Cinnamon is one of the most valuable plant remedies in human history, much favoured for its warming digestive effects and to build strength during recovery from illness.
Digestive remedy
Counteracts effects of cold on the body
Improves blood sugar control
Builds strength and energy
Get some new cinnamon quills, crush a small piece and ‘nose’ it to get that wonderful spectrum of aromas. These are formed by volatile elements that all have effects on the body. Then take a teaspoonful of freshly powdered cinnamon, add 50ml of boiling water, stir and steep for 5-10 minutes and sip. Feel the mix of spicy and sweet reverberating at the back of your mouth, with a slightly woody quality, and the warmth coming up from your chest. You may pick up a trace of bitterness in the aftertaste too.
All around the world the actions of traditional medicines were understood by their immediate sensory impacts. Click on each of cinnamon’s key qualities below to learn more:
Traditional descriptions of cinnamon (see below) emphasised its warming qualities as well as its role in helping digestion. Consider using cinnamon for any conditions where you feel the cold, for example in respiratory infections, joint pains, and particularly if you want to help with a digestive problem where you instinctively look for warmth (such as where symptoms are helped by a hot water bottle).
It has long been used as a women’s remedy, for menstrual and other pains, especially when these are relieved by warmth.
Cinnamon combines especially well with ginger. A fresh ginger and cinnamon tea will provide instant relief and even healing at the first sign of a cold, chest or upper respiratory infection.
Cinnamon is particularly useful if you are recovering from an illness or chronic fatigue condition, and again especially when you are feeling the cold. It will help restore a healthy appetite and reduce the many digestive and abdominal problems that are associated with being run down.
Cinnamon is revered in Asian and European traditions for its characteristic warming, sweet and aromatic qualities, also with a slight bitterness.
Distilling these reputations, cinnamon can be described as stimulating the circulation, dispelling cold and building core strength. Its combination of aromatic, hot and bitter qualities however meant that it was particularly applied to sluggish digestion and to strengthen nutritional absorption, for example in recovering or convalescing from illness or fatigue.
It was used for congestive conditions of the lower abdomen or pelvis relieved by heat (eg hot water bottles), so for example some women’s problems, and for joint pain made worse in cold and damp.
Cinnamon has had literally a fabulous reputation from earliest recorded history. Its unique flavours meant not only that it was one of the most valuable spices in early commerce, but also delivered almost immediate benefits to the digestion and circulation. Its reputation probably began with its role in cooking and digestion. In the past food selection was the first stage of healing: spices were widely added to foods to support digestion, prevent gut infections and build resilience. Survival depended on preventing diseases before they became disabling. It also depended on full recovery from illnesses, and before we lost the skills in the modern times, convalescence was core to health care. Cinnamon was one of the most popular convalescent tonics in Asia, supporting digestion and maintaining warmth through this vulnerable recovery time.
Cinnamon was also highly highly regarded as an aromatic, as recorded of the seductress in the Bible’s Book of Proverbs (7:17-18) I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon. Come, let’s drink deeply of love till morning; let’s enjoy ourselves with love!
In traditional herb-based treatments cinnamon is a highly regarded component of formulations designed to stimulate digestion and to warm the body when suffering from the effects of cold. It also pleasantly flavors otherwise strong medicines. Cinnamon may be a leading ingredient in individual formulations in the following areas.
Digestion: Cinnamon stimulates the digestive metabolism making it an excellent remedy in characteristically cold and sluggish digestive systems and slow digestion. It is indicated in flatulence and colic. Cinnamon’s ability to support absorption also makes it useful in diarrhoea with characteristically loose and watery stools and undigested food. The anti-microbial properties of cinnamon also indicate it in the treatment of different forms of dysbiosis, including Candida.
Circulation: Cinnamon stimulates circulation to the extremities, indicating it in conditions such as Raynaud’s syndrome, arthritis and generalised circulatory insufficiencies. These effects can also be of use in cardiac insufficiency with cold extremities, difficulty breathing, fluid accumulation and tiredness.
Lungs: Cinnamon clears mucus and encourages circulation throughout the respiratory system. It can also be used as a hot decoction to clear fevers and encourage sweating.
Urinary and Kidney: Cinnamon’s warm and dry qualities are helpful in treating conditions such as nocturia and frequent urination that are irritated by the cold. Cinnamon can penetrate deep into the tissues, where, coupled with its sweet quality give it an ability to nourish the reproductive system, treating infertility and male impotence.
Women’s health: Cinnamon is an excellent anti-spasmodic for painful periods (dysmenorrhoea). It can also help both lack of periods (amenorrhoea) and excessive bleeding at periods (menorrhagia). It can also be used in wet and stagnant conditions due to its drying astringency in the pelvic cavity, indicating it in the management of ovarian cysts, fibroids and endometriosis.
In order to enhance their role as valiant explorer-traders and the price and value of the commodity, the early Arab suppliers of Indian cinnamon to ancient Europe told dramatic stories of how they had to raid cinnamon quills from the mountain nests of giant ferocious birds.
As a widely used cooking spice around the world cinnamon is inherently safe.
One issue that has arisen is the presence of coumarin, which can cause liver and kidney damage in mice and rats. However, this has been shown to be linked to a detoxification process not usually present in humans. On the precautionary principle however European health agencies have warned against consuming high amounts of cassia due to its high content of coumarin, and many commercial products on the European market have cut their cassia content.
India (relating to Ceylon cinnamon)
It increases saliva, sharpens the appetite and promotes digestion, and encourages a gentle expectoration in (cold) mucus congestion. It revives and stimulates.
China (relating to Cassia)
Properties: acrid, sweet, hot
Primarily warming: good for inducing perspiration and promoting circulation. In the 3rd century text Shang Han Lung (on Cold damage) cinnamon is the classic remedy against “external deficient Yang patterns” marked by aversion to wind and cold, cold hands and feet, headache, pain and stiffness in the back of the neck, nasal congestion. It is said also to “warm the Spleen and disperse Cold”: signs include cold-induced stomach ache, abdominal pain and loose bowels.
Indonesia (relating to Indonesian cinnamon) and Thailand
Stimulant to digestion, respiration and circulation… warming medicine, ‘heart tonic’
Most of the traditional reputation for cinnamon has yet to be tested by modern research. Published papers focus on prospects that different species of cinnamon may affect blood sugar control, particularly in diabetic conditions. Here there is evidence that cinnamon reduces tissue resistance to insulin, decreases inflammatory markers, and lowers glucose, lipids, and blood pressure in people with ‘metabolic syndrome’ (‘insulin resistance’ or pre-diabetic state). There are similar benefits in people with fatty liver problems and even with healthy subjects. An interesting extension of this benefit is to polycystic ovary syndrome, which is marked by disturbances in blood sugar control.
Women may also find cinnamon helpful to relieve menstrual pains.
Ceylon cinnamon has also been shown to have a range of benefits although most of the modern evidence is laboratory based.
Recently, other trials have explored the beneficial prospects of cinnamon in Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, and arteriosclerosis.
To see the references used in this summary check our downloadable Expert Herbal Reality Resource pdf
Medicinal doses are higher than those found in the diet: the recommended treatment dose is 1.5-8 g dried bark.
