Cinnamon extract

About Cinnamon extract

Bark preparations from several Cinnamomum species. Cassia — the common supermarket cinnamon — contains substantial coumarin; Ceylon cinnamon contains very little, and the two are used interchangeably on labels.

The cinnamon and blood sugar literature is a good case study in how a plausible finding fails to consolidate. Early trials in Pakistan reported meaningful glucose reductions; subsequent trials in Europe and North America largely did not, and reviewers conclude the evidence does not support a clinically useful effect. Meanwhile the coumarin content of cassia is a real hepatotoxicity concern at supplemental doses, and European authorities set a tolerable daily intake for it.

Sold as

Bark powder capsule, Aqueous extract, Whole bark, Cinnamon oil

Standardised to

Water-soluble extracts state a concentration ratio; species is more important than any standardisation figure — a product without this marker may not resemble what was studied.

Also known as

Ceylon cinnamon, Cassia cinnamon, Cinnamomum cassia, True cinnamon

Regulation: The European Food Safety Authority set a tolerable daily intake for coumarin of 0.1 mg per kg body weight, which a few grams of cassia cinnamon can exceed. Ceylon cinnamon contains far less coumarin but is more expensive and less commonly used in supplements.

What the research used

The amounts, forms and durations published trials of Cinnamon extract actually administered.

When it was taken

Each window says whether a trial compared it against an alternative, or whether it is convention and pharmacology. Most timing advice is the second kind.

In the food catalogue

The whole-food form, where one exists. The evidence for a concentrated extract rarely transfers to the food, or the other way round — these are cross-links, not equivalents.