How much cinnamon is safe to eat?

Earlier this year we posted a note about worrying lead levels in some brands of ground cinnamon. Consumer Reports recently followed up on those concerns with its own testing of several different brands of cinnamon available in the US and provided guidance on which brands would be safe to eat, and which should be avoided. Even with that knowledge you might be wondering if you should eat cinnamon at all. Microbiologist Jane Mole weighed in with her thoughts on the matter, saying that she felt safe to continue using cinnamon in her baked goods, and feeding those goods to her children as well.

Part of the confusion is that organizations such as the CDC, FDA, and state regulatory commissions have different safety limits that have been set by policy or research. Lead exposure can be cumulative, so many of these limits are set on the low end of the scale to be on the safe side. But even if you use the higher end of the scale, says Mole, you would have to eat a huge amount of cinnamon before you would enter into any danger zone with respect to lead exposure. While there are some people who claim that eating large amounts of cinnamon has health benefits, most of us only eat minimal amounts of the spice in our daily living.

Since cinnamon rolls are one of my favorite things to bake, I followed along with Mole’s calculations to see where my rolls would land using the brand of cinnamon I usually have in my spice cabinet (one that is in the “okay to use” category from Consumer Reports). I was relieved that I do not appear to be negatively affecting my coworkers’ health by taking the occasion batch into the office. The whole episode does make me appreciate that there are agencies and organizations monitoring the food supply to catch things like this. It’s easy to take food safety for granted but it plays a vital role in our complex society where we can enjoy foods from all over the world.