Comments on: Cinnamon: Want A Little Spice In Your Life?

By: Leor

Leor — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:48:23 +0000

Mmmmm…. I love cinnamon with oatmeal and banana.

By: Rosy

Rosy — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 03:22:56 +0000

Lovely post! I have had cinnamon in my life since I was a toddler. My mother would add it to hot drinks, rice water and mexican style rice puddings. I love cinnamon, just love it.

By: Talli van Sunder

Talli van Sunder — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:34:27 +0000

@Dani Thanks for the information. That can be very confusing.

By: Dani

Dani — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:21:42 +0000

It’s even more confusing because Sri Lanka cinnamon trees have been exported to the above-mentioned countries and actually grow there along with cassia. There’s a very informative wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon

Happy New Year!
@blogbooktours

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:02:04 +0000

Did someone say cinnamon?

I LOVE organic cinnamon and use it dishes from spaghetti bolognese to baked fruit. I’m happy to know it also provides great health benefits, but let’s face it, it tastes SO good!

Thanks Talli for another great post!

By: PeppersGhost

PeppersGhost — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:26:51 +0000

You never cease to amaze me Talli. I think of something and the next day you blogged about it already.

By: Laurie Ashton Farook

Laurie Ashton Farook — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 11:48:06 +0000

Yeah, could be the cassia – I’m going off of my memory, which can be quite faulty.

At any rate, the point was to make sure you (the generic you) know what you’re getting since cassia is frequently sold as cinnamon, as are a couple of other types.

By: Talli van Sunder

Talli van Sunder — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:19:37 +0000

That is a good point to clarify which one provides the health benefits. In reference to type 2 diabetes, the study I read used Cinnamomum cassia, which some people call Chinese cinnamon. Here is the study: http://care.diabetesjournals.org/cgi/content/full/26/12/3215

By: Laurie Ashton Farook

Laurie Ashton Farook — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 05:59:34 +0000

Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, synonym C. zeylanicum) is native to Sri Lanka. Then there’s cassia (Cinnamomum aromaticum, synonym C. cassia), native to China, Bangladesh, India, and Viet Nam, that is frequently sold as cinnamon since the flavours, colours, and texture are very similar. To further complicate matters, there are also other relatives to cinnamon and cassia that are also sometimes sold as cinnamon.

I believe the health benefits you refer to in this article are for Ceylon cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum, synonym C. zeylanicum), not cassia. Cassia has health warnings associated with it due to its coumarin content, which cinnamon does not have.

To get the health benefits as you describe, a person would have to make sure they’re getting cinnamon, not cassia or one of the other relatives.