5 Health Benefits of Cinnamon Green Tea

Green tea and cinnamon both have health-promoting properties. Cinnamon green tea is a great source of antioxidants, and may help support heart health, digestive function and blood sugar regulation.

Here are five potential health benefits of cinnamon green tea that'll have you brewing yourself a cup, stat.

One of the main health benefits of green tea is that it contains naturally occurring antioxidants called phytochemicals, including flavonoids, catechins and polyphenols, according to a June 2017 review in the ‌British Journal of Pharmacology‌.

The antioxidants in green tea can help prevent free radical-induced damage to your cells, which can reduce inflammation and help those cells function at their best.

And you can increase these antioxidant effects when you combine green tea and cinnamon. Similar to green tea, cinnamon contains antioxidants that can also help prevent cell damage and decrease inflammation throughout your body, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

And the nutritional benefits of drinking cinnamon tea don't stop there: Just 1 teaspoon of cinnamon contains a solid dose of the mineral manganese (20 percent of your daily value, to be exact), per My Food Data.

Manganese promotes strong bones, helps regulate glucose and supports your immune system, according to the National Institutes of Health.

That teaspoon of cinnamon also includes 1.4 grams of fiber, which can help promote digestive health.

Another health benefit of green tea is that it may help prevent heart disease, according to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. That's because it can help lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, which may reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke, per Harvard Health Publishing.

The same goes for cinnamon — the herb can also help reduce your levels of bad cholesterol and triglycerides while simultaneously increasing the amount of good cholesterol in your body, according to a September-October 2013 review in the ‌Annals of Family Medicine‌.

Green tea contains caffeine, which may slightly bolster weight loss efforts because of its ability to increase metabolism and temporarily tamp down your appetite, according to the Mayo Clinic. However, caffeine isn't going to make much of a difference when it comes to weight loss — eating a nutritious diet and exercising are most important.

Similarly, the catechins in green tea are thought to have a fat-burning effect, and may help you lose weight, per a December 2015 review in the​ ‌International Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences‌​. However, it noted that caffeine consumption and ethnicity could also play a role in these results.

What's more, overall research on the weight-loss benefits of green tea (especially with cinnamon) is conflicting. Although some studies find a link between weight loss and green tea, it is not statistically significant, per a May 2014 article in the ​‌Canadian Pharmacists Journal‌.

In addition, the article notes that researchers often use green tea extract — which contains higher concentrations of the ingredients believed to support weight loss, like caffeine and catechins — rather than brewed green tea, the most common way people eat it.

And how does cinnamon help you lose weight? Well, there isn't a direct link between the herb and weight loss. But there are other health-supporting benefits of cinnamon tea that may play into your weight, like managing diabetes (more on that next).

Cinnamon tea is good for your health due to its ability to help regulate blood sugar, which may help you manage type 2 diabetes, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Here's how: Cinnamon may slow down your body's ability to absorb carbohydrates, which can help keep your sugar levels stable, per an August 2018 review in the ​‌International Research Journal of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences‌.

The same review also notes that cinnamon may stimulate the release of the hormone insulin, which helps keep your blood sugar levels under control.

However, research on the topic is conflicting. For instance, a small study in the July-September 2013 issue of the​ ‌Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine‌​ found that taking a daily cinnamon supplement made no difference in the blood sugar levels of people with type 2 diabetes.