Rice milk with cinnamon is a naturally sweet, dairy-free beverage perfect for breakfast, cooking, and beverages. This simple combination offers a creamy texture with warm spice notes, making it ideal for those avoiding dairy or seeking plant-based alternatives. When exploring rice milk and cinnamon, you're discovering one of the most versatile plant-based beverage combinations available. This dairy-free alternative has gained popularity among those with lactose intolerance, vegan diets, or anyone seeking a naturally sweet, comforting drink without artificial additives.
The Appeal of Rice Milk and Cinnamon
The beauty of homemade rice milk with cinnamon lies in its simplicity-requiring just a few ingredients and minimal preparation time while delivering rich flavor and versatility. Rice milk's naturally mild sweetness complements cinnamon's warm, complex spice profile beautifully. Unlike some plant milks that require added sweeteners, rice milk contains natural sugars that harmonize with cinnamon without needing extra sugar. This makes rice milk cinnamon recipe options particularly appealing for those monitoring their sugar intake while still enjoying flavorful beverages.
How to Make Rice Milk with Cinnamon
When preparing how to make rice milk with cinnamon at home, the rice's starch content creates a naturally creamy texture that carries cinnamon's essential oils effectively. The result is a beverage with balanced flavor that works equally well hot or cold, in cooking applications, or as a standalone drink. Mastering homemade rice milk with cinnamon instructions takes just minutes with basic kitchen equipment.
Basic Preparation:
The basic preparation involves adding cinnamon to freshly made or store-bought rice milk, with options to enhance flavor and nutrition.
Homemade Method:
Blend with Water: In a blender, combine the rinsed rice with 4 cups of water.Store: Transfer the rice milk to a sealed container and refrigerate.
Read also: Keto Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe
Nutritional Aspects of Rice Milk and Cinnamon
Understanding the nutritional aspects helps incorporate this combination wisely into your diet. It's important to note that most commercial rice milks are fortified with calcium and vitamins, making them nutritionally comparable to dairy milk in certain aspects. The addition of cinnamon contributes significant manganese and antioxidants without adding calories or sugar. For those following a dairy-free rice milk cinnamon beverage lifestyle, this combination provides valuable nutrients while avoiding common allergens.
Versatile Uses
The applications for rice milk and cinnamon extend far beyond a simple beverage. For those establishing a rice milk and cinnamon for morning routine, try warming the beverage with a touch of vanilla for a comforting start to your day. The natural sweetness means you can often skip additional sweeteners, making it an excellent choice for balanced morning nutrition. When making larger batches of rice milk cinnamon recipe, consider preparing the base rice milk without cinnamon, then adding fresh cinnamon when serving. This prevents the spice flavor from intensifying too much during storage.
Common Questions and Concerns
Many people exploring rice milk and cinnamon have similar questions about preparation, uses, and benefits. Understanding these aspects helps maximize enjoyment of this versatile combination while making informed choices for your dietary preferences and needs.
Can I use brown rice instead of white rice for rice milk with cinnamon?
Yes, brown rice works for rice milk with cinnamon, though it produces a slightly grainier texture and nuttier flavor. You'll need to blend longer and may want to use a finer strainer. Brown rice also contains more fiber but requires longer soaking (at least 2 hours) to achieve optimal smoothness.
How does rice milk with cinnamon compare nutritionally to other plant milks?
Rice milk with cinnamon is naturally higher in carbohydrates but lower in protein than soy or pea milk. It's typically lower in fat than coconut milk and lacks the omega-3s found in flax milk. The main advantage is its hypoallergenic nature-it's free from common allergens like nuts, soy, and gluten (when using certified gluten-free rice).
Read also: Chicken and Brown Rice: A Healthy Choice
Why does my homemade rice milk separate quickly?
Separation in rice milk with cinnamon is natural since it lacks emulsifiers found in commercial versions. To minimize separation, try adding a small pinch of xanthan gum (1/16 tsp) when blending, or ensure you're using enough rice to water ratio (1:4 is standard). Shaking before each use solves this harmless issue.
Can I make rice milk with cinnamon without a blender?
Traditional rice milk requires blending for proper texture, but you can create a simpler version by simmering rice with water and cinnamon for 20-30 minutes, then straining. The result will be less creamy and more like rice water with cinnamon flavor, but it works in a pinch when equipment isn't available.
The Health Benefits of Cinnamon
Cinnamon is more than just a flavorful spice; it's also packed with health benefits. Combining rice milk and cinnamon creates a powerhouse of flavor and health benefits.
Metabolic Syndrome and Cinnamon
Metabolic syndrome is associated with insulin resistance, elevated glucose and lipids, inflammation, decreased antioxidant activity, increased weight gain, and increased glycation of proteins. Cinnamon has been shown to improve all of these variables in in vitro, animal, and/or human studies. In addition, cinnamon has been shown to alleviate factors associated with Alzheimer's disease by blocking and reversing tau formation in vitro and in ischemic stroke by blocking cell swelling. In vitro studies also show that components of cinnamon control angiogenesis associated with the proliferation of cancer cells.
Cinnamon's Impact on Insulin Sensitivity
Human studies involving control subjects and subjects with metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and polycystic ovary syndrome all show beneficial effects of whole cinnamon and/or aqueous extracts of cinnamon on glucose, insulin, insulin sensitivity, lipids, antioxidant status, blood pressure, lean body mass, and gastric emptying. However, not all studies have shown positive effects of cinnamon, and type and amount of cinnamon, as well as the type of subjects and drugs subjects are taking, are likely to affect the response to cinnamon.
Read also: Everything You Need to Know About the Rice Diet
The Active Compounds in Cinnamon
Common cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, C. zeylanicum) and cassia (C. aromaticum) have a long history of uses as spices, flavoring agents, preservatives, and pharmaco-logical agents. A review of the safety and efficacy of cinnamon on antioxidant activity, Heliobacter pylori infection, activation of olfactory cortex and brain, oral candidiasis in human immunodeficiency virus, and chronic salmonellosis has been published. In addition, several studies have examined the effects of cinnamon on glucose, insulin, and lipid metabolism associated with metabolic syndrome, which are the focus of this review.
Cinnamon and Insulin Potentiation
In 1990, it was reported that compounds found in cinnamon have insulin-potentiating properties and may be involved in the alleviation of the signs and symptoms of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases related to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, when compared to herbs, spices, and medicinal extracts for insulin-like or insulin-potentiating activity in an in vitro model, aqueous cinnamon extracts (CE) potentiated insulin activity more than 20-fold, higher than any other compound tested at comparable dilutions. The effects of adding more of the aqueous extract of cinnamon appear similar to adding more insulin. This is important from a human health standpoint because it results in increased insulin sensitivity and less insulin is required to have larger insulin effects. People with metabolic syndrome have adequate amounts of insulin but the insulin is not efficient.
Water-Soluble Cinnamon Polyphenols
The structure of a class of water-soluble cinnamon polyphenol compounds that display insulin-potentiating, antioxidant, and related activities is shown in Figure 1. These are type A polyphenols. Several of these have been isolated from cinnamon, and the most abundant ones are trimers with a molecular weight (MW) of 864 and a tetramer with a molecular weight of 1152 daltons.
Cinnamon Extract and Glucose Utilization
Cinnamon extract-treated rats have significantly higher glucose infusion rates compared with controls. The insulin- stimulated insulin receptor (IR) β and IR substrate-1 (IRS1) tyrosine phosphorylation levels and IRS1/phospho-inositide 3-kinase (PI3K) in skeletal muscle of chow diet-fed rats are enhanced by CE. It was also demonstrated that CE improves glucose utilization in normal male rats fed a high fructose diet (HFD).
Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Cinnamon
Growing evidence suggests a strong link between systemic inflammation and T2DM and that elevated inflammatory cytokines may contribute to insulin resistance. Tristetraprolin is an anti-inflammatory protein and a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of inflammation-related diseases. Cinnamon extract rapidly induces the expression of tristetraprolin mRNA levels in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.
Cinnamon and Triglyceride Levels
In vivo oral treatment with Cinnulin PF inhibits the postprandial overproduction of apoB48-containing lipoproteins and serum triglyceride levels in rats and hamsters. Cinnamon extract treatment decreases the mRNA expression of the inflammatory factors [interleukin (IL)1β, IL6, and TNF-α]; improves the mRNA expression of IR, IRS1, IRS2, PI3K, and Akt1; inhibits CD36, microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP), and phosphatase and tensin homolog; and enhances impaired sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP)-1c expression in TNF-α- treated enterocytes.
Cinnamon and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor
Cinnamon extract inhibits VEGF-induced endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and tube formation in vitro, sprouts formation from aortic ring ex vivo, and tumor-induced blood vessel formation in vivo. While cinnamaldehyde, a component associated with the aroma of CE, has little effect on VEGF receptor (VEGFR) kinase activity, high-performance liquid chromatography-purified components of CE, procyanidin type A trimer (MW 864) and a tetramer (MW 1152), inhibit the kinase activity of purified VEGFR and VEGFR signaling pathways.
Cinnamon and Alzheimer's Disease
An aqueous extract of Ceylon cinnamon (C. zeylanicum) was found to inhibit tau aggregation and filament formation, hallmarks of AD. The extract can also promote complete disassembly of recombinant tau filaments and cause substantial alteration of the morphology of paired helical filaments isolated from the brain of a person who died of Alzheimer's disease.
Cinnamon Effects on Healthy Subjects
There have been five studies involving cinnamon effects on healthy, normal subjects with normal glucose tolerance (Table 1). Cinnamon ingestion reduced total plasma glucose responses to oral glucose ingestion, as well as improving insulin sensitivity.
Cinnamon and Gastric Emptying
The addition of cinnamon (6 grams) to rice pudding significantly delayed gastric emptying and lowered the postprandial glucose response in 14 healthy subjects in a crossover trial.
Cinnamon and Metabolic Syndrome
In a study involving 22 subjects with metabolic syndrome, subjects were divided into two groups and given either 500 mg/day of an aqueous extract of cinnamon (Cinnulin PF, Integrity Nutraceuticals, Spring Hill, TN) or a placebo for 12 weeks. Subjects in the group receiving capsules containing the aqueous extract of cinnamon displayed decreased fasting blood glucose, decreased systolic blood pressure, and increased lean mass compared with the placebo group.
Cinnamon and Oxidative Stress
Roussel and associates found a significant positive correlation between plasma glucose levels and plasma malondyaldehyde (MDA), a measure of lipid peroxidation, in people with metabolic syndrome. The improvement of impaired fasting glucose as a result of cinnamon was correlated with the antioxidant effects of cinnamon supplementation assessed by plasma MDA, sulfhydryl groups, and plasma antioxidant status evaluated using ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP).
The Benefits of Cinnamon Water
There are many benefits of cinnamon water including weight loss as well as period pain. Here is why you should have it regularly.
Regulates Period Cycle
One of the biggest cinnamon water benefits is that it can make your periods regular. Cinnamon has been found to regulate menstrual cycles by balancing hormones and increasing blood flow to the uterus. Drinking cinnamon water can help regulate your period cycle and reduce painful periods. A study, published in Phytotherapy Research, states that cinnamon helps to regulate your insulin levels, which is one of the causes of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
Improves Fertility
Cinnamon has been found to improve fertility by increasing the production of hormones necessary for ovulation. One of the most promising cinnamon water benefits is that drinking it regularly can help improve your chances of conception. A study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, states that cinnamon supplementation improves menstrual cyclicity and may be an effective treatment option for some women with PCOS. This can increase fertility.
Reduces PCOS Symptoms
Cinnamon has been found to reduce symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) by improving insulin sensitivity and reducing inflammation. A study published in the Journal of Fertility and Sterility found that one of the most important cinnamon water benefits was that it improved menstrual cyclicity and increased ovulation in women with PCOS. Drinking cinnamon water can help alleviate symptoms such as irregular periods, acne, and excess hair growth.
Helps with Weight Loss
Cinnamon has been found to reduce insulin resistance, which can lead to weight loss. Cinnamon water benefits includes its ability to reduce cravings and help you feel full longer. A study, published in the Journal of Food Biochemistry, revealed that supplementation with cinnamon can reduce body weight.
Helps Regulate Blood Sugar Levels
Cinnamon is known to improve insulin sensitivity, which helps regulate blood sugar levels in the body. A study published in the journal Annals of Family Medicine, found that cinnamon supplementation impacted fasting blood glucose levels in people with type 2 diabetes. Drinking cinnamon water regularly can help prevent spikes and crashes in blood sugar levels.
Boosts Immunity
One of the most important cinnamon water benefits is that it helps to build immunity. Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties that can help boost your immune system, states this study, published in the journal Pharmacognosy Research. Drinking cinnamon water regularly can help your body fight off infections and diseases.
Aids Digestion
Cinnamon can help stimulate digestion and reduce bloating. Drinking cinnamon water can help improve digestion and prevent stomach discomfort. Cinnamon can help stimulate the production of digestive enzymes, which are essential for breaking down food and absorbing nutrients.
Promotes Heart Health
One of the most interesting cinnamon water benefits is that it can also make your heart healthier. Cinnamon has been found to lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease. Drinking cinnamon water regularly can help promote heart health and reduce the risk of heart disease.
How to Make Cinnamon Water
To make cinnamon water, simply boil a stick of cinnamon in water for 15-20 minutes. Once the water has cooled down. You can add honey or lemon juice for taste, but avoid adding sugar. Store it in a clear glass bottle and wait for 1 hour before straining the water and consuming it. Drink it slowly over a span of 3-4 hours.
FAQs about Cinnamon Water
Cinnamon water is a beverage that can be made by steeping cinnamon sticks or powder in hot water. It's a popular home remedy for various health issues, particularly digestive problems. It's generally recommended to drink 1-2 cups of cinnamon water on a daily basis.
Cinnamon Tea: Another Way to Enjoy the Benefits
If you’re a tea lover, you may know that teas are a great way to reap the benefits of herbs and spices. While herbal teas are commonly known for soothing a sore throat, you may be surprised to learn that cinnamon tea can also support your immune system and overall health.
Packed with powerful antioxidants, cinnamon offers a range of health benefits, from supporting blood sugar levels with anti-diabetic properties to anti-inflammatory potential. Cinnamon tea brings these benefits in a comforting beverage.
Types of Cinnamon
There are four main types of cinnamon:
- True cinnamon (Ceylon cinnamon or Mexican cinnamon): Cinnamomum zeylanicum
- Indonesian cinnamon: Cinnamomum burmanni
- Vietnamese cinnamon: Cinnamomum loureiroi
- Cassia cinnamon (Chinese cinnamon): Cinnamomum aromaticum
Each type has unique qualities, but all offer potential health benefits, including:
- Anti-inflammatory properties
- Blood sugar regulation
- Antioxidant effects
- Potential anti-cancer properties (in vitro studies)
- Antibacterial and antifungal effects
Health Benefits of Cinnamon Tea
Here are some of the most well-researched health benefits of cinnamon tea:
- Can Lower Blood Sugar: Cinnamon tea benefits your metabolic health by supporting healthy blood sugar levels. This is because the antioxidant properties of cinnamon tea, which come from the polyphenols found in this spice, are thought to help lower post-meal glucose. It may lower blood sugar levels by improving insulin sensitivity.
- May Improve Cardiovascular Health: Cinnamon tea has also been shown to have cardioprotective properties in animal studies. The antioxidants found in cinnamon might help the body fight off free radicals that can damage tissue and lead to chronic diseases like heart disease. Many components of cinnamon have been shown to reduce blood pressure, triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol levels, which can also support heart health.
- Cinnamon May Help with Weight Loss: Another metabolic benefit of cinnamon tea is its link to weight loss. A meta-analysis investigating the effects of cinnamon tea on weight loss and obesity found multiple studies supporting its benefits for weight loss.
- It Can Reduce Menstrual Cramps: Cinnamon tea may help alleviate some of the symptoms of menstrual pain. One study found that consuming cinnamon not only alleviated menstrual cramping and pain significantly but also led to a significant reduction in menstrual bleeding, nausea, and vomiting.
- It Might Support Collagen Formation: There is some limited evidence that cinnamon might support collagen formation. A study investigating the effects of cinnamon consumption on collagen production found that cinnamon may increase the amount of type I collagen.
- It May Help Prevent Certain Cancers: Some have suggested cinnamon also contains anticancer properties. In vitro cell culture studies have shown that Cinnamon cassia can cause tumor or cancer cells to die without affecting normal cells.
- It May Improve Cognitive Function: Cinnamon might also boost brain function and cognitive health. Notably, animal studies have shown it to support memory function. Cinnamon may affect cognitive function in a few different ways: Cinnamon contains antioxidants and other phytochemicals that can improve the brain’s ability to glucose for optimal function. It may reduce harmful factors such as oxidative stress, impacting brain function. Cinnamon may reduce insulin resistance, which can reduce certain brain changes caused by Alzheimer’s disease, and help improve the brain’s insulin signaling.
- Can Help with Bloating and Inflammation: Cinnamon tea may help reduce bloating and inflammation. Cinnamon's anti-inflammatory properties are connected to compounds known as 2′-hydroxycinnamaldehyde, cinnamaldehyde, and cinnamic acid.
FAQs About Cinnamon Tea
- Can You Drink Cinnamon Tea Every Day? While cinnamon tea can benefit your overall health, it may not be a good tea to consume large amounts of daily. This is because a compound in Cassia cinnamon called coumarin may be hepatotoxic or toxic to the liver.
- Who Should Not Drink Cinnamon Tea? Due to the potential effects of cinnamon on the liver, you should limit or avoid consuming cinnamon if you have or are at risk for developing any liver condition.
- When Should You Drink Cinnamon Tea? While you should stick to caffeinated drinks such as coffee and black tea in the morning, you can enjoy cinnamon tea at any time of day!
- Can Cinnamon Tea Help with Weight Loss? Yes, it may help with weight loss for some, in addition to other factors such as caloric intake, activity levels, etc.
Other Ways to Add Cinnamon to Your Diet
- Try adding a pinch of cinnamon to savory dishes.
- Add cinnamon powder or extract to your smoothies.
- Use cinnamon as your finishing touch on yogurt parfaits.