If there’s one food which is extremely healthy, but has somehow managed to stay under the radar and keep a reputation solely as a sweet and flavoursome treat, it’s definitely cinnamon.
Dark chocolate is known for its heart healthy powers, an apple a day supposedly keeps the doctor away, but the shocking benefits of cinnamon are still a mystery to most.
Firstly, cinnamon is incredibly rich in antioxidants. According to the ORAC scale for measuring antioxidants, cinnamon is among the top 20 richest foods in antioxidants known to mankind. Cinnamon can thus improve your skin tone, protect your brain, and keep your muscles healthy.
Secondly, cinnamon has a powerful ability to lower blood glucose and insulin levels. This is an excellent power for people with blood sugar issues, but also people with oily skin, because insulin is the main hormone behind it.
Cinnamon also has promising abilities to increase collagen, and may inhibit deadly yeasts like malassezia when applied topically. Cinnamon can even bolster your brainpower, being proven to protect neurons, sharpen cognition, improve your memory, and maybe even prevent dementia.
Herbs and spices are very overlooked and powerful remedies for health and acne in general, because they’re so dense in nutrients. Oregano consists of dried oregano leaves, ginger is a dense powder of the ginger root’s nutrition, while cinnamon features all of the nutrients of cinnamon bark in a highly condensed form.
But which is the best cinnamon brand? That’s what we’ll discuss today.
Firstly, watch out for side effects. They’re extremely rare, but can include dizziness and fatigue. Discontinue supplementation if you notice any side effects. For a shortcut, the best brands here are Nutriflair and Oregon’s Wild Harvest for a bottle of capsules, and Healthworks for a bulk powder.
Let’s get started:
One – Oregon’s Wild Harvest
Firstly, the cinnamon itself is in the most powerful form, ceylon cinnamon, rather than the weaker cassia cinnamon. It’s extracted from ceylon cinnamon bark, rather than leaves, as it should be. The dosage per capsule is also a high 450mg, with 120 capsules per bottle for a 4 month supply.
Oregon’s Wild Harvest’s additives list is empty, featuring only a vegetable pullulan capsule, and no suspicious additives like corn flour and magnesium stearate. This is even a vegan brand, and free from any soy or corn.
Oregon’s Wild Harvest’s raw cinnamon is sourced from Sri Lanka, the homeland of natural ceylon cinnamon, while the product itself is manufactured in a GMP-compliant facility in the USA. Better yet, this cinnamon is fully organic. It’s certified organic by Oregon Tilth, and thus guaranteed to be free from pesticides, herbicides and other toxic agrochemicals.
It doesn’t get much cleaner than Oregon’s Wild Harvest, and another advantage is being tested by a 3rd party laboratory for purity. Oregon’s Wild Harvest even has an affordable price.
Oregon’s Wild Harvest is an almost unbeatable ceylon cinnamon supplement.
Amazon link: Oregon’s Wild Harvest True Cinnamon Ceylon.
Two – Healthworks
Perhaps you prefer the convenience of taking a pill, but if you wish to experience the antioxidant and brain-boosting benefits of cinnamon and enjoy its taste, a powder is optimal, and this one is perfect. Healthworks comes in a 1 pound bag, for an affordable price. Eat a teaspoon of 5 grams daily and you’ll have a huge 3 month supply, but using just half of that will have massive benefits.
Uncommonly, Healthworks is certified organic. There’s brands out there which claim to be organic, but lack official certification, but Healthworks proudly bears the USDA certification on its bag. This is a ceylon cinnamon, which is imported from Sri Lanka or India and packaged in the USA.
How do you take this cinnamon? The choice is yours, but an acne-friendly strategy would be adding it to tea, coffee, or biolive yogurt. Another advantage of having a raw powder is that you can use the cinnamon as a topical treatment.
If you’d rather be traditional and incorporate foods like cinnamon into your diet, Healthworks is perfect.
Amazon link: Healthworks Organic Ceylon Cinnamon Powder.
Three – Nutriflair
The only ingredient other than ceylon cinnamon is the vegetable pullulan capsule, with no harsh additives like magnesium stearate or corn flour present. The capsule count is 120, with a high cinnamon dosage per capsule of 600mg.
Nutriflair is also certified organic by the USDA, the main organic certification board. You can be sure that this cinnamon is grown without any toxic pesticides or herbicides, and is free from any acne-causing surprises.
Nutriflair contains the correct ceylon cinnamon form. It’s explicitly confirmed to be free from any corn, soy, or GMO-derived ingredients. The cinnamon is imported from Sri Lanka while the product itself is manufactured in the USA.
Nutriflair is the best bottle of ceylon cinnamon capsules on the market.
Amazon link: NutriFlair Organic Ceylon Cinnamon.
Four – Ceylon Cinnamon Shop
This cinnamon features everything you could need, starting with a powerful per capsule dosage of 469mg, and continuing with a high capsule count of 90, giving you a 3 month supply. It’s explicitly confirmed to be grown without pesticides and herbicides, and completely free from magnesium stearate.
Ceylon Cinnamon Shop’s best feature, however, is being certified organic by both the USDA and Organic Certifiers. This guarantees its purity and potentially increases the nutrition of the bark.
Similarly, the only other ingredients in this brand are silica and the pullulan vegetable capsule. The raw cinnamon is imported from central Sri Lanka, from organic farms, while the rest of the product is manufactured in the USA.
Like Nutriflair, Ceylon Cinnamon Shop consists of the superior ceylon cinnamon form, and this is important to understand. There’s two major subspecies of cinnamon used in food and supplements: cassia cinnamon (cinnamomum cassia), and ceylon cinnamon (cinnamomum verum).
Cassia cinnamon is what you’ll find in the average muffin or cookie, accounting for 90% of cinnamon imported into the USA, and being grown in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Ceylon cinnamon, meanwhile, is much more expensive, and primarily grown in Sri Lanka, India and Madagascar.
What’s the difference? Ceylon cinnamon is much richer in the bioactive antioxidants and phytonutrients which work wonders for brain health and skincare. Many of the best studies tested it, and that’s why so many prestigious supplement brands use ceylon cinnamon, rather than cassia. Ceylon cinnamon is also called “true cinnamon” while cassia cinnamon is forever known as “bastard cinnamon”, and luckily, this brand contains the ceylon form.
Ceylon Cinnamon Shop will meet all of your cinnamon needs, whether for antioxidants, brainpower, or blood sugar.
Amazon link: Ceylon Cinnamon Shop Organic Cinnamon.
Five – Vimerson Health
Vimerson Health is features 60 cinnamon capsules per bottle, in the true ceylon form rather than cassia. There’s a pure additives list, consisting only of rice extract and the pullulan capsule, with no magnesium stearate, corn flour, or maltodextrin in sight.
Vimerson Health is another ceylon cinnamon which is imported from Sri Lanka and packaged in the USA, in a Good Manufacturing Practises (GMP) certified facility. It’s also tested for purity in third party labs. Again, for ceylon cinnamon, Sri Lanka is the origin country, but it’s also grown in Madagascar, Brazil, India, and the Caribbean. If the label of a brand doesn’t specify the subspecies, but starts talking about China, Indonesia, or Vietnam (the home of cassia cinnamon), it’s time to be suspicious.
Vimerson Health is another outstanding cinnamon brand, leagues above the powders you’ll find in your local health shop.
Amazon link: Vimerson Health Organic Ceylon Cinnamon.
Six – Terrasoul Superfoods
Terrasoul Superfoods comes in the standard 1 pound bag, but is adorned with the not so standard USDA organic seal. There are no additives, just pure ceylon cinnamon. Terrasoul Superfods is among my most trusted natural brands overall, with their ginger and cocoa butter also superb.
The country of origin is clearly stated as Sri Lanka on the label. It’s guaranteed to be from ceylon cinnamon’s true heartlands, and the organic seal guarantees freedom from the pesticides and herbicides which are common in developing countries like Sri Lanka.
Terrasoul Superfoods is a particularly affordable cinnamon bag, without sacrificing any quality. Which should you choose – bag or capsules? There’s two clear arguments. Firstly, buying a bag allows you to use cinnamon as a topical treatment. Cinnamon contains a compound called cinnamaldehyde, a unique antioxidant which stimulates collagen production when applied to the skin. Collagen is the elixir of youth and beauty, keeping your skin tight and firm while aiding wound healing and allowing dying pimples to disappear faster. On the other hand, a capsule allows you to set a specific dosage of cinnamon, rather than fiddling around with a teaspoon and scale.
The choice is yours, but if you pick a cinnamon bag, Terrasoul Superfoods is nearly perfect.
Amazon link: Terrasoul Superfoods Organic Ceylon Cinnamon.
Seven – Starwest Botanicals
Starwest Botanicals is our third and final bag of cinnamon, beating almost every brand on amazon. An immediate difference to Healthworks is being packaged in a shiny silver bag. There’s no nonsense here, with a white label which clearly lists every quality a health maniac should care about, including the Sri Lankan origin and ceylon cinnamon species.
The quality is just as incredible as Healthworks. This is a 1 pound bag, giving you at least a 3 month supply. Starwest Botanicals contains zero cassia cinnamon, or other herbs like ginger – it’s a pure and focussed ceylon cinnamon bag.
In case a product you’re examining forgets to mention the type of cinnamon, try searching for ceylon cinnamon’s Latin name of “c. verum” instead. Like Healthworks, this is organic ceylon cinnamon, and it even bears the glorious green and white USDA seal on its bag. Note that “natural” is a term which manufacturers and advertisers can manipulate at will, to mean whatever they want it to. Organic certification is what you want, whether it’s for the entire product like with Starwest Botanicals or just the most important ingredients.
Starwest Botanicals is a trustworthy and expertly formulated bag of ceylon cinnamon.
Amazon link: Starwest Botanicals Organic Ceylon Cinnamon.
Eight – Natural Choice Botanicals
Like every single brand listed here, LifeGarden Naturals contains ceylon cinnamon. There’s no “bastard cinnamon” in sight here, and one reason why is its dramatically higher coumarin content compared to ceylon cinnamon. Coumarin is a natural compound, which is safe in small doses, but linked to appetite suppression and even liver damage in higher dosages.
It’s responsible for the pungent and sharp taste of cassia cinnamon compared with the subtlety of ceylon cinnamon. Even national health bodies have warned about coumarin. Since ceylon cinnamon contains very little coumarin at all, that’s another reason to choose it, and another reason to choose Natural Choice Botanicals.
The final advantage with this brand is its USDA organic certification, guaranteeing freedom from items you’d rather not be mixed with your cinnamon: pesticides, herbicides, lead, mercury, rat poison, etc.
Would you like to clear your skin, and enhance your brainpower? Natural Choice Botanicals may be the supplement for you.
Amazon link: Natural Choice Botanicals Ceylon Cinnamon.
Conclusion
Our mission is complete. If you’ve thought long and hard and determined that cinnamon is what you need to improve your skin, your brainpower, or overall health, you now have Oregon’s Wild Harvest or Nutriflair as the ultimate bottle of capsules, or Healthworks as the ultimate bag of powder.
Overall, the market for cinnamon is looking very healthy. It makes no sense really; the products are mostly imported from Asia, which has the poorest reputation for contaminated, synthetic and additive-riddled products. Yet compared to garlic, which can be grown all over the world, the average cinnamon product is powerful, very likely to be organic, and contains the bare minimum of ingredients.
Regardless, you should still be cautious when buying a random bag of cinnamon from a grocery store, and there are still some bargain basement supplements lurking out there.
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Thanks for reading!