The Essential Oils Desk Reference lists cinnamon as one of the oils to use for diabetes. Coincidence? I think not. Ancient natural remedies are very effective if you use high-grade therapeutic oils. More testing should be done with natural “medicines,” even though this wouldn’t be profitable for the drug industry.

Tom E. Klassen
Noblesville, Ind.

Chemist Richard Anderson says that his research shows that all of cinnamon’s antidiabetic effect is in its water-soluble fraction, not the oil. In fact, some cinnamon oil–entrained compounds could prove toxic in high concentrations, he says .—J. Raloff