Addicted to... Cinnamon?!?

(the cheater) #1

About 10 years ago when I was in nursing school, for some reason I started carrying around a bottle of cinnamon and enjoying a dash here and there. I’d have it open while I was reading and take a hit every now and again. It was immensely enjoyable and I’ve found, for some reason, I’m back at it. I have regular McCormick, thier organic Saigon cinnamon, and even a bottle of roasted cinnamon. I’d say I probably go through about half a bottle a week.

Am I going to die?

Just kidding. I know it’s basically harmless, if not a little weird. One of my nursing instructors used to comment on my habit. I guess I just came here to vent or complain or share what a wonderful little habit I’ve re-discovered!

I think if you’re going for a fast, this is a delicious way to help yourself out; the Saigon cinnamon is especially sweet and flavorful and there’s no way you could eat enough to make it add up to any calories (I think cinnamon is all fiber anyway since it comes from tree bark).

Anyway, that’s my story. I’ll see myself out :wink:

(Randy) #2

This is the important part if you’re consuming every day:

Cassia Contains Coumarin, Which Can Be Toxic
Coumarin is a compound found naturally in several plant species.

It can be harmful in large doses.

In rodents, coumarin is known to cause kidney, liver and lung damage. It may even cause cancer. In humans, there are isolated incidents of similar effects (11, 12).

In fact, the Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) of coumarin used to be 0.2 mg/lb (0.5 mg/kg) of body weight. It has now been reduced to 0.05 mg/lb (0.1 mg/kg) (11).

Cassia cinnamon, but not Ceylon, is a very rich source of coumarin.

Cassia contains approximately 1% coumarin, while Ceylon contains only 0.004%, or 250 times less. This is so low that it’s often undetectable (3, 13).

Exceeding the upper limit for coumarin is easily possible if you are consuming a lot of Cassia cinnamon. In many cases, just 1-2 teaspoons could bring someone over the daily limit.

Therefore, if you regularly eat a lot of cinnamon or take a supplement that contains it, then it should be Ceylon and not Cassia.

BOTTOM LINE:
Cassia contains a lot of coumarin, which can be toxic in large quantities. It is much safer to choose Ceylon if you eat a lot of cinnamon.

(the cheater) #3

Interesting. Yeah, I had briefly read about that before. I guess I’ll have to be more discriminating in my cinnamoning and look for the ceylon type next time!

In any case, I don’t foresee this becoming a part of who I am or something I do long-term, just the re-emergence of an odd quirk :slight_smile:

(Katie) #4

Ceylon also helps mitigate blood sugar swings. That is why I put it in my coffee in the morning, and have some before my meals.

(roxanna) #5

You can buy a huge thing of the safe cinnamon on Amazon.

(Bunny) #6

I wanted to post this somewhere so why not the cinnamon thread?

I have been doing a lot of reading about other things (below) and everything is hinting or leading to the chemical bio-composition of cinnamon, not sure what kind (species) of cinnamon, dosage or anything?

  1. Glutathione depletion

  2. Glycation

  3. De-Glycation (deglycating enzyme fructosamine 3-kinase FN3K)

  4. Polyphenols

Deep thought: What if cinnamon or it’s extracts can aid in reversing diabetes along with those hard to reverse cases on keto, even non-keto? I never would of thought fricking cinnamon was such a powerful thing?

Still rolling my wheels on this!

This is really blowing my mind!

Notes:

[1] “…Many people will be familiar with the fact that variation in red blood cell turnover confounds this measurement. Less well known is that variations in the deglycating enzyme fructosamine 3-kinase (FN3K) also confound the measurement. Counter-intuitively, if you have a higher rate of this deglycating enzyme but a lower rate of downstream metabolism of 3-deoxyglucosone, your lower Hba1c could actually mean MORE glycation. I conclude that Hba1c is a useful test, but only in the context of a bigger picture put together with more information. …” …More

[2] Regulation of Methylglyoxal Accumulation by Glutathione and Dietary Antioxidants (paywalled)