Cinnamon Between Romance and Health

Highly valued in history, cinnamon remains to this day a well known spice. Nowadays we find it in stores just like any other food item, nevertheless in ancient Egypt cinnamon was even more expensive than gold! The Egyptians used it in many different ways: as food/beverage flavor, as medicine as well as an important embalming component.

The Bible also mentions cinnamon among the fine spices used as fragrance, highly appreciated among the incense trees. "Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh … and of fragrant cinnamon…" Exodus 30:23

Also in those times women used it as perfume:"I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon." Proverbs 7:17

In his love song to his bride, Solomon also remarks the incense trees among which cinnamon is also present: "How delightful is your love … my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice! Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like that of Lebanon. You are a garden locked up … my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.
Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices. Song of Songs 4:10-14

Not only Egyptians and Israelites used cinnamon, Chinese people also seem to have had an appreciation for it since it was mentioned in their Chinese botanical medicine books back in 2,700 B.C.

Yes, from romance to significant health issues, cinnamon has not only survived but has got a well deserved place. We find it today as powder or sticks, encapsulated as a dietary supplement or as liquid herbal tonic. Regardless of the form you may find it in, the constituents that give cinnamon its exceptional proprieties are chiefly represented by three types of essential active components of the cinnamon bark: cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl acetate, and cinnamyl alcohol. These components are present in the essential oils of the cinnamon bark together with a large variety of other volatile substances. The cinnamon oil can produce dermatitis so handling it carefully, protecting your skin is a recommendation that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Health benefits

If you introduce cinnamon in your diet, sprinkled on food/fruit etc., or taken as capsules or liquid herbal tonic, it will help you fight the following affections:

1. Will level high blood pressure and protect you against heart disease.

2. Will lower/control sugar levels in diabetes. A study from the US Agricultural Research Service has shown that as little as 1 gram powdered cinnamon per day (which equals approximately a half of a teaspoon) has caused a drop of 20% in blood sugar. Not only sugar but cholesterol and triglycerides levels were lowered as well. The other subjects tested were given as much as 4-6 grams of cinnamon daily, yet, as I said, the smallest amount will make a difference.

3. Will reduce the rate of stomach emptying. After each meal, the stomach naturally empties and the faster it empties the sooner it requires another "refill" so it is good to know that cinnamon also reduces the rate of stomach emptying from 37% to 34.5%. This lessens the rise in blood sugar levels after eating which means that you won’t feel the hunger so fast; due to the fact that the brain receptors will measure the same level of blood sugar for a longer period of time, it is after a longer while that they’ll send the signal: "You are hungry!"

4. Will have an anti-clotting action. The component of the cinnamon essential oil named cinnaldehyde is the one that helps prevent the formation of unwanted clump of blood platelets. In other words it prevents blood clogging fact that improves circulation, in the same time reducing the stroke risk.

5. Antiseptic and astringent properties

6. Will preserve food it is an anti-microbial agent. Cinnamon's essential oils cause the discontinuance of the development of bacteria and fungi. Laboratory tests indicate that the growth of fungi (Candida included) resistant to the usual anti-fungal prescription as Fluconazole, was oftentimes (though not every time) successfully treated using cinnamon extracts. Cinnamon can also be used as an alternative for food preservatives, that’s how strong its antimicrobial properties are.

7. Cinnamon's scent will increase your brain function;

8. The exceptional content of fiber in it will improve colon health;

9. A long-established ingredient of the warming therapy;

10. It is an excellent source of manganese (a mineral) and a very good source of calcium and iron.

In conclusion, for romantic or heath related reasons, the cinnamon should be a constant companion of a healthy diet.