What is Cinnamon
Cinnamon Sticks
You might have heard of Cinnamon – no not Cinnamon the dog in the Big Bang Theory and the only non-human semi-regular cast member but rather the spice and more importantly something you need to be taking for its amazing health benefits. But should you be adding this to your daily collection of supplements and nutricals?
Cinnamon comes from the bark of trees from several countries from Indonesia to China with “true” cinnamon, or so-called Ceylon cinnamon mostly grown in Sri Lanka. It is a widely used spice going back centuries and traversing the globe and integral to trading and fetching a high price. Many will know it from its use in some famous coffee serving or perhaps its use in chocolate, in sweet and savory dishes and it even shows up as a whisky flavoring agent – there’s something to try on my Tonight’s Tipple channel in the future!
Cinnamon Health Benefits
But I want to focus on the question of health benefits including the claims of the positive impact it has on blood sugar levels in patients suffering from diabetes and lowering lipid levels. The claims are wide and varied and include anti-oxidants, protecting against heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
I’d love to be able to tell you this is the wonder drug as claimed by the marketing online but the science is just not there. The molecules found in cinnamon do exhibit some interesting and potentially useful beneficial actions but none of these rises to the level of definitive proof. Many of the studies are small and in review by the Cochrane, Initiative deemed to be poorly run and lacking in quality. In the case of lowering blood glucose or other diabetes measures such as the hemoglobin A1C levels – cinnamon was no more effective than placebo.
The anti-inflammatory effects were seen in the laboratory on specific pathways but have not been shown beyond the lab – but that hasn’t stopped people who want you to spend your hard-earned money on their wonder drug for extending the claim to a possibility.
Is it safe? Cinnamon does not come without risk and in fact, the EU has set out a maximum daily dose of 0.1 mg of coumarin per kg of body weight since this molecule is known to cause kidney and liver damage. What does that mean for you – as usual it’s not simple since there are various forms of Cinnamon. Cinnamon Cassia which is the most common commercial version has a lot of this compound – 1.0 mg of coumarin per gram of cinnamon and sometimes up to 12 times that, but Cinnamon verum which includes Ceylon cinnamon only has trace amounts.
So, if you must, and I would suggest you are wasting your money, take large doses of cinnamon then make sure it’s not the common cassia version but rather the cinnamon verum.
In fact, as I looked at the available information none of it rose to clinical significance for helping my health of reducing lipids, preventing heart disease or combatting brain neurodegenerative diseases, none of it rose to the level of science to persuade me to add cinnamon to my daily supplements and nor should it for you. Add it to your latte, use it around the holidays for seasonal drinks and it’s a delightful addition in both sweet and savory dishes, but as a medicine and nutritional health based supplement – not so much.
