cinnamon

[Guest guest]

Hi Dave,

 

Just based on personal experience, I would consider Cinnamon leaf oil as

irritating as Cinnamon bark. I know what the books say, but my experience

is that they are equally irritating, I took a bath with come Cinnamon leaf

oil in the water , only a drop or two and once was enough!!!

Donna

-

<david

 

Saturday, February 17, 2001 3:24 AM

[AX] cinnamon

 

 

> Has anyone any thoughts on cinnamon bark and cinnamon leaf oil used

> in toiletries. IFRA state that 0.2% is the max inclusion into

> finished product for the cinnamon bark oil but does not mention this

> restriction on the leaf oil.Is the leaf oil therefore able to be used

> at higher levels say 0.5 - 1.0%

>

> Thanks

>

> Dave Eastham

>

>

>

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[Guest guest]

Hi David,

 

You wrote

> Has anyone any thoughts on cinnamon bark and cinnamon leaf oil used

> in toiletries. IFRA state that 0.2% is the max inclusion into

> finished product for the cinnamon bark oil but does not mention this

> restriction on the leaf oil.Is the leaf oil therefore able to be used

> at higher levels say 0.5 - 1.0%

 

I assume we are talking about the bark and leaf oils of Cinnamomum

zeylanicum. They do have different chemical profiles.

 

Notable chemical constituents of Cinnamon bark are Cinnamaldehyde (55-75%)

and Eugenol (5-20%). It is considered a moderate dermal irritant a strong

dermal sensitiser and a moderate mucous membrane irritant. IFRA recommends

that this oil should not be used as a fragrance ingredient at a level over

1% in a fragrance compound (I am told that is about 0.2% in final product).

In the UK, as far as aromatherapy is concerned, it is not used.

 

Notable chemical constituents of Cinnamon leaf are Eugenol (70-90%) and

Safrol (<1%). Many people in the UK classify this oil as a mild/moderate

dermal and moderate mucous membrane irritant, and because of the high

Eugenol content has some other cautions regarding use.

 

In view of the foregoing it is very important to know which one you have and

how to use them. In addition, it may be worth mentioning that the Cinnamon

leaf oil will almost certainly cause severe problems if accidentally taken

orally (depending on amount and particularly if certain allopathic drugs are

being used).

 

I don't use either because much of the evidence leaves these oils (as far as

I am concerned) in the 'very iffy' basket. Below are some 'inputs' which

provide a good comparison as they are based on tests using individual

chemicals or whole oils on either humans or animals. We all have our own

ideas about which we prefer to believe. However, these findings point to the

difference between using single compounds and a natural synergistic mix (for

example the whole oil) with their potential inbuilt quenching action. There

are other studies too but in my opinion this is a great example about what

makes this topic so fascinating.

 

Here is an input from a colleague of mine on another list.

 

Interestingly enough, eugenol is one of the 8 ingredients in the " floral "

mix allergists use to determine if a person has a " fragrance " allergy. These

8 were chosen specifically because they are so highly sensitizing (oak moss

absolute, cinnamic aldehyde, cinnamic alcohol, alpha amyl cinnamic alcohol,

geraniol, hydroxycitronellol, isoeugenol and eugenol [in no special order,

each is 2% of the final blend]). The North American Contact Dermatitis Group

(NACDG) has collected data on the frequency of positive patch tests. For the

1989-1990 years, 614 patients were tested and 22% had one or more positive

result. The top 4 allergens and results are as follows: cinnamic alcohol 5%

= positive in 47 people or 7.6% of total, eugenol 4% = positive in 33 people

or 5.4%, cinnamic aldehyde 1% = positive in 30 people or 4.9%, isoeugenol 4%

= positive in 19 people or 3.1%. (This info comes from Fisher's Contact

Dermatitis 4th edition, by Rietschell and Fowler, pub 1995 by Williams and

Watkins, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Hong Kong, London, Munich, Sydney, Tokyo)

Certainly eugenol is not the only sensitizer in the cinnamin EOs but it

definitely is a sensitizer and a notorious one at least within Dermatology.

 

However, you can then consider this bit from my own files.

 

In the UK it is more normal to classify an EOs performance in this respect

(irritation and sensitisation) by adopting a well accepted formal test

procedure and by using the *whole oil* on humans. For sensitisation these

tests are carried out on a group of volunteers for a period normally

spanning around four weeks. The EO Cin. bark has indicated dermal

sensitisation at very low dilution (0.1% springs to mind) but the EO of Cin.

leaf did not show any signs of dermal sensitisation at 10% dilution.

 

If you get time take a look at the following

 

[1] Opdyke D L 1976 Inhibition of sensitisation reactions induced by certain

aldehydes. Food and Cosmetics Toxicology 14(3):197-198

 

[2] Opdyke D L 1979 Fragrance raw materials monographs. Food and Chemical

Toxicology 17(3):253-258

 

Also, from my own files is this abstract concerning tests undertaken on

animals, namely

 

Weibel H, Hansen J, Andersen KE: 'Cross-sensitization patterns in guinea

pigs between cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl alcohol and cinnamic acid'.

Pharmaceutical Research and Development Department, Pharmacia AS, Hillerod,

Denmark.

 

Guinea pig maximization tests (GPMT) were performed with cinnamon

substances. There was a certain degree of cross-reactivity between

cinnamaldehyde, cinnamyl alcohol and cinnamic acid as animals sensitized to

cinnamaldehyde reacted to the challenge with the three substances. Animals

sensitized to cinnamyl alcohol reacted to cinnamyl alcohol and

cinnamaldehyde, but not to cinnamic acid. Cinnamic acid did not sensitize

guinea pigs. Compared to the challenge concentration for cinnamaldehyde,

approximately a 15 times higher concentration of cinnamyl alcohol and a 25

times higher concentration of cinnamic acid were required to give positive

reactions in animals sensitized to cinnamaldehyde. This could not be

explained by differences in permeability properties, as the penetration

profiles of the three substances through guinea pig skin in vitro showed

permeability coefficients of the same order of magnitude under the test

conditions. The study suggests that cinnamaldehyde is the " true " allergen,

while cinnamyl alcohol and cinnamic acid are transformed in the skin to

cinnamaldehyde, before contact allergic reactions can occur.

 

So all this considered - it is now make your mind up time - I have so it's

just down to you now.

 

Take care ... Richard (Ipswich, UK)

[Guest guest]

Dear Dave,

Personally, I would use either of cinnamon leaf or cinnamon bark

very sparingly, if at all because of the skin sensitivity issues. I would

use the synthetic version for smell with maybe a tiny amount of eo in it. A

little bit of cinnamon goes a long, long way. Anyway I believe that most big

companies will only use the snythetic oil. I do not use cinnamom in

toiletries. I hope that this helps.

Maybe others who work more with toiletries can further explain why

they don't us or use ccinammon bark or leaf to you.

Rhavda Emison

>Has anyone any thoughts on cinnamon bark and cinnamon leaf oil used

>in toiletries. IFRA state that 0.2% is the max inclusion into

>finished product for the cinnamon bark oil but does not mention this

>restriction on the leaf oil.Is the leaf oil therefore able to be used

>at higher levels say 0.5 - 1.0%

>

>Thanks

>

>Dave Eastham