extension of drosophila lifespan by cinnamon through a sexspecific dependence on the insulin receptor substrate chico cinnamon is a spice commonly used worldwide to flavor desserts fruits cereals breads and meats numerous health benefits have been attributed to its consumption including the recent suggestion that it may decrease blood glucose levels in people with diabetes insulin signaling is an integral pathway regulating the lifespan of laboratory organisms such as worms flies and mice we posited that if cinnamon truly improved the clinical signs of diabetes in people that it would also act on insulin signaling in laboratory organisms and increase lifespan we found that cinnamon did extend lifespan in the fruit fly drosophila melanogaster however it had no effect on the expression levels of the 3 agingrelated drosophila insulinlike peptides nor did it alter sugar fat or soluble protein levels as would be predicted in addition cinnamon exhibited no protective effects in males against oxidative challenges however in females it did confer a protective effect against paraquat but sensitized them to iron cinnamon provided no protective effect against desiccation and starvation in females but sensitized males to both interestingly cinnamon protected both sexes against cold sensitized both to heat and elevated hsp70 expression levels we also found that cinnamon required the insulin receptor substrate to extend lifespan in males but not females we conclude that cinnamon does not extend lifespan by improving stress tolerance in general though it does act at least in part through insulin signaling