Cinnamon

Plants used as foods, spices, teas, or traditional supplements. Botanical effects vary by plant part, extract, dose, and medication context.

Page last reviewed: 2026-07-23 - next review due: 2027-01-23

culinaryTCMAyurveda

Safety Flags

liver disease, blood thinners, diabetes medications

Source Coverage

Included: US reference

Review gap: Canadian reference

Add or verify Health Canada context where an official Canadian reference exists.

Review gap: EU reference

Add or verify EFSA or EU health-claim context where an official EU reference exists.

Included: Clinical / safety source

Function

Culinary bark spice studied for glucose and lipid marker contexts; species and coumarin content matter.

Natural Sources

Ceylon cinnamon bark, cassia cinnamon bark.

Food vs Supplement Context

Natural sources describe where this item appears in foods, culinary ingredients, or traditional preparations. Concentrated supplements can differ by dose, extract type, preparation, standardization, and medication context, so they should be evaluated separately.

Testing & Monitoring Context

No routine lab test establishes a required daily need for most foods and bioactives; monitoring is usually based on the intended outcome, dose, medical history, and adverse effects.
Blood thinner or bleeding-risk context: ask a clinician or pharmacist about INR/bleeding monitoring and surgery timing.
Glucose-lowering context: blood glucose and A1C may need closer review when concentrated products are used.
Liver-safety context: liver enzymes and symptoms such as dark urine, jaundice, severe fatigue, or abdominal pain need medical review.

Suggested Guidelines When Purchasing

What to look for: For botanicals, plant part, extract ratio, standardization marker, preparation type, and medication cautions matter more than the herb name alone.

Use caution or avoid: Avoid casual use when these flags apply: liver disease, blood thinners, diabetes medications.

Prefer ordinary food sources first when they provide the intended compound in a practical way.
For supplements, require clear labeling of active ingredient, dose per serving, serving size, and other ingredients.
Prefer products with third-party testing or transparent contaminant testing, especially for concentrated extracts, algae, mushrooms, minerals, and sports products.
Do not let marketing claims override the evidence, safety flags, source coverage, or dose context on this page.

Intake Guidance

No official DRI

No official RDA, AI, or RDI has been established for this bioactive as a required daily intake.

Evidence Summary

Glycemic markers in type 2 diabetes or PCOS contexts

Promising

An umbrella meta-analysis reported cinnamon supplementation improved several glycemic markers, but diabetes medication, species, coumarin content, and liver context matter.

Dose context: Supplement trials are not equivalent to ordinary culinary cinnamon use.

Caution: Use caution with diabetes medications, liver disease, anticoagulants, pregnancy, and high-dose cassia cinnamon.

Studies/sources: Effect of Cinnamon Supplementation on Glycemic Control: Umbrella Meta-Analysis (2026-07-26), Mixing Medications and Dietary Supplements Can Endanger Your Health (2026-07-23)

Evidence Legend

Established use: Supported by official guidance, regulatory claim context, strong consensus, or repeated human evidence for a specific use.

Promising: Human studies or reviews suggest benefit for specific outcomes, but evidence is not broad enough to treat as settled general guidance.

Emerging: Early human, mechanistic, or mixed evidence; worth tracking, but not strong enough for confident user-facing claims.

Traditional use: Historically or traditionally used, but modern clinical evidence may be limited, mixed, or product-specific.

Category example: Included to describe a supplement or food category, not because a strong health claim is attached yet.

Note: Cassia cinnamon can be high in coumarin; use caution with liver disease, anticoagulants, and high-dose extracts.

Research Links

Use this as a research discovery link. Search results are live and may change, so curated sources on this page remain the fixed references for app content.