed with the disease. Healthy habits and behaviors, as taught in Vtrim, all work together to help improve health risk factors and improve quality of life through less disease risk.

A question recently posed to us asked how effective cinnamon is for weight loss. In recent years there has been a lot of chatter about the effectiveness of cinnamon and managing blood sugar levels. Cinnamon supplementation has become more popular and questions are often asked about use of cinnamon for diabetes management. There have been a few studies done on cinnamon and blood sugar control. Those studies have produced conflicting results, with many of them showing that cinnamon did not produce significant differences over control groups.

Because of the strong association with weight and diabetes, cinnamon has also been questioned in usefulness for weight management. While cinnamon is rich in antioxidants and may help slow stomach emptying, thus possibly managing appetite better, there is not enough evidence to recommend cinnamon supplements at this point, for diabetes OR weight loss. Including cinnamon as a spice in your regular diet however, can’t hurt. You’ll benefit from the rich antioxidants it contains.