Although many people think of cinnamon as purely a spice for baking, its health benefits have become well known in recent years. In traditional Chinese medicine, cassia cinnamon (the kind most Americans use for baking and cooking) is used for colds, flatulence, nausea, diarrhea and painful menstrual periods. It’s also believed to improve energy, vitality and circulation, and be particularly useful for people who tend to feel hot in their upper body while having cold feet.

Cinnamon is one of those common spices that has always been in consumers’ cupboards, added Steve Siegel, vice president of Ecuadorian Rainforest (Belleville, NJ), and has maintained its position because of its pleasant aroma and almost sweet taste (without the calories of sugar). One could add cinnamon to virtually any type of dish—main entrées, desserts and beverages like coffee drinks (cappuccinos), Siegel said. “Over the past couple of years, [though], much attention has been brought to the health benefits of cinnamon. No longer ‘just a spice,’ cinnamon has proven to hold many nutritional benefits while only having to consume as little as one teaspoon.”

Cinnamon and Diabetes

There is no doubt that cinnamon’s health benefits extend to numerous issues. Bob Green, president of Novel Ingredient Services (West Caldwell, NJ), said he has heard it touted for everything from digestive aids and memory enhancement to treating toothaches and eliminating bad breath. But most of the research has been done on cinnamon’s antioxidant capacity—it has one of the highest antioxidant levels of any spice—and its ability to regulate blood sugar levels, said Green.

Some research has shown that cinnamon may lower blood sugar by decreasing insulin resistance, one of today’s major health threats and a key factor in the development of diabetes, pre-diabetes and metabolic syndrome, continued Green. “People who are insulin resistant produce enough insulin, but their bodies don’t respond to it. This is a problem because insulin’s job is to transport glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells. If glucose can’t enter cells and remains in the bloodstream, blood sugar levels will be high,” said Green.

Further, in people with type 2 diabetes, the sugar-lowering hormone insulin does not work as well. This leads to higher blood sugar levels. In one study, referenced from WebMD, volunteers ate between 1-6g of cinnamon for 40 days (1g of ground cinnamon is about half a teaspoon). Researchers found that cinnamon reduced cholesterol by about 18 percent and blood sugar levels by 24 percent.

However, studies don’t always agree On how cinnamon works, noted Green. “Some say that cinnamon’s polyphenols appear to mimic the action of insulin in your body. Others say the polyphenols help activate insulin. Either way, cinnamon has been shown to have positive effects on blood sugar and insulin response.”

Spice Sourcing

Cinnamon has a long history of safe use and is an abundant product that is not very hard to source, said Siegel.

“Therefore, the manufacturing demands are not as high as let’s say a more exotic offering. Ecuadorian Rainforest supplies powdered cinnamon from Ecuador. The benefit is that the cost to produce cinnamon is much lower in South America. Also, cinnamon has a long history (pre-European) in Eastern Ecuador. In fact, the lure of such spices like cinnamon brought conquistadors from Spain to Ecuador,” said Siegel.

Brien Quirk, director of research and development at Draco Natural Products (San Jose, CA), said his company now has a water-soluble cinnamon extract standardized to eight percent flavonoids. It is relatively neutral for flavor and therefore does not contain the aromatic flavor cinnamonaldehyde compound, which could otherwise result in inconsistent flavor results when custom flavors are added. This would be highly desirable for blood sugar support products, weight-loss products and workout Meal replacements and diet products, Quirk added.

Further, Novel Ingredients source cinnamon in Indonesia, Vietnam and China. According to Green, Novel’s Chinese cinnamon has the lowest coumarin content, “which is desired by people who have a sensitivity to this flavoring.”

Trends and Challenges

While there doesn’t seem to be one overriding preferred delivery form for cinnamon, Quirk said that capsules and tablets are the main dosage forms, since extracts tend to be bitter. However, Draco has a water-soluble cinnamon extract with a unique, proprietary water extraction process that might work well in beverage applications that are flavored properly to mask or augment the bitter notes. “Bitterness can be a benefit if it is trans Transformed into a palatable flavor, as are examples with naturally bitter notes in chocolate, vanilla and coffee, the flavors which are considered rich and full. Our cinnamon extract might go well in a chai latte spicy blend or a pumpkin spice smoothie,” said Quirk.

Although cinnamon may be easier to source than other ingredients, its processing does not always come challenge- free. Finding the right flavoring profile in the chosen food or beverage matrix can prove difficult, said Quirk. “It will also be important to test for stability of the active compounds when the ingredient is added to an aqueous matrix since compounds can break down faster in aqueous solutions. The key to avoiding degradation would be to use an oxygen removal system or extra antioxidants to compensate for losses, and then test its overall stability ruggedness.”

Another challenge when using cinnamon is the ingredient’s fluffiness, noted Green. This makes it difficult to put the recommended fill-weights in capsules, he said. “Novel solves this problem by customizing the particle size and bulk density. We work with each customer not only to find the manufacturing solutions that satisfy their specific needs, but also to determine how our raw material can improve the effectiveness, efficiency and profitability of their overall manufacturing operation. So Novel cinnamon is always more user-friendly.”