Cinnamomum Verum Leaves
USDA Photo Cinnamon essential oil is available distilled from the bark of the tree (cinnamon bark essential oil) or from the leaves (cinnamon leaf essential oil). The chemical composition of the two oils is different. Cinnamon bark contains 40 to 50 percent cinnamaldehyde and a small percentage of eugenol, while cinnamon leaf contains 68 to 87 percent eugenol with a small percentage of cinnamaldehyde.
The high eugenol content of cinnamon leaf oil gives it an aroma that is more like cloves than cinnamon. Eugenol is a phenol that has antiseptic properties; however, eugenol can also irritate the skin.
Both cinnamon leaf and cinnamon bark can sensitize and irritate skin, so you need to use them with care. Even a strong diffusion of cinnamon may irritate the mucous membranes of the nasal passages and eyes. Do not use with children under age five.
Uses
Cinnamon essential oil is an emotional stimulant, physical stimulant, and aphrodisiac, and may help reduce depression. The scent reduces drowsiness, irritability, pain, and headache frequency. You can use the oil in a liniment for tight muscles, painful joints, and menstrual cramps and to improve circulation. It may help fight bacteria, viruses, and fungi. The oil may also be good for digestion, because it increases enzyme action to break down food.
For emotional healing, The Fragrant Heavens by aromatherapist Valerie Ann Worwood suggests using cinnamon essential oil to encourage invigoration, benevolence, strength, energy, confidence, motivation, and generosity. Cinnamon oil also helps promote alertness, focus, and happiness while counteracting nervous exhaustion, instability, fear, and misery.
Aromatherapy: A Complete Guide to the Healing Art indictates that cinnamon repels cockroaches.
Cassia
Another species of cinnamon is Cinnamomum aromaticum (also called Cinnamomum cassia, cassia, or Chinese cinnamon). This evergreen tree is native to southern China, Bangladesh, Uganda, India, and Vietnam. Cassia essential oil contains 70 to 88 percent cinnamaldehyde and can be very irritating to the skin.
Cautions
Low-quality essential oils labeled as cinnamon bark may be adulterated with cinnamon leaf or cassia. Also, read labels: I saw a company on Amazon selling a product labeled as cinnamon bark, but when I read the details, I found that it's actually Cinnamomum cassia. The two are not the same, although cassia does have many of the same energizing properties as cinnamon bark.
Aromatherapy for Health Professionals suggests avoiding cinnamon bark oil if you have a liver condition or alcoholism or when taking acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol), because cinnamaldehyde may deplete glutathione, an antioxidant that the liver uses to help break down toxins for removal from the body.
Cinnamon Research
Research has suggested that cinnamon may help control blood sugar; however, the effects studied are from cinnamon extract or whole cinnamon and not cinnamon oil.
In the study Cinnamon Extracts Boost Insulin Sensitivity, USDA chemist Richard A. Anderson et al. found that cinnamon made fat cells much more responsive to insulin and also increased sugar metabolism about 20-times in test tube fat cells.
The study Cinnamon Improves Glucose and Lipids of People with Type 2 Diabetes found that taking one, three, or six grams of cinnamon each day reduces blood glucose, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, and total cholesterol. The results also suggested that cinnamon reduces risk factors associated with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
Anderson writes in Cinnamon, Glucose Tolerance and Diabetes that using one-half teaspoon of cinnamon extract a day could produce dramatic improvements in blood sugar, cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides in people with type 2 diabetes. Although some websites extrapolate the effects of cinnamon extract to cinnamon oil, Anderson also states that the active ingredient is in the water-soluble portion of cinnamon powder and is not found in fat-soluble cinnamon oil.
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