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6 Healthy Reasons to Eat More Real Cinnamon (Not its Cousin)

If you live in North America or Europe that jar of "cinnamon" in your cupboard is probably not truly cinnamon at all, but a very similar spice known as cassia or "bastard cinnamon."

True cinnamon is usually labeled "Ceylon cinnamon" and comes principally from Sri Lanka (called Ceylon in colonial times), India, Madagascar, Brazil and the Caribbean. Cassia, on the other hand, is often designated as "Chinese cinnamon" or "Saigon cinnamon" and comes principally from Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Japan and Korea.

Cinnamon is one of the oldest and most popular spices, and has been used for millennia both for its flavoring and medicinal qualities. In ancient Egypt, it was used to fill body cavities of corpses as an embalming agent. In ancient Rome it was considered so valuable that the Emperor Nero burned a year's supply on his wife's funeral pyre as proof of his devotion to her.

Ceylon cinnamon is more expensive and more difficult to find in North America where most spices labeled cinnamon are actually the cheaper cassia. Sweeter, lighter and more refined than cassia, true cinnamon is most suitable to flavoring desserts rather than more robust, savory dishes, which can handle the heavier cassia.

Besides flavor, the most important distinction between the two spices, however, is in their levels of coumarin, a natural compound that acts as a blood thinner when ingested.

Cassia has much higher levels of coumarin than true cinnamon. Patients on blood thinners such as warfarin (trade name Coumadin) are often advised to limit their intake of cinnamon, but this generally applies to cassia more so than to real cinnamon.

Both types of cinnamon are excellent sources of the trace mineral manganese, which is an important activator of enzymes essential to building healthy bones as well as other physiological processes, including carbohydrate and fat metabolism.

They are also both very good sources of dietary fiber, iron and calcium. The combination of calcium and fiber is thought to be helpful in reducing the risk of colon cancer, lowering cholesterol levels and relieving constipation and diarrhea.

Whatever you do, makes sure to buy all your spices USDA certified organic because many conventional brands irradiate their raw material with intense doses of radiation. Learn more about this invisible nuclear threat within non-organic food.

Six Reasons to Get More Cinnamon in Your Diet ...

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