Cinnamon as a Useful Preventive Substance for the Care of Human and Plant Health

Abstract

Cinnamon is widely used as a food spice, but due to its antibacterial and pharmacological properties, it can also be used in processing, medicine and agriculture. The word “Cinnamon” can refer to the plant, processed material, or an extract. It is sometimes used as a substance, and sometimes used as a mixture or as compounds or a group. This article reviews research into the effectiveness of various forms of cinnamon for the control of plant diseases and pests in crops and during storage of fruit and vegetables. Cinnamon acts on pests mainly as a repellent, although in higher doses it has a biocidal effect and prevents egg-laying. Cinnamon and its compounds effectively hinder bacterial and fungal growth, and the phytotoxic effects of cinnamon make it a possible herbicide. This article presents the wide practical use of cinnamon for various purposes, mainly in agriculture. Cinnamon is a candidate for approval as a basic substance with protective potential. In particular, it can be used in organic farming as a promising alternative to chemical pesticides for use in plant protection, especially in preventive treatments. The use of natural products is in line with the restriction of the use of chemical pesticides and the principles of the EU’s Green Deal.

Comparative Metabolite Profiling and Fingerprinting of Medicinal Cinnamon Bark and Its Commercial Preparations via a Multiplex Approach of GC–MS, UV, and NMR Techniques

“…Cinnamon bark is well known for its richness in aldehydes, i.e., ( E )-cinnamaldehyde or also called ( E )-cinnamaldehyde, accounting for 65–76% of its essential oil composition [ 3 ]. Chiefly, ( E )-cinnamaldehyde contributed up to 80% of total aldehydes, to which most of the health-promoting benefits of cinnamon are attributed [ 13 ].…”

“…In the present study, 1 H-NMR analyses were carried out to characterize and quantify major metabolites in authenticated cinnamon species, i.e., CV, CA, and CI, and commercial products. Signal assignments were further confirmed using 2D-NMR experiments, including 1 H-1 H COSY (correlation spectroscopy), 1 H- 13 C HSQC (heteronuclear single quantum coherence spectroscopy), and 1 H- 13 C HMBC (heteronuclear multiple bond correlation). Two main regions appeared in the 1 H-NMR spectra (Figure 4): an up-field region (δ H 0.5 to 5.5 ppm) belonging mostly to primary metabolites, namely, fatty acids (N1), glycerol (N2), and sugars (N3-N6) and a down-field region (δ H 5.5-9.5 ppm) assigned to secondary metabolites, i.e., cinnamic acids (N7-N8), cinnamaldehydes (N9-N11), protocatechuic acid (N12) and coumarin (N13).…”

“…The peaks were identified based on retention times, reference standards, and Kovat retention index. The samples codes are explained in Table 1, Table S2: Resonance assignments with chemical shifts (δ, ppm) of constituents identified in 600 MHz 1 H, 13 C, COSY, and HMBC NMR spectra of different authenticated (e.g., CA, CI, and CV) and commercial (e.g., CP-1, CP-2, CP-3, and CP-4) cinnamon samples. The sample codes are listed in Table 1.…”

“…Hence, several products containing cinnamon as the major constituent are available commercially for several health benefits. Yet, the origin of these products is not always stated with no clear declaration of the cinnamon type, including exposing the consumers to potential toxicities of chemicals such as coumarin or through drug-food interactions with patients treated simultaneously with warfarin [ 13 ].…”

Study of Antibacterial Properties of Cinnamaldehyde against Aeromonas hydrophila

“…According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), cinnamaldehyde is a safe food additive and can be used as a preservative to inhibit food-borne pathogens [29]. Under the circumstance of the prohibition of adding antibiotics, the research and development of environment-friendly functional aquatic compound feed additives are gradually becoming a research hotspot [30].…”