Cinnamon

I want to use cinnamon as my ingredient for our food assignment. These are the words I associate with cinnamon: warm, comforting, winter, spicy, and fragrant. Even I didn't associate cinnamon with health, so I want to focus on the numerous health benefits in my article: 

1. 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon per day can lower your bad cholesterol (or LDL).
2. Cinnamon may help treat Type 2 Diabetes by lowering blood sugar levels and increasing the amount of insulin production in the body.
3. Cinnamon has antifungal properties, and it's been said that candida cannot live in a cinnamon environment. 
4. Cinnamon can reduce the proliferation of leukemia and lymphoma cancer cells.
5. Cinnamon has an anti-clotting effect on the blood.
6. Honey and Cinnamon combined has been found to relieve arthritis pain.
7. When added to food, cinnamon inhibits bacterial growth and food spoilage, making it a natural food preservative.
8. Just smelling cinnamon boosts cognitive function and memory.
9. Cinnamon fights the E. coli bacteria in unpasteurized juices.
10. Cinnamon has been found to be an effective natural remedy for eliminating headaches and migraine relief.
11. Cinnamon can also help stablize blood sugar (which is great for weight loss). A couple of dashes in your morning tea or cereal is all it takes!

I found these benefits in this web article that is very similar to our assignment--this is good, since our research phase 1.5 tells us to see how our topic has been treated by others. There is something of a urban legend that says you cannot swallow a spoonful of cinnamon. Apparently this is true, because no one in this YouTube video could do it (truth be told, it isn't cinnamon per se, but the nature of a powdery substance. I don't know where people come up with these notions, but they are amusing).

More web links listing health benefits of cinnamon: 

• http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html
• http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-surprising-health-benefits-of-cinnamon.html?page=1
• http://www.getprograde.com/Health-Benefits-Of-Cinnamon.html
• http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/cinnamon-benefits-explained (this article has a clever hook!)

A possible image to us that I got from Stock.XCHNG, a free stock photo site.

One decision I'm mulling over is whether to have a white background on my article or  use a transparent image. Some departmental articles I've looked at use full background images--the radish piece is one example. I also saw an article that used a background of notebook paper. If I used a background for cinnamon, the only image I can think of is a baking sheet, but that might be too dark. I'll have to play around to see what works. Opinions welcome!