The antimicrobial effect of cinnamon has been proven
Last reviewed: 17.10.2021
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Many alternative recipes suggest using cinnamon as an antibacterial and disinfectant. However, official medicine has not yet used this product in any way, since such properties of it have not been scientifically proven. Now the situation can radically change: evidence of the antimicrobial effect of cinnamon oil has been obtained.
According to scientists representing the Australian University of Technology Swinburne (Melbourne), one of the components of cinnamon oil really has a pronounced antibacterial effect.
Scientists paid special attention to such a pathogenic microorganism as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (pseudomonas aeruginosa). This bacterium is recognized as the most common causative agent of bacterial infectious and inflammatory diseases among patients with weak immune defense. For example, we are talking about patients with pathologies such as diabetes mellitus, cystic fibrosis, malignant diseases. At the moment of getting into the body of infection, certain bacterial groups are formed, enclosed in a protective capsule - the so-called biological film. Such a film counteracts the attack of antibiotics, blocks the immune defense, which leads to an increase in the duration of the disease and requires a longer and more complex treatment.
A new study allowed scientists to establish: a substance called cinnamaldehyde, isolated from cinnamon oil, has a pronounced antimicrobial effect. After the experiment, experts noticed that under the influence of cinnamaldehyde, more than 75% of biological membranes of bacterial groups were destroyed. Among other things, the formation of such a film was slowed down, and the spread of microbes stopped. Scientists suggest that on the basis of the information obtained in the course of the study, it will be possible in future to develop new drugs, with which it will be possible to overcome many dermatological diseases. While only the external use of such drugs is considered.
Since the number of microbes that are resistant to antibiotic therapy is constantly increasing, it is extremely important for scientists to find an alternative to such treatment. Experts confirmed that cinnamaldehyde, isolated from cinnamon, can become the basis of new specific antimicrobial agents. Further research by scientists is not far off: presumably, new experiments will be conducted to study additional properties of the substance, to determine the possible toxicity, etc. Until scientists advise themselves to include cinnamon oil in the treatment of skin diseases, until a final scientific verdict is obtained.
The essence of the discovery is described in detail on the pages of the website of the Microbiological Community (https://microbiologysociety.org/news/press-releases/cinnamon-essential-oil-could-make-bacterial-infections-easier-to-treat.html).