While it may seem far-fetched that anything from your spice rack could potentially be unsafe for your health — after all, this stuff is made for consumption — experts had a lot to say about the potential dangers of using cinnamon in unintended amounts or ways.
Can You Eat Too Much Cinnamon?
In a September post that has been viewed over 1.6 million times, the TikTok user Briddy Garb revealed that she became, in her own words, “obsessed with cinnamon” in 2015, putting what she describes as “insane amounts” of the spice in everything she ate: oatmeal, pasta, rice, and even eggs. Her father, who is a doctor, suggested she was consuming an “abnormal” amount of the spice, but she brushed off his concerns. After a year of this diet, Garb started having unexplained health problems, including dizziness, light-headedness, and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). After she could “no longer exercise without getting injured,” she ceased cinnamon consumption altogether. She also revealed that her father did some research and found that cinnamon can be toxic. Soon after eliminating the spice from her diet, her health problems disappeared. “I can’t believe I poisoned myself with cinnamon, and now I’m afraid of it,” Garb concluded in her video. RELATED: The Best TikTok Accounts to Follow for Mental Health If this sounds familiar, it may be because of the so-called “cinnamon challenge,” an online dare that went viral around 2012 and consisted of participants filming themselves trying to eat a spoonful of the spice at once, often resulting in coughing, choking, and gagging. According to a study published January 2015 in the Journal of Injury and Violence Research, the viral trend led to lung injuries, with the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) reporting that the number of calls to poison control centers about teenagers ages 13 to 19 who partook in the challenge increased from 51 in 2011 to 222 in 2012. In 2013, from January 1 to July 31 alone there were 37 such exposures reported to poison control centers.
Can Cinnamon Be Toxic?
Cinnamon has been consumed for thousands of years, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), and has been used medicinally for about as long. While there are several kinds of cinnamon, the kind commonly sold as a spice in North America comes from the dried, ground bark of a tree native to Southeast Asia, and its official name is cassia cinnamon (Cinnamomum aromaticum). Some cassia cinnamon products contain high levels of coumarin, a substance linked to liver toxicity. The NCCIH website states that “in most cases, consuming cassia cinnamon doesn’t provide enough coumarin to cause significant problems. But prolonged use of cassia cinnamon could be an issue for sensitive people, such as those with liver disease,” and “use in larger amounts or for long periods of time is sometimes associated with side effects, most commonly gastrointestinal problems or allergic reactions.” RELATED: Why Health Experts Want You to Skip the Dry Scooping Trend It would be somewhat difficult for the average person to exceed safe amounts of cinnamon, says Darren P. Mareiniss, MD, an assistant professor of emergency medicine in the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. “The limit for cassia cinnamon is around 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of body weight,” he says, which translates to about a teaspoon per day for a 130-pound individual. Anything more than that could result in liver toxicity if consumed on a regular basis. Additionally, if inhaled (which was inadvertently happening to participants of the cinnamon challenge), the spice “can be extremely irritating to the lungs and cause inflammatory reactions and potentially bronchospasm or shortness of breath,” says Dr. Mareiniss. He also notes that if you have a cinnamon allergy, you should avoid it altogether.
What Are the Potential Health Benefits of Cinnamon?
When consumed in moderate amounts, cassia cinnamon has been found to have numerous beneficial properties. Not only is it an antioxidant, it may act to lower blood glucose, Mareiniss maintains. People also use it to treat bug bites, urinary tract infections, rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, and for a handful of other conditions. But the research supporting the health benefits of cinnamon isn’t conclusive. “Studies done in people don’t support using cinnamon for any health condition,” maintains the NCCIH. RELATED: 7 Easy Home Hacks for Healthy Skin
Is It Safe to Apply Cinnamon to Your Lips?
TikTokers have also been touting cinnamon as a viral beauty hack for plumping lips, something Kathleen C. Suozzi, MD, the director of aesthetic dermatology at Yale Medicine and an assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, advises against. “Cinnamon extract and cinnamon derivatives may hold promise as an ingredient in skincare products, but there is little data to support its use,” she explains. “The practice of mixing household cinnamon powder and applying it to the lips with lip gloss should be avoided as this can cause an irritant or allergic contact reaction that could be harmful.” In fact, it is likely the perceived plumping is a result of “a low level irritant reaction” which could easily turn from a mild irritation to a more severe irritation with continued use. Ultimately, to avoid any of these unintended side effects of cinnamon, it’s best to stick to using it in the recommended ways and amounts, and avoid other applications that aren’t officially endorsed by a healthcare provider or other expert. But hey, at least you can still enjoy that latte and cinnamon roll.
