ABSTRACT
In the following text the term cinnamon is used to mean both Ceylon cinnamon and Chinese cinnamon or Cassia cinnamon.
The medicinal and aromatic properties of cinnamon are used in the traditional medicines of India and China. Cinnamon bark and cinnamon oil have also been used as food additives, condiments and flavouring agents due to their carminative, antioxidant and preservative actions. In the Ayurveda and Sidha medical systems, cinnamon bark, twigs, leaves and oil are used as ingredients of many multidrug preparations. In the pharmacopoeias of India, Britain, China, Australia, Belgium, Europe, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal and Switzerland both cinnamon bark and oil are included as official drugs (mainly as a carminative and flavouring compound, used for the treatment of dyspepsia and as a stomachic). Ayurveda texts describe cinnamon as Katu-Mathiram (pungent-sweet), tiktarasm (appetizer and produces dryness in mouth), ushnaveeryam (increases body temperature, improves blood circulation, stimulates appetite and digestion), kaphavataharam (subdues vata* and kapha*), pittaharam (subdues pitta*), laghu (helps digestion), ruksham (produces dryness). These properties make cinnamon useful for the treatment of aruchi (anorexia), hridrogam (heart disease), diseases of the vasthi (bowel), arsad (piles), and krimi (helminthic infections). Since cinnamon bark contains many chemical constituents and oil, (the oil also contains several constituents), it is logical to assume that more than one might be the active principle and hence different modes of pharmacological activities are exhibited by cinnamon.
