Less coumarin in Ceylon than in cassia cinnamon

Harmful ingredient Coumarin differs greatly in cinnamon varieties

04/12/2013

Cinnamon is an integral part of Christmas cookies, teas and chocolate. However, as informed by the consumer advice center of Baden-Württemberg, consumers should make sure that a certain amount of the spice is not exceeded when consumed. The coumarin contained in cinnamon is therefore harmful to health. The cinnamon variety Ceylon (Kaneel), which comes mostly from Madagascar or Sri Lanka, therefore contains much less coumarin than cassia cinnamon from Indonesia. Although there have been statutory limit values ​​for coumarin content in some foods throughout Europe since January 2011, they have not yet been available for ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks. Consumers should therefore pay attention to the cinnamon variety or the origin of the spice on the packaging. Manufacturers are not obliged to provide this information.

Ingredient Coumarin has a significantly lower content in Ceylon cinnamon than in cassia cinnamon
The consumer center Baden-Wuerttemberg has one „Market check cinnamon“ and found that 19 out of 28 packages of ground cinnamon and cinnamon sticks had no information on the variety or origin of the spice. Thus, a targeted selection is often not possible. „The legislator is therefore required to finally introduce mandatory labeling and to set maximum levels for coumarin in cassia cinnamon“, demand the consumer advocates from Baden-Württemberg. However, cinnamon sticks can look good because Ceylon cinnamon is made up of several thin layers of bark rolled into each other while cassia cinnamon has only a thick layer of bark rolled up on its sides.

As early as the 1950s, researchers discovered the hepatotoxic properties of coumarin. In the worst case, the substance can damage the liver so badly that organ failure occurs. Therefore, especially people who use cinnamon for cooking and baking all year round are advised to use Ceylon cinnamon. As the consumer center informed, while this is more expensive, but have a much lower coumarin content than the cheap cassia cinnamon. „If you consume more than 2 grams of cassia cinnamon per day (adults, 60 kilograms of body weight) or 0.5 grams of cassia cinnamon per day (toddler, 15 kilograms of body weight), otherwise the tolerable daily dose can quickly be exceeded“, write the consumer advocates. Cassia cinnamon can contain up to 3,000 milligrams of coumarin per kilogram, with Ceylon cinnamon at most 297 milligrams per kilogram. (Ag)

Picture: Joujou