Cinnamon, a seasoning that looks very “Western”, but it is indeed very popular in Europe and the United States. Because in the West, cinnamon symbolizes health, but all the apple pie, donuts, bread, etc. eaten during the holidays will be sprinkled with cinnamon powder.
There is even a special dessert called “Cinnamon Roll” directly.
One of the most popular sweets in the West and even in the world is the original rolls with icing sugar and a large amount of cinnamon powder, which makes cinnamon responsible for the taste.
The true source of cinnamon
In fact, the real place of origin of cinnamon is Southeast Asian countries, including China, and we have already used cinnamon as a medicinal material in clinical practice for a long time.
The medicinal value of cinnamon
Let us first take a closer look at cinnamon. Cinnamon is actually the dried bark of Lauraceae plants. A major feature of Lauraceae plants is their strong odor divergence. Cinnamon is no exception. In addition to judging the quality of cinnamon, it needs to be intact, not broken, thick and heavy, and have fine wrinkles on the outer surface. It is also very oily and strong in aroma. Cinnamon is classified according to its nature and flavor, and belongs to the attributes of pungent, sweet, and hot. Therefore, it is often used to dispel cold and relieve pain, and promote blood circulation to promote menstruation. Warm the spleen and stomach, remove cold accumulation, and clear blood vessels.
Cinnamon mainly contains volatile oil, the content is 1%-2%, and its main components are cinnamaldehyde (about 85%), cinnamic acid, cinnamyl acetate, cinnamyl alcohol, acetyl cinnamyl alcohol, etc.
In addition to the application in the field of Chinese medicinal materials, the application in small molecule drugs and chemical raw materials is also quite extensive.
Cinnamyl alcohol, with its unique fragrance, is used in perfumes and deodorants.
Cinnamic aldehyde is an effective antibacterial agent and can also be used to kill fungi. In addition, studies have shown that cinnamaldehyde has a significant anti-cancer effect in cell culture and animal experiments.
Cinnamic acid is the precursor of the well-known sweetener aspartame.
The results showed that the antioxidant activities of oats and cinnamon were 52.91% and 87.91%, respectively. In addition, adding oats and cinnamon to biscuits can significantly improve the sense of smell and taste.
By comparing the liver and kidney pathological slices and biochemical test indicators of carbon tetrachloride liver cirrhosis, it can also be found that oatmeal and cinnamon can play a significant improvement effect.