Doctor's Casebook: Cinnamon adds a healthy touch to your baker's dozen

The origin of the term a ‘baker’s dozen’ is interesting, since many people think that it refers to the Last Supper, when Jesus is said to have announced to the 12 disciples that one of them would betray him.

The practice of making a baker’s dozen of hot cross buns is said by some to represent the 12 apostles and Jesus.

So many of our customs are rooted back in history.

While researching the medieval period for a novel, I was interested to come across another explanation from the 13th century, which is based on one of the statutes introduced by King Henry the second. It is called the Assize of Bread and Ale.

Effectively, bakers and publicans were prevented by law from short-changing their customers and risked severe punishments.

Therefore, the Worshipful Company of Bakers of London wrote into their guild code the practice of baking 13 items, on the basis that one of the 13 could be lost, eaten, burnt or ruined in some way, leaving the baker with the original dozen.

I always spice up my hot cross buns with cinnamon. It adds a bit of zing, but it has been considered a valuable medicinal spice since antiquity.

In fact, the spice has been the subject of much modern research and it does seem to have a lot of benefits when taken daily.

Half a teaspoon a day has been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol, the so-called ‘bad cholesterol.’

It has also been shown to have a regulatory effect on blood glucose, so it is beneficial to people with type 2 diabetes, or who have pre-diabetes.

Women troubled by recurrent thrush may also find that daily cinnamon keeps the problem at bay, as it has some anti-fungal effects.

We don’t know when the tradition of hot cross buns came into being. It is said that it started in 1361, when a monk named Father Thomas Rockcliffe distributed buns to the poor of St Albans on Good Friday.

It certainly seems a long tradition and baking your own baker’s dozen is good fun.

Have a Happy Easter.