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Oxalates in Cinnamon

How much turmeric and cinnamon is too much?

December 15, 2010 |
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Oxalates in Cinnamon, 4.8 out of 5 based on 5 ratings

Sources Cited

Y.K. Lee, W.S. Lee, J.T. Hwang, D.Y. Kwon, Y.J. Surh, & O.J. Park. Curcumin exerts antidifferentiation effect through AMPKalpha-PPAR-gamma in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and antiproliferatory effect through AMPKalpha-COX-2 in cancer cells. J Agric Food Chem, 57(1):305-310, 2009.

S. Yodkeeree, W. Chaiwangyen, S. Garbis, & P. Limtrakul. Curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin differentially inhibit cancer cell invasion through the down-regulation of MMPs and uPA. J Nutr Biochem, 20(2):87-95, 2009.

M. Labbozzetta, M. Notarbartolo, P. Poma, A. Maurici, L. Inguglia, P. Marchetti, M. Rizzi, R. Baruchello, D. Simoni, & N. D’Alessandro. Curcumin as a possible lead compound against hormone-independent, multidrug-resistant breast cancer. Ann N Y Acad Sci, 1155:278-283, 2009.

M. Tang, D.E. Larson-Meyer, & M. Liebman. Effect of cinnamon and turmeric on urinary oxalate excretion, plasma lipids, and plasma glucose in healthy subjects. Am J Clin Nutr, 87(5):1262-1267, 2008.

Acknowledgements

Image thanks to CINNAMON VOGUE.

Transcript

Like soy, the spice turmeric may also suppress human fat cells, and not only have an antiproliferative effect on human cancer cells, but may prevent cancer metastases by inhibiting cancer cell invasion. The main turmeric compound is even being considered as a leading treatment for multidrug resistant breast cancer.
If it’s that good for you, why not take a lot of it. Not some extract, but actual turmeric, the whole food, but just in large doses—three grams; six or seven capsules a day. Is this a bad idea? Does it not matter either way? Or the more the better?
Unfortunately, it turns out tumeric has too much oxalate to take that kind of daily dose, which would increase risk of kidney stones. And anyone who thinks kidney stones aren’t the big deal has never passed an oxalate kidney stone out through their urethra. So keep it under a teaspoon of turmeric a day.
Notice the title, though what about cinnamon? Like tumeric cinnamon seems to have all sorts of amazing benefits, but also like tumeric is high in oxalates. In fact cinnamon has the same amount of oxalates that turmeric does, so is a spoonful of cinnamon too much too? Harmful, harmless, or helpful?
Even a few spoonfuls a day is not too much, because it’s not what you eat, it’s what you absorb, and while cinnamon and turmeric have the same amount of oxalates, more than 90% of the tumeric oxalates are soluble, versus less than 10% of those from the cinnamon.
To get the benefits, though, you’ve got to eat cinnamon every day. After just a single day of eating a daily teaspoon of cinnamon you can see with the dotted line how well it blunts the blood sugar spike you get when you eat a whopping load of sugar. On day 15 they stopped eating cinnamon, though, and you can see by the next day the effect was gone. So we have to keep it up.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the other videos on spices. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos--please feel free to explore them as well!

Also, for some more context, please check out my associated blog posts:  The Best Detox, Breast Cancer and Diet, Fighting Inflammation With Food Synergy, and Dr. Greger's Natural Nausea Remedy Recipe

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

    Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the other videos on spices. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos–please feel free to explore them as well!

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mrkevinlei/ mrkevinlei

      Hello Dr. Greger,

      I just stumbled upon this website and it’s fantastic! I recently started university and learned about looking for primary research articles as opposed to secondary ones online for the most accurate information regarding nutrition. However, one problem is that I am not yet so adept at understanding many technicalities of primary research articles. This website does an amazing job at summing up information which would otherwise take me quite a while to decode!

      Anyway, I’ve been using turmeric in a recipe that I’ve been eating daily (about half a tablespoon). This is obviously more than the “safe” amount recommended above, but I’ve heard that turmeric is highly anti-inflammatory, so I don’t want to stop eating turmeric all together. Is there a way to counter the effects of a high oxalate diet and prevent kidney stones while still continuing to eat turmeric daily? For example, are there foods rich in a certain nutrient that can prevent oxalate-induced kidney stones?

      Thanks!

      Kevin Lei

      • Michael Greger M.D.

         I am so glad you stumbled! That’s always been my dream, to act as “translator,” to de-jargonize and bring to light science that would otherwise remain neglected due to a lack of commercial interest. There’s lots of plant-foods that are anti-inflammatory (see http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/inflammation/ so you don’t have to risk the health of your urinary tract, but if you insist on consuming that much drinking lots of water in hopes of preventing stone formation might mitigate the risk.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/lebepotter/ lebepotter

    Cinnamon may be safely low in oxalates, but it may be dangerously high in hepatotoxic coumarin, according to Wikipedia and its German governmental cited source. Coumadin in cassia cinnamon would exceed the German tolerated daily intake at `1 tsp cinnamon per day for a 135lb person. I’m smaller than that, and have sometimes exceeded that dose, and had elevated liver enzymes in recent blood labs (better at the next visit). I will cut back– or switch to Ceylon (true) cinnamon, which is more expensive than cassia cinnamon, but is said to contain negligible coumarin. Of course, we don’t know which species of cinnamon may contain what proportions of beneficial phytonutrients. Plants are complicated. We need an authoritative “Which is the Best Cinnamon?”(!) May not be easy: coumarin levels can vary wildly, even in cinnamon bark samples from the same tree (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101103135352.htm).

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/AzoraaTre'lok/ Azoraa Tre\’lok

    As I use a lot of spices in my food and turmeric root powder is one of my favorites, I was alarmed by the red-light associated with it in this report. Sometimes I use up to a tablespoon at a time, but then go for days without using it at all. While the information describes the benefits, the point that consuming “large doses” (3 grams?) to increased risk of kidney stones is certainly a serious consideration. Can you point to further details on this risk, how to continue using this spice without having it be “unsafe”, or any way to offset the oxalate formation resulting from too much turmeric?

    Also have you come across anything on Goldenseal root powder – another yellow root that is claimed to have some of the same beneficial effects? It does not appear to include curcumin as one of its components. (As a side note, goldenseal is about 9x the cost of turmeric powder!)

    • herbalist

      Goldean seal has an unfortunate side effect of depleating vitamin b12. Thus use it very sparingly more so than even tumeric.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/vetstud/ vetstud

    I just had a kidney stone and really don’t want to have another one. I looked online and there are conflicting things about what I should eat to prevent a recurrence. What is the best diet?

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

      I’m going to assume you have what’s called idiopathic calcium nephrolithiasis (but if you can actually catch a stone and have it analyzed your physician can make more specific recommendations). ICN, the formation of calcium oxalate stones (sometimes mixed with calcium phosphate) accounts for about 80% of cases (though you should see your physician to rule out a variety of hereditary and acquired diseases that can cause those in the 20%).



      The most important thing folks with ICN can do is drink lots of water, at least 2 liters a day to dilute the concentration of calcium, oxalate, and uric acid in your urine to decrease the likelihood of stone formation and flush away seeding crystals. Water’s probably the best, but if you are going to do other liquids OJ is preferable to grapefruit juice, apple juice, and tea.

      
In terms of food, according to the latest review on the subject, the most important thing is to reduce meat consumption (vegetarians may only have half the kidney stone risk. The reasons given why animal proteins are bad is because of hypercalciuria, hyperoxaluria, hyperuricosuria, hypocitraturia, and the acidification of the urine. You should also cut down on salt, and the more fruits and vegetables the better–they tend to have a high water, potassium, and magnesium content; a low sodium chloride content; and a high urine alkalinization power because of the presence of bicarbonate and citrate. I would warn against megadosing with vitamin C (as you’ll see across the internet) as this may exacerbate stone formation.

  • Michael Greger M.D.

    Also be sure to check out my associated blog post Breast Cancer and Diet!

  • Almondine3

    Hi! Thanks for the great posts. I just came across this article on cinnamon polyphenols http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S089990071200144X
    And I’m curious about the effect of different types of cinnamon on both blood sugar and inflammation. I recognize that there is a difference between true cinnamon (ceylon) and cassia, and I believe the authors of the study I’ve provided the link for use Cinnulin PF which is a cassia derivative. However, it’s hard to tell from Cinnulin PF’s manufacturers which plant it derives from. Do you have an idea of the different benefits of different cinnamon plants, specifically how they vary in polyphenol contents? I eat quite a bit of the Vietnamese variety (Cinnamomum loureiroi) and am especially curious about this one (compared to others). I’m a biochemist, so feel free to go at it with the scientific terminology.

  • Sandy Smith

    I had posted a question concerning taking turmeric and your reply included a link to this video and said you do not recommend capsules of turmeric. In the video you mention a dose of 3 grams. My husband’s dose was recommended at only 500-1,000mg/day. Does this amount affect your recommendation? FYI -He is dealing with a rare appendiceal cancer and his body over-expresses the COX-2 enzyme which turmeric seems to help with according to one of the studies you cited. Thank you!

    • http://twitter.com/moramajama Moses Ramirez

      Hello! I’m curious–how is your husband now, if you don’t mind my asking?

  • Ray Paquette

    I just had two thyroid test that showed I have a hypothyroid. I am a male, 57 yrs. old and have been eating a vegan diet since 1988. I have yearly blood test, and everything looks good usually. The last few months I have been doing a 1/4 teaspoon of amla and one or two teaspoons of cinnimon a day, I do 5 drops of silica a day, but I have been doing that for years. I just started 1 tablespoon of dusle and 1 brazil nut a day. I stopped taking amla and cinnimon. Do you think the amla or cinnimon could have anything to do with thyroid being high?

    Thanks, Ray

  • Vincenzo

    If instead of taking a teaspoon of turmeric/day, I take 400mg of its active ingredient curcumin (Curcumin (Curcuma longa)(rhizomes) (containing three curcuminoids: curcumin, bisdemethoxy curcumin, demethoxy curcumin)[standardized to contain 95% curcuminoids] with 100mg of Lecithin (soy) for absorption as a long term supplement regimen, will that be cause of any toxicity including liver toxicity?

  • Katie

    Is there a maximum amount of cinnamon at is safe each day? I have been having at least 3 tablespoons each day lately of Ceylon cinnamon, is that too much? Thanks in advance. really appreciate all of your videos.

    • Katie

      Woops, autocorrect changed a few things, it should read “Is there a maximum amount that is safe each day? And I really appreciate all of your videos.”

  • Billy Boy!

    What about coconut oil, meat, and water? Some say there are great benefits from consuming these.

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