Just a short post about a
spice that is probably sitting in all of your cabinets right now. Cinnamon is a
culinary spice that is derived from the fragrant inner bark of a group of small
evergreen trees called Cinnamomums. It
is the second most popular spice used in the United States, right behind black
pepper.
There are two major types of
cinnamon found in the US. They are Ceylon cinnamon and Cassia cinnamon. Ceylon
cinnamon is typically from Sri Lanka, and is also referred to as "true cinnamon.”
While Ceylon is the predominate source of cinnamon sold in the UK, it is not the
predominant spice typically sold as cinnamon in the United States. More common
is Cassia cinnamon, which is typically from Burma but also grown in China and
Vietnam and is sometimes called Chinese cinnamon. Cassia is darker in color and
often has a stronger more pungent taste.
According to a major study
done measuring antioxidants of various foods, cloves were found to be the most
potent supply, by weight, but cinnamon wasn’t far behind. As such, cinnamon is
an excellent food to be included into your normal diet. Evidence suggests that
cinnamon has “anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antitumor,
cardiovascular, cholesterol-lowering, and immunomdulatory effects.”
That said, the distinction between
Ceylon and Cassia makes a bigger difference than one would imagine. Cassia cinnamon
is the main source of coumarin found in most people’s diet. Courmarin is a
naturally occurring toxin which has the potential to damage the liver when
taken in high doses.
Recent
studies have revealed that regularly consuming Cassia cinnamon powder could be
problematic, resulting in potentially harmful levels of coumarin intake. For
example, Dr. Joel Furhrman, reports that one study estimated that small
children eating oatmeal sprinkled with cinnamon a few times a week would exceed
the established safe upper limit of exposure.
Cinnamon also is high in oxalates.
Oxalates have been linked to cause oxalate kidney stones which sounds rather
uncomfortable to me. However, less than 10% of the oxalates found in cinnamon
are absorbed, so even taking large doses of cinnamon on a daily basis shouldn’t
be a problem in this regard.
Since Ceylon cinnamon has been
tested as having near-zero levels of courmarin, it’s worth the time and money
for American consumers to find a good source of Ceylon cinnamon. FRONTIER Natural
Products Co-Op is my preferred choice as I can get it easily from Whole Foods or any other natural/organic grocer. Because of it's many health benefits, Ceylon Cinnamon is an excellent, easy and delicious way to boost one's antioxidant intake.
As always the information presented in this blog is for educational purposes only. It should not be considered as specific medical, nutritional, lifestyle, or other health-related advice.
More Reading:
U.S.
Department of Agriculture. Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) of
Selected Foods—2007. November 2007.
M. Tang, D.E.
Larson-Meyer, & M. Liebman. Effect of cinnamon and turmeric on urinary
oxalate excretion, plasma lipids, and plasma glucose in healthy subjects. Am J
Clin Nutr, 87(5):1262-1267, 2008.
Gruenwald J,
Freder J, Armbruester N. Cinnamon and health. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2010
Oct;50(9):822-34.
Fuhrman, Joel. “Choosing the Right Cinnamon,” http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/choosing_the_right_cinnamon.aspx
