About Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of about 12 different species of trees. It has been used as a spice since before 2000 BC.

Types of Cinnamon:

The 4 most common types of cinnamon are:
1.) Cassia (aka Chinese Cinnamon)
2.) True Cinnamon (aka Cinnamomum Verum or Ceylon Cinnamon)
3.) Burmanni (aka Indonesian Cinnamon)
4.) Loureiroi (aka Saigon Cinnamon or Vietnamese Cinnamon

You want to use True Cinnamon – which likely comes from Sri Lanka and can be up to 10x the cost of Cassia Cinnamon (which is the most popular type of Cinnamon in the US).  A picture of True Cinnamon is shown on this page.

Why We Recommend True Cinnamon

The reason is because all Cinnamon contains a blood-thinning agent called Coumarin – which is recommended for moderate consumption only. Frequent ingestion can cause liver damage. The amount of coumarin in True Cinnamon is 0.017 g/kg. The amounts of coumarin in Cassia, Brumanni, and Loureiroi are 0.31, 2.15, and 6.97 g/kg, respectively. In other words – there is 18x as much Coumarin in Cassia Cinnamon as True Cinnamon! Or 410x as much Coumarin in Loureiroi Cinnamon as True Cinnamon! Only true cinnamon is advised for consumption on a regular basis, however, ~70% of the cinnamon consumed in the US is Cassia cinnamon.

As an added benefit – true cinnamon tastes better as is often used by high end bakeries.

We use True Cinnamon in our Ancient Delight Superfood Mix.

Nutrition Benefits of Cinnamon

Cinnamon has been used in tradition medicine for a lot of various reasons – primarily for blood sugar regulation, heart disease, anti-inflammatory, neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimers, Parkinson’s, etc.), anti-cancer, bacterial and fungal fighter, HIV, and others.