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Cinnamon
Cinnamon bark oil inhibits gram-positive bacteria such as Bacillus
cereus, Micrococcus luteus and Staphylococcus aureus;
From: Handbook of Herbs and Spices (Second Edition), Volume 1, 2012

Related terms:

Antioxidant, Fabaceae, Sandalwood, Chitosan, Inga, Essential Oil, Clove, Oregano,

Thyme, Amazona

Volume 1
J. Thomas, K.M. Kuruvilla, in Handbook of Herbs and Spices (Second Edition),
Volume 1, 2012

10.1 Introduction
Cinnamon is an age-old spice. It is often mentioned in the Old Testament of the
Bible and there are indications of its use in Egypt as early as 3000 BC. There are
several possible derivations for the name cinnamon. One school of thought is that
it comes from Phoenician through the Greek word kinnámōmon, meaning sweet
wood. The taxonomical nomenclature for the spice Cinnamomum zeylanicum is
derived from Sri Lanka’s former name, Ceylon, which indicates the plant’s centre of
origin. The genus Cinnamomum belongs to the family lauraceae and has about 250
species spread over South East Asia, China and Australia, many of which are
aromatic and flavouring. The cinnamon of commerce is the dried inner bark of the
tree Cinnamomum verum (syn. C. zeylanicum Blume) native to Sri Lanka and the
Malabar Coast of India. It is pale tan in colour and mildly sweet in flavour. Cassia is
a similar spice to cinnamon but of an inferior quality. It is a native of Myanmar
(Burma). The sources of cassia cinnamon are Chinese cassia (C. cassia syn. C.
aromatica) from China and Vietnam, Indonesian (Cinnamomum burmanii), from
Sumatra and the Java region, and Indian cassia (Cinnamomum tamala) from the
north-eastern region of India and Myanmar (Baruah and Nath, 2004).
Cinnamon is endemic to Sri Lanka, which is the major producer and exporter of
bark oil and leaf oil with 24 000 ha under cultivation. The Seychelles, Madagascar
and India also produce true cinnamon bark of superior quality, though in small
quantities. In India, true cinnamon is cultivated in Kerala, coastal areas of
Karnataka and various parts of Tamil Nadu (Krishnamoorthy et al., 1996). Islands
like the Andaman Islands, Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and the Maldives are also
famous for cinnamon. According to the International Herald Tribune, in 2006 Sri
Lanka produced 90 % of the world’s cinnamon, followed by China, India and
Vietnam. According to the FAO, Indonesia produces 40 % of the world’s Cassia
genus of cinnamon. The major importers are Mexico, West Germany, the USA, the
UK, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and France.
The cinnamon spice grown in Sri Lanka has unique advantages due to its
organoleptic properties. There are significant compositional variations even within
the plantations, and the presence of different cultivars has been recorded in the
island (Wijesekera, 1978). These cultivars are recognized by sensory evaluation and
denoted by such nomenclature as ‘sweet’, ‘honey’, ‘camphoraceous’ and also
‘mucilaginous’, wild and ‘bloom’. The sweet and honey cultivars are extensively
cultivated (Senanayake, 1977).
Bark oil is produced from the distillation of imported cinnamon and cassia in
Western Europe and North America. Sri Lanka also supplies a major portion of the
cinnamon bark oil. France is the biggest importer followed by the USA. Leaf oil is
distilled in Sri Lanka and the Seychelles. The USA and Western Europe are the
largest market for leaf oil. China is the major producer of cassia oil in the global

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market. Small quantities of cassia oils are produced in Indonesia, Vietnam, India
and Nepal, but these are obtained from species of cinnamon other than C. cassia
and are much less widely traded than the Chinese oil.

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Role of turmeric and cinnamon spices in digestive,

metabolic, and immune systems
Mohd Fadhlizil Fasihi Mohd Aluwi, ... Md Akil Hossain, in Nutrition and Functional
Foods in Boosting Digestion, Metabolism and Immune Health, 2022

Cinnamon: an overview
Cinnamon is a bark that is reddish or yellowish brown in color with pleasant
aroma. It grows on topical trees and has long been regarded as a spice. The ancient
Egyptians employed it in mummification, witchery, and making perfumes and
malabathrum oil. Cinnamon is also used by the Chinese to preserve the bodies of
the deceased (Cheng 1960). Cinnamon also was reported to cure various ailments
during the Middle Ages, including coughs and indigestion (Sindney, 1985).
Cinnamon (genus Cinnamomum) belongs to the family Lauraceae and is one of the
spices that contains many structurally diverse phytochemical compounds
(Udayaprakash et al., 2015). The most common species are Cinnamomum verum
(also known as Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Ceylon cinnamon, or real cinnamon) and
Cinnamomum cassia (also known as Cassia cinnamon or Chinese cinnamon),
Cinnamomum burmannii (Java or Indonesian cinnamon), and Cinnamomum loureiroi
(Vietnamese or Saigon cinnamon) (Killday et al., 2011). They are commercially
significant due to wide range of applications in the food, nutraceutical, and
pharmaceutical sectors. Nonetheless, the genus Cinnamomum comprises over 250
species, each having its own genotype and phenotype (Tung et Al., 2008).

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A Worldwide Yearly Survey of New Data in Adverse

Drug Reactions
Renee A. Bellanger PharmD, ... Helen E. Smith PhD, in Side Effects of Drugs
Annual, 2019

Adverse effects: Gastrointestinal

Cinnamon has been used traditionally as a spice and for health benefits including
beneficial effects as an anti-infective, gastroprotective, immunomodulation, and
anti-diabetic agent. A systematic review of the AEs of cinnamon included 65
studies as follows: 38 randomized clinical trials of cinnamon use where 14 studies
reported no AEs, 5 studies reported AEs and 19 studies did not report; 20 case
reports for patients 11- to 74-years-old; and 7 case series. In the 5 randomized
trials that reported AEs, 17 of the 141 enrolled subjects experienced AEs to
cinnamon. Of these, 9 patients reported gastrointestinal tract effects, including
nausea, diarrhea, constipation, and abdominal pain. Headache occurred in 4
subjects and 2 subjects reported hives or rash. Doses of oral cinnamon in studies
reporting AEs ranged from 80 mg to 1.5 g per day. Study patients with seasonal
allergic rhinitis using a 200 mcg cinnamon nasal spray experienced cough, fever,
headache, body aches, throat irritation more frequently than the control group. In
randomized studies reporting no AEs from cinnamon, 488 patients were assigned
to the cinnamon groups (oral cinnamon doses were 456 mg to 6 g per day).
Among patients taking cinnamon in the 20 reviewed case reports, cinnamon was
taken as chewing gum, flavoring agent or topical oil and the most common AEs
were dermatitis and stomatitis. Discontinuation of the cinnamon product resulted
in reversal of symptoms in all patients. The case series reviewed included 116
subjects, aged 16–80 years. Cinnamon as a flavoring agent in a variety of food,
hygiene and chewing gum products caused contact dermatitis of the oropharynx.
One case series of workers processing cinnamon reported irritation of skin, loss of
hair, respiratory and eye symptoms and loss of weight. The authors conclude that

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cinnamon in doses used to spice or flavor foods is generally safe; however,
medicinal use of larger doses for long periods of time may increase the chance of
AEs. It was recommended that the cinnamon type and AEs be listed in publications
[23M].

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Beneficial effects of cinnamon on cardiovascular risk

factors and type 2 diabetes
M. Moncada, ... M.F. Mesquita, in Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals in
Metabolic and Non-Communicable Diseases, 2022

Abstract
Cinnamon is obtained from a plant whose products have been used daily by people
all over the world. Cinnamon is a popular culinary spice, and the oil of cinnamon is
used in medicine as a carminative, antiseptic, and astringent. Cinnamon has
recently become increasingly popular for its benefits in glycemic control. It has
been used for the treatment of coronary risk factors, particularly hypertension,
diabetes mellitus, and obesity, and for ameliorating dyslipidemia. Its leaf and bark
have digestive, blood purifier, astringent, carminative, warming stimulant,
antiseptic, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties and can help to reduce
cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Several mechanisms have been described for
the action of polyphenols isolated from cinnamon. These compounds seem to
modulate multiple steps of the insulin signal transduction pathway, stimulating the
glucose uptake and glycogen synthesis. These bioactive compounds of cinnamon
have also been shown to have insulin-independent effects on the regulation of
gene expression in adipocytes. In brief, this review indicates that cinnamon has
potential beneficial effects on blood glucose, body weight, blood lipids, and blood
pressures.

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Starch Hydrolase Inhibitors from Edible Plants

Hongyu Wang, ... Dejian Huang, in Advances in Food and Nutrition Research,
2013

4.2.2 Cinnamon
Cinnamon is used as a flavor ingredient in food preparation. It has an additional
role in type 2 diabetes prevention. Procyanidin oligomers in cinnamon are thought
to be responsible for the biological activity in the treatment of diabetes mellitus.
Procyanidin of cinnamon could inhibit starch hydrolase (Liu et al., 2011). In
addition, A-type proanthocyanidins could enhance the activity of insulin. The study
of Lu et al. (2011) demonstrated that intake of 1, 3, or 6 g of cinnamon per day
reduced serum glucose, triglyceride, LDL cholesterol, and total cholesterol in
people with type 2 diabetes and suggested that the inclusion of cinnamon in the
diet of people with type 2 diabetes would reduce risk factors associated with
diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Hlebowicz and coauthors performed two
series study to test the diabetes prevention effect by adding different doses of
cinnamon into rice pudding. The intake of six grams of cinnamon reduced
postprandial blood glucose and delayed gastric emptying without affecting satiety
(Hlebowicz et al., 2009). The large quantity of proanthocyanidins used resulted in
strong astringency taste. Reducing the cinnamon dosage to 3 g significantly
reduced postprandial serum insulin and increased glucagon-like peptide-1
concentrations without significantly affecting blood glucose, glucose-dependent
insulinotropic polypeptide, ghrelin concentration, satiety, or gastric emptying rate
(Hlebowicz et al., 2009).

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Beneficial Uses of Cinnamon in Health and Diseases

Maria Leonor Tavares da Silva, ... Maria Fernanda de Mesquita, in The Role of
Functional Food Security in Global Health, 2019

Abstract
Cinnamon has been in use from ancient times with multiple culinary usages to
improve the taste of food. It is a spice commonly used worldwide and it is shown to
be effective in improving health due to its functional properties. These functional
properties could act beneficially for the treatment of different disease including
diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and neurological disorders. The
medicinal beneficial uses of cinnamon and its isolated compounds, including
polyphenols, are attributed to their antioxidant activities and properties. This
chapter describes the beneficial use of cinnamon in health and diseases.

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Nutritional and Therapeutic Potential of Spices

Mian K. Sharif, ... Imran Pasha, in Therapeutic, Probiotic, and Unconventional
Foods, 2018

4.7 Cinnamon
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) is the hardiest tree among the spices and belongs
to Lauraceae family and genus Cinnamomum. It can tolerate harsh conditions of soil
and temperature, and its height is 2–3 m. Ideal high quality seeds are small, flat,
uniform, and yellowish in color. The presence of volatile oils, monoterpenes,
sesquiterpenes, and phenyl propenes, in all parts of cinnamon possess a faint and
pleasant aroma. Bark from the cinnamon trunk contains oil contents ranging from
5% to 75%, and include cuminaldehyde and cinnamyl acetate (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. Therapeutic impact of cinnamon on human health.

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Herbs, spices and cardiovascular disease

H. Collin, in Handbook of Herbs and Spices, Volume 3, 2006

8.2.6 Cinnamon
Cinnamon is the brown bark of the cinnamon tree which when dried rolls into a
tubular form known as a quill. Cinnamonum zeylanicum (Ceylon cinnamon) and
Cinnamonum aromaticum (Chinese cinnamon), often referred to as Cassia, are the
leading varieties consumed. Cinnamon is available in either its whole quill tubular
form (cinnamon sticks) or as a ground powder. The chief constituent is the volatile
oil, which amounts to 1% of the bark. The principal constituent of the oil is
cinnamic aldehyde together with cinnamyl-acetic ester and a little cinnamic acid
and eugenol. It has a variety of medical uses but its relation to cardiovascular
disease is its anti-clotting effect. It is also a rich source of calcium and fibre, which
are both able to bind to bile salts and remove them from the body. When bile is
removed, the body must break down cholesterol to make new bile, which can help
to lower the cholesterol levels. It does also have powerful antioxidant properties
that far exceed those shown by anise, ginger, liquorice, mint, nutmeg and vanilla
and is also more powerful than the chemical food additive BHA and BHT (Murcia
et al., 2004).

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Cinnamon Species
A.T. Mbaveng, V. Kuete, in Medicinal Spices and Vegetables from Africa, 2017

1 Introduction
Cinnamon is the name for a dozen of species of trees and the commercial spice
products that some of them produce, belonging to the genus Cinnamomum in the
family Lauraceae. There are hundreds of types of Cinnamon with only four them
being used for commercial purposes. These include Cinnamomum cassia (syn.
Cinnamomum aromaticum) commonly known as Cassia or Chinese Cinnamon (the
most common type), Cinnamomum burmannii known as Korintje or Indonesian
Cinnamon or Padang Cassia, Cinnamomum loureiroi known as Saigon Cinnamon,
Vietnamese cassia or Vietnamese cinnamon and Cinnamomum zeylanicum (syn.
Cinnamomum Verum) known as Ceylon, true, or Mexican Cinnamon (The Seasoning
and Spice Association, 2010). C. zeylanicum is native to Sri Lanka, India,
Madagascar, Brazil, and the Caribbean and is also cultivated on a commercial scale
in Seychelles and Madagascar (Mohammed, 1993). This plant is also found in West
tropical Africa where it has multiple uses including its consumption as food (bark),
sauces, condiments, spices, flavorings (leaf ), and drink. In traditional medicine, the
bark infusion is used as a remedy for pain, arthritis, rheumatism, nasopharyngeal
affections, and stomach troubles whereas leaf, bark, and roots are used to heal
diarrhea and dysentery (Burkill, 1985). C. cassia Blume is native to China and exotic
to southern and eastern Asia and to Africa where it has been reported in Nigeria
(Lockwood, 1979) and South Africa (Glen, 2002). Traditionally, C. cassia is used as
an aromatic spice. Bark is used for its carminative, stomachic, antidiarrheal, and
antibacterial properties (Bansode, 2012). There are several reports related to its
pharmacological effects, such as antiinflammatory, antioxidant, and
hepatoprotective activities (Bansode, 2012). C. burmannii is native to Indonesia and
has been cultivated in South Africa (Glen, 2002). There is a scarcity of reports
related to the cultivation of C. burmannii in Africa. In this chapter, we will focus on
the chemistry and pharmacology of the two most popular cinnamon, C. cassia and
C. zeylanicum.

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Active food packaging from chitosan incorporated with

plant polyphenols

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Ubonrat Siripatrawan, in Novel Approaches of Nanotechnology in Food, 2016

3.2.1 Cinnamon Essential Oil

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum and Cinnamon cassia) is one of the most
important spices used in various food products. Cinnamon primarily contains
essential oils and other derivatives, such as cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, cinnamic
acid, and cinnamate. The main compound of cinnamon essential oil is
cinnamaldehyde (Fig. 14.7). Cinnamaldehyde (trans-3-phenyl-2-propenal) or
cinnamic aldehyde occurs naturally in the bark of cinnamon trees and other species
of the genus Cinnamomum. The essential oil of cinnamon bark contains about 90%
cinnamaldehyde. Cinnamaldehyde is the chemical compound that gives a specific
spicy aroma and flavor of cinnamon. Besides cinnamaldehyde, cinnamon oil
contains a great variety of chemical compounds (eg, cinnamic acid, coumaric acid,
cinnamyl alcohol, and eugenol) that present antioxidant and antimicrobial
activities. Cinnamon essential oil has shown not only antifungal and antibacterial
properties against a broad spectrum of food spoilage and pathogenic
microorganisms but also antioxidant activity (Jiarpinijnun et al., 2013;
Leerahawong et al., 2008; Perdones et al., 2014). Moreover, it has
antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, antitumor,
antimutagenic, memory enhancer, and many other activities (Mathew and
Abraham, 2006).

Figure 14.7. Structure of cinnamaldehyde (trans-3-phenyl-2-propenal).

Mathew and Abraham (2006) studied the antioxidant activity of essential oil from
cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) bark extract. The cinnamon bark extract yields an
essential oil containing cinnamaldehyde and eugenol. The evaluation of
antioxidant activities of the methanolic extract of the cinnamon bark revealed that
cinnamon bark extract, due to its hydrogen donating ability, possesses antioxidant
activity, which is concentration dependent. Cinnamon bark extract exhibits
reducing power and is found to be potent in free radical scavenging activity against
DPPH radicals and ABTS radical cations. Moreover, although cinnamon bark
extract is weak chelators of metal ions, its free radical scavenging capacity is
comparable to that of synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole
(BHA).
Cinnamaldehyde has been reported to be among the most active components
against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Sanla-Ead et al. (2012) studied
antimicrobial activity of cinnamaldehyde (50 μL/mL) using a modified agar-well
diffusion. The inhibition zone of cinnamaldehyde was observed with descendent
from L. monocytogenes, S. aureus, E. faecalis, and B. cereus, respectively, for Gram-
positive bacteria, and E. coli, S. Enteritidis, E. coli O157:H7, and P. aeruginosa,
respectively for Gram-negative bacteria. Zhang et al. (2016) reported that
cinnamon essential oil exhibited effective antibacterial activity against foodborne
pathogenic bacteria in model systems using E. coli and S. aureus. The minimum
inhibition concentration (MIC) of cinnamon oil was similar (1.0 mg/mL) for both
bacteria, while the minimum bactericide concentration (MBC) was 4.0 mg/mL for
E. coli and 2.0 mg/mL for S. aureus.
The mechanism of antimicrobial effect of cinnamon oil has been demonstrated by
Zhang et al. (2016) that cinnamon essential oil impairs the permeability and
integrity of cell membrane, and alters morphology of bacterial cell membrane, as
observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). As described by Diao et al.
(2014), the bacterial cytoplasmic membrane provides a barrier to the access of
small ions such as K+, Na+, and H+. The membrane impermeability to small ions is
maintained and managed by structure and chemical compositions of the
membrane. Maintenance of ion homeostasis is crucial for bacterial cell membrane
functions to maintain the energy status of the cell for solute transport, control
enzyme activity and normal metabolism, and manage turgor pressure and motility.
Small variations to the membrane structure can lead to the loss of inner cell
materials, the disruption of cell metabolism, and, consequently, the bacterial cell
death. This assumption was evaluated by measuring the relative electrical
conductivity of E. coli and S. aureus, which is correlated to the absorbance (at

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260 nm) of nucleic acids released through the malfunctioning membrane. The
relative electrical conductivity is found to be increased with increasing
concentration of cinnamon essential oil, suggesting that there is a leakage of
electrolytes, due to disruption of cell permeability in respond to the addition of
cinnamon essential oil. Consequently, loss of electrolytes causes the death of E. coli
and S. aureus (Zhang et al., 2016).
Zhang et al. (2016) also found that E. coli exerted more resistant to cinnamon oil
than S. aureus, probably due to structural differences in the outer membrane of
bacteria. Gram-negative bacteria have a layer of outer lipopolysaccharide
membrane covering the cell wall. This cell membrane structure of Gram-negative
bacteria has shown to be more resistant to the hydrophobic substance of essential
oils when compared with the Gram-positive S. aureus, which possess single
peptidoglycan layer structure (Hsouna et al., 2011; Zhang et al., 2016). Literature
has reported that essential oils of cinnamon and other spices (eg, thyme,
origanum, mint, salvia, and clove) can affect bacterial cell membrane structure, as
the antibacterial compounds in essential oils can penetrate through cell wall and
destroy the cytoplasmic membrane, and consequently cause the cell death
(Weerakody et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2016).

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