Cinnamaldehyde And Cinnamon Essential Oil Health Benefits

Cinnamaldehyde is one of the main plant chemicals in cinnamon spice and essential oil with many health benefits that most people haven’t heard of. Cinnamon spice is obtained from the inner bark of Cinnamomum trees. It has become more popular recently because of specific antimicrobe activity. With antibiotic resistance on the rise, natural antimicrobials such as cinnamaldehyde are of higher interest.

While natural plants and spices like cinnamon or cinnamaldehyde have always had a role in traditional medicine, they are being embraced by a wider audience. Cinnamon spice was extensively used in Ancient Egypt and also in Ancient China as a medicine. Cinnamaldehyde is a yellow oily liquid with a cinnamon odour and a sweet taste. Its fruity aroma makes cinnamon really popular in various industries. This is why cinnamaldehyde is also used as a flavouring and food enhancer. It is also used in perfumes and cosmetics.

Cinnamaldehyde Antimicrobe Effects

Cinnamaldehyde is a potent antimicrobial compound. It has specific effects on harmful bacteria that severely disrupt their activities to operate and replicate. Some its main active antimicrobial effects include the inhibition of biofilm formation, induced bacterial cell death, disruption of key bacterial cell communications and disruption of bacterial energy production.

Cinnamon essential oils, of which cinnamaldehyde is a major component, show the same antibacterial health benefits. Essential oil of cinnamon showed effective antibacterial activities against a couple of major foodborne pathogens. To confirm the findings, at the right concentrations bacterial cells burst and were destroyed majorly reducing bacterial activity.

Studies using cinnamaldehyde have shown that it is able to prevent the growth of many different microorganisms in addition to bacteria. These include moulds and yeasts. It is used in agriculture as an antifungal. It may also inhibit toxin production from harmful microorganisms.

With an alarming increase in harmful fungal infections across the globe, cinnamaldehyde is of even more interest considering the lack of suitable antifungals known to science. This compound seems to prevent fungal cell wall production, as well as interfere with energy production. These are quite strong anti-fungal activities. It may also inhibit fungal spore germination. Considering that the compound has low incidences of side effects and can also be used with prescribed antifungals, it has even more importance to disease prevention.

Cinnamaldehyde For Cancer Prevention

The bark of Cinnamomum has been studied for its ability to reduce oxidative stress. In terms of potential health benefits of spices, herbs and plant compounds, reducing oxidative stress is important. Compounds that reduce oxidative stress are often also linked to improved blood circulation and enhanced immune functions. These are clear disease preventative actions and health benefits.

As mentioned, essential oil of the spice cinnamon has cinnamaldehyde in it. This compound has an incredibly strong effect on neutralizing damaging free radicals. This means it has excellent abilities in reducing oxidative stress. It has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects in the body, protecting cells from oxidative stress.

Recent studies have linked cinnamaldehyde antioxidant abilities with breast cancer progression, where it managed to reduce breast cancer progression. It is also linked to reductions in leukemia and liver cancers. This would suggest that it may have a role in cancer prevention and cancer progression. With its studied abilities to induce cell death, tumour growth and antioxidant preventative action on DNA damage, this compound is trending in the cancer prevention community. There is a lot of interest in cinnamaldehyde as a cancer preventative and in cancer treatment. Their derivatives are also becoming a target as new anti-cancer drugs.

While it is one of the major components of cinnamon essential oil and extracts, it is not just cinnamaldehyde that has antioxidant properties. There are other antioxidants within cinnamon with consequential health benefits too. Cinnamon nutraceuticals or specialized food supplements have been tried in studies fighting colon and liver cancers. This is a really exciting development that shows the potential of cinnamon in the wellness community.

Cinnamon Extract And Brain Health

Interestingly, the essential oils of cinnamon, cinnamon extracts and derivatives may have protective effects on nerve cells. As with cancer, their antioxidant effects within the body could help with cognitive diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

Cinnamaldehyde has been identified from the essential oil of cinnamon as having neuroprotective abilities. It prevents the clumping together of certain proteins in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s. There is a combination of other properties of cinnamon oil and extracts that could have beneficial effects for Alzheimer’s sufferers, including the support of efficient mitochondrial energy production.

The protective effects of cinnamon extracts and essential oils can guard against dementia. Cinnamon extract also seems to be effective against migraines, as well as reducing neurone stress levels. These would indicate that cinnamon extract and cinnamaldehyde might have a role in protecting the overall health of the brain.

Cinnamaldehyde For Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease characterized by disruptions to carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Terpenoids like cinnamaldehyde have a hypoglycemic effect, stimulating natural production of insulin. Insulin is the hormone most effected by diabetes. One study found a dose dependent reduction in glucose concentration with cinnamaldehyde intake. The researchers also noticed that insulin levels returned to normal. Other studies have also confirmed a glucolipid lowering effect, with normalized insulin levels after cinnamaldehyde use. This suggests that cinnamon could have a role in diabetes prevention or management and warrants further investigation.

The use of cinnamaldehyde also seems to prevent diabetes induced hypertension. This is where the blood pressure within blood vessels drastically increases and can leave you vulnerable to circulatory diseases.

Effects On Heart Circulation

As with many antioxidants, cinnamaldehyde has been seen to have effects on the circulatory system. Many different studies show that it is able to reduce blood pressure, in a dose dependent manner. This compound seems to be able to enable vasodilation or the opening of blood vessels in the circulatory system. This encourages a better blood flow throughout the body.

Other effects on the circulatory system that improve blood flow include reduced blood vessel blockages from platelets and plaques. Through these actions cinnamaldehyde might be able to have preventative effects on heart diseases, as well as health benefits to the circulatory system.

Conclusion

Cinnamon has been revered for its health benefits since the ancient times and this spice is becoming appreciated again. Cinnamon essential oils and extracts are becoming increasingly well studied, with one of its major components being cinnamaldehyde.

Cinnamaldehyde shows great abilities as an antioxidative and cancer preventative agent within the body. There are a number of studies that can confirm the anti-cancer properties of cinnamaldehyde including DNA protection and cancer cell death initiation. In addition to this, cinnamaldehyde and cinnamon essential oils seem to be potent antimicrobials.

These studies provide reasoning for these being key health benefits for cinnamon essential oils and cinnamaldehyde. It also has potent antifungal effects, providing a reason to study cinnamaldehyde as part of combined treatment of fungal diseases. With the rise in antibiotic resistance and drug resistant fungi, these are exciting discoveries.

Cinnamon extracts or cinnamaldehyde seems to also be supportive of optimal circulatory health. Cinnamaldehyde has been shown to potentially help with blood vessel dilation or opening. While it may also have both glucose and insulin stabilising effects that could help with diabetes.

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