OTTOVILLE — A spicy tip: cinnamon can improve glucose levels for those living with diabetes. In addition to medical science making this discovery, one Ottoville High School sophomore has proved it in the Society for Science and the Public’s regional science fair.
Ashley Hoehn, 15, received a perfect score and first-place ranking, as well as three other awards. After earning the Apothecary and Medicine Award, U.S. Surgeon General Award and U.S. Navy/Marine Corps Award, she qualified for the highest level of judging in Atlanta at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May.
“My project is called ‘Spice Up Your Life.’ I tested diabetics with cinnamon to see if it would lower their blood sugar. I gathered 15 subjects and had some of them check their blood sugar every day,” she explained. “I had some take a placebo pill every day but they though they were taking a cinnamon pill; and I had the others take a cinnamon pill. All of them kept a log of what they ate and I checked their average decrease in the first month and compared it to the second month; it was a 3-month long experiment.
“Then I checked to make sure those who took the cinnamon pills had a significant change by administering a T-test. That’s what they use in science to prove a hypothesis to see if it’s significant and not by random chance.”
Hoehn is just the second Ottoville student to participate in the national judging. The trailblazer was her sister, Stacy, who is pursuing a doctorate at the University of Notre Dame.
The successor is just one of four to qualify for judging in Atlanta, from a dozen set apart at the regional level. She compiled her data and delivered oral presentations with various props such as poster boards. Because she was not permitted to use these in advanced competition, she created an equivalent PowerPoint presentation. Her findings corresponded to that of those within the world of medicine.
“My subjects were not taking medication for it but had high blood sugar levels that the cinnamon decreased by 15 percent,” she said.
Hoehn became interested in the subject after reading various articles from industry publications and Web sites. She plans to prepare for a career in medicine after high school but will repeat her science fair participation next year.
“The judges suggested studying a planned diet but getting everyone to eat the same thing will be too hard, so I will find something else for next year,” she added.