Cinnamon and Testosterone: The Cheapest T-Booster
By Ali Kuoppala | Last reviewed Tue 25 September 2018
Medical Review by Dr. Vlad Belghiru, MD
After seeing a lot of research supporting the notion that cinnamon could be used to reduce high blood glucose and to improve insulin sensitivity in humans, I became more and more confident that it could – in most men – also have a possible testosterone boosting effect.
This is because both, high blood glucose (think pre-diabetes and diabetes), and insulin resistance (a condition where your cells don’t respond efficiently to insulin), are known for their testosterone lowering effects (study, study, study), so it’s only natural to assume that cinnamon – which seems to help significantly with both problems – could be a natural testosterone raising spice. That is, at least in people who have high blood glucose and/or some form of insulin resistance.
Since cinnamon bark has also been shown to be chock-full of antioxidants, and there’s evidence that it can reduce oxidative damage in multiple bodily tissues, one could think that the spice has to have some kind of positive effect on the endocrine system…
…And according to a few studies I managed to pull from the good old internet, cinnamon seems to be a very pro-testosterone spice indeed:
Cinnamon and Testosterone
I expected to find no research about cinnamon’s direct effect on testosterone production, and that proved to be true for human studies. However, there were multiple animal studies that had examined the spices effect on T levels in rodents.
One Egyptian study examined the effects of cinnamon and ginger on the fertility of diabetic rats, they found out that cinnamon at 500mg/kg for 65 days; increased the weight of testes, improved semen quality, and quantity, decreased blood sugar levels, increased serum insulin, and raised testosterone levels. All while also ameliorating the degenerative effects that are normally seen in the testes of diabetics.
In this Iranian study the rodents were given 75mg/kg of cinnamon for 30 days, at the end of the 4-week trial the researchers noted that the cinnamon groups T levels were 134% higher than those of control group (which received distilled water instead of cinnamon).
In another Iranian study, cinnamon extract given to male mice; increased serum FSH, LH, and testosterone levels, while also increasing the amount of Leydig and Sertoli cells of the testes.
It doesn’t end there. A study released a few months ago, showed that an alcohol extract of cinnamon given at 50mg/kg to adult male mice; increased the weight of testes, improved semen parameters, and significantly increased the amount of Leydig cells in the testes.
Given the fact that its proven in human studies that cinnamon can reduce high blood glucose and improve insulin sensitivity – and also the testosterone boosting and testicular health improving results seen in animal studies – it’s very much possible that cinnamon can be used to increase testosterone levels in humans. Even though, we can never be sure until someone decides to test this on human subjects.
Cinnamon is dirt cheap, just make sure that you’re consuming the Ceylon variety (affiliate link). instead of cinnamon cassia (which has high amounts of coumarin and can, therefore, becomes toxic in higher dosages).
Ali Kuoppala
