In massive doses, it aided in the treatment of cancer. It has been regarded as a folk remedy for indurations) of spleens, breast uterus, liver and stomach) and tumors (especially of the abdomen, liver, and sinews).
Cinnamon contains the antitumor agent benzaldehyde.
Two chemicals extracted from cinnamon camphornin and cinnamonin, have been shown in laboratory tests to stop the growth of liver cancer and melanoma cells.
Compounds in cinnamon are known to deactivate plasmin, a substance that allows cancer cells to infiltrate surrounding tissue.
In a study published in 2010 in BMC Cancer, researchers from India reported that they used aqueous cinnamon extract from the bark of Cinnamomum cassia to kill human cervical cancer cells.
Cinnamon extract was shown to induce apoptosis in the cervical cancer cells through increase in intracellular calcium signaling as well as loss of mitochondrial membrane potential.
The researchers concluded that ‘cinnamon extract could be proposed to be a potent anticancer drug candidate in cervical cancer’.
Cinnamon also stimulates the body’s production of tumor necrosis factor or TNF, an immune-system chemical that fights cancer.
Cinnamon bark can contain the fungus Antrodia cinnamomea, producer of a substance that has been shown to kills leukemia cells in animal testing.
Cinnamon potential agent against cancer