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Cinnamaldehyde, chemical constituent of cinnamon has distinctive flavor and smell. Associate Professor Georg Wondrak, and Professor Donna Zhang, at the University of Arizona recently completed a study in which they proved that adding cinnamaldehyde, the compound that gives cinnamon its distinctive flavor and smell, to the diet of mice protected the mice against colorectal cancer. In response to cinnamaldehyde, the mice's cells had acquired the ability to protect themselves against exposure to a carcinogen through detoxification and repair.
'Given cinnamon's important status as the third-most-consumed spice in the world,' Wondrak adds, 'there's relatively little research on its potential health benefits. If we can ascertain the positive effects of cinnamon, we would like to leverage this opportunity to potentially improve the health of people around the globe.'
The next step in the research is to test whether cinnamon, as opposed to cinnamaldehyde, prevents cancer using this same cancer model. Because cinnamon is a common food additive already considered safe.
The study appears online and will appear in a print issue of Cancer Prevention Research.
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