Cinnamon is a potent nutraceutical agent for heart health. The main components of cinnamon are Cinnamaldehyde, Cinnamic acid, Cinnamate, and Eugenol. Therapeutic effects According to traditional medicine in Iran and India, cinnamon is warm and dry, improving coughing, shortness of breath, and thick phlegm, and for heat health.
It’s a sedative for stomachaches, live and postpartum pain, and a kidney stimulant for urinary retention, relieving fever and reducing joint and back pain. Cinnamon accelerates blood flow, stimulates respiration and digestion, and increases most of the body’s secretions.
Cholesterol and Triglyceride
Cinnamon is an anti-clotting agent and prevents atherosclerosis (accumulation of plaque in arteries).
High cholesterol is considered a contributing factor to heart diseases, such as atherosclerosis. Cinnamon is an anti-atherosclerotic treatment that reduces high cholesterol and insulin resistance, stabilize blood sugar, and maintains LDL.
Blood-Pressure
Cinnamon consumption lowers blood pressure. Because cinnamaldehyde dilates blood vessels and helps relieve the tension due to blood pressure. Ingesting 6 g of cinnamon daily lowers triglyceride and total cholesterol in type 2 diabetes.
Cinnamon can help reduce inflammation that is triggered by obesity. The removal of excess weight is helpful for heart health.
Cardiovascular system
Using cinnamon extract capsules (250 mg/kg body weight) in type 2 diabetes patients for two months reduced Total Cholesterol, HDL, and LDL.
The consumption of cardamom (3 g), cinnamon (3 g), ginger (3 g), and saffron (1 g) for eight weeks reduced HDL and LDL in type 2 diabetic patients. But in another study, using cinnamon extract (500 mg/kg body weight) for one year in pre-diabetic patients had no beneficial effect in improving Electrocardiogram indicators. Cinnamon increases total antioxidant power by reducing lipid peroxidation. 100 mg/kg body weight cinnamon for two weeks had significant antioxidant ability in reducing the complications related to oxidative stress and increased total antioxidant power by reducing lipid peroxidation. The consumption of 500 mg cinnamon /kg body weight in type 2 diabetes patients for two months reduced blood sugar and lipid. Using turmeric, chili pepper, and cinnamon on patients with CVDs and anchoring for 11 years showed that cinnamon, did not affect blood lipids and CVDs.
Daily consumption of 1 g cinnamon powder /kg body weight) for 16 months in male type, two diabetes patients reduced the diabetes complications. Another study declared that cinnamon (1 g per day) for three months lowered blood pressure in diabetic patients.
Type-2 diabetes
Cinnamon is helpful in managing by different mechanisms, including managing the glucose that enters the bloodstream and mimicking the blood sugar hormone, which
may have a moderate effect on lowering fasting blood sugar in diabetes.
Cinnamon can also keep blood sugar levels steady throughout the day.
Anti-Inflammatory Properties
Cinnamon reduces the production of the inflammatory molecule thromboxane A2 in patients suffering from heart diseases. Also, cinnamon’s anti-inflammatory properties prevent the release of arachidonic acid (inflammatory fatty acid) when arachidonic acid promotes plaque formation of the arteries if it is related to the platelet’s membranes.
The daily intake of antioxidants is essential for heart health. Cinnamon is a rich source of flavonoids and antioxidants, which are anti-inflammatory and help decrease heart diseases.
Anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal
Cinnamon has many medicinal and soothing properties, as cinnamaldehyde shows anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties.
Gut health
Some spices, including cinnamon, have prebiotic properties that may help restore the balance of bacteria in the gut and improve digestive issues.
Daily Dosage
Cinnamon is generally safe when used in small amounts; no more than one teaspoon per day is safe for most adults, with less for children.
Usually, it’s used for about 1 -6g, depending on the height and weight. Since cassia cinnamon contains higher coumarin (5.8 to 12.1 mg per teaspoon) than Ceylon cinnamon, so should reduce its intake.
Less than 1/8 teaspoon could be enough for some people; it will be up to 2 1/2 teaspoons for others.
Cinnamon has been known from remote antiquity. It was imported to Egypt as early as 2000 BC, but those who reported that it had come from China had confused it with Cinnamomum cassia, a related species. Cinnamon was so highly prized among ancient nations that it was regarded as a gift fit for monarchs and even for a deity; an inscription records the gift of cinnamon and cassia to the temple of Apollo at Miletus. Its source was kept a trade secret in the Mediterranean for centuries by those in the spice trade, to protect their monopoly as suppliers.
Cinnamomum verum, which translates from Latin as “true cinnamon”, is native to India, Srilanka , Bangladesh, and Myanmar.Cinnamomum cassia (cassia) is native to China. Related species, all harvested and sold in the modern era as cinnamon, are native to Vietnam (“Saigon cinnamon“), Indonesia, and other southeast Asian countries with warm climates.
In Ancient Egypt, cinnamon was used to embalm mummies. From the Ptolemaic Kingdom onward, Ancient Egyptian recipes for kyphi, an aromatic used for burning, included cinnamon and cassia. The gifts of Hellenistic rulers to temples sometimes included cassia and cinnamon.
The first Greek reference to κασία kasía is found in a poem by Sappho in the 7th century BC. According to Herodotus, both cinnamon and cassia grew in Arabia, together with incense, myrrh, and labdanum, and were guarded by winged serpents. Herodotus, Aristotle, and other authors named Arabia as the source of cinnamon; they recounted that giant “cinnamon birds” collected the cinnamon sticks from an unknown land where the cinnamon trees grew and used them to construct their nests.
Pliny the Elder wrote that cinnamon was brought around the Arabian peninsula on “rafts without rudders or sails or oars”, taking advantage of the winter trade winds. He also mentioned cassia as a flavoring agent for wine, and that the tales of cinnamon being collected from the nests of cinnamon birds were a traders’ fiction made up to charge more. However, the story remained current in Byzantium as late as 1310.
According to Pliny the Elder, a Roman pound (327 grams [11.5 oz]) of cassia, and cinnamon (serichatum), cost up to 1,500 denarii, the wage of fifty months’ labor. Diocletian‘s Edict on Maximum Prices from 301 AD gives a price of 125 denarii for a pound of cassia, while an agricultural laborer earned 25 denarii per day. Cinnamon was too expensive to be commonly used on funeral pyres in Rome, but Emperor Nero is said to have burned a year’s worth of the city’s supply at the funeral of his wife Poppaea Sabina in AD 65.
Conclusion
Cinnamon is influential in preventing and treating CVDs by lowering blood lipids and blood pressure and improving the oxidants: antioxidants balance.
References
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- Azimi P, Ghiasvand R, Feizi A, Hariri M, Abbasi B. Effects of cinnamon, cardamom, saffron, and ginger consumption on markers of glycemic control, lipid profile, oxidative stress, and inflammation in type 2 diabetes patients. The Review of Diabetic Studies: RDS. 2014; 11(3-4):258-66.
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- https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/a19907/cinnamon-benefits/
- https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/health-benefits-cinnamon
- https://iccli.com/2019/02/28/is-cinnamon-good-for-your-heart/
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