Ceylon vs Cassia Cinnamon: Does Coumarin Matter Daily?

You've put a spoonful of cinnamon in your oatmeal every morning for a year, and now a video says it's wrecking your liver. Here's the short version of Ceylon vs cassia cinnamon: a sprinkle of either is fine, but if you eat a teaspoon or more a day, switch to Ceylon, because cassia carries far more coumarin. Germany's Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) says cassia averages about 3,000 mg of coumarin per kg, and a 132 lb (60 kg) adult reaches the tolerable daily limit at about 2 g of cassia a day.

USDA FoodData Central weighs 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon at 2.6 g, so that limit sits just under a level teaspoon. Houseland's wall spice rack holds around 8 standard 4 oz jars on the Medium size, enough to keep both kinds side by side, but only the label on the jar tells you which one you bought.

Ceylon vs cassia cinnamon: how do they compare?

Ceylon has only trace to low coumarin; cassia averages about 3,000 mg per kg and has tested as high as 10,000 mg per kg. That's the one difference that matters for daily use, and the rest is flavor and looks.

The Spanish figures come from a 2025 study in Food Chemistry: X that tested 16 ground cinnamons from supermarkets in Alicante. Only 1 of the 16 jars was labeled as Ceylon, and it was the one that tested as Ceylon. It's a small sample from one region, but the lesson travels: an unlabeled jar is most likely cassia.

USDA's own ground cinnamon entry in FoodData Central is filed under Cinnamomum aromaticum, which is cassia. That's the everyday stuff in most pantries.

Same name on the jar, very different coumarin inside.

Once ground, the two look alike, so a cook who uses both needs them in separate, clearly labeled jars. Recommended for this use case: the cook who keeps Ceylon for daily oatmeal and cassia for weekend baking should pick the Small 11.4 in (29 cm) rack, which holds around six standard 4 oz jars in a single row, so both cinnamons sit at eye level with their labels facing out. Houseland makes it in powder-coated steel wire with a solid wood base, 3.9 in (10 cm) deep on the Small size.

From the shop

Wall Mounted Spice Rack, Steel Wire Grid Shelf with Wood Base

Best for keeping labeled spice jars at eye level; powder-coated steel wire with a solid wood base, 11.4, 13.8 or 17.5 in (29, 35 or 44.5 cm) wide; a light-duty shelf, and the jar label, not the rack, tells you which cinnamon you have.

View the wire spice rack — 3 sizes & current price

How much cassia cinnamon a day reaches the coumarin limit?

For a 150 lb (68 kg) woman, 6.8 mg ÷ 3 mg per g = about 2.3 g of average cassia a day, a little under 1 level teaspoon, reaches the tolerable daily intake. The math takes 3 numbers, all published.

1. BfR's tolerable daily intake (TDI) is 0.1 mg of coumarin per kg of body weight per day, and BfR says the European Food Safety Authority set the same value.
2. 150 lb divided by 2.2 is 68 kg, and 68 x 0.1 mg is 6.8 mg of coumarin a day.
3. Average cassia holds 3,000 mg per kg, which is 3 mg per gram, so 6.8 mg ÷ 3 mg = about 2.3 g.
4. USDA FoodData Central puts 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon at 2.6 g, so 2.3 g ÷ 2.6 g = about 0.9 of a teaspoon.

Now the worst case. At BfR's highest measured level, 10,000 mg per kg (10 mg per gram), that same 6.8 mg arrives with just 6.8 ÷ 10 = 0.68 g of cassia, roughly 1/4 of a teaspoon.

Kids hit the line sooner. BfR says a 33 lb (15 kg) child reaches the TDI with about 0.5 g of cassia a day.

Here's the part the scary videos skip. The TDI is the amount BfR says you can eat every day for a lifetime without appreciable risk, and BfR says slightly exceeding it for 1 to 2 weeks can be seen as safe. A holiday week of cinnamon rolls isn't the problem. A daily heaped teaspoon of cassia, all year, is where BfR tells you to switch.

A limit you can blow past on a Tuesday is a limit worth knowing.

Does coumarin in cinnamon actually harm the liver?

Coumarin taken as a drug has harmed the liver in a small group of sensitive people, but BfR says no liver damage from eating cinnamon has been described in the scientific literature. The concern is real, and it's also narrower than the headlines.

BfR explains that when coumarin was used as a medicine, even relatively low doses over a few weeks raised liver enzymes in some sensitive patients, and in severe cases caused liver inflammation with jaundice. It adds that the effects were usually reversible.

On cancer, BfR says very large doses caused tumors in rats and mice, but there are no indications that coumarin triggers tumors in humans. The strict 1988 EU limit of 2 mg per kg in food was set out of that cancer worry, which BfR now calls unfounded.

The US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health says interactions between coumarin in cassia and the liver have been reported, and that high-coumarin products could be an issue for sensitive people, such as those with liver disease. It also says research doesn't clearly support using cinnamon for any health condition.

Where the regulators differ:

• The EU caps coumarin in cinnamon foods: 50 mg per kg for traditional and seasonal bakery ware, and 5 mg per kg for desserts, since January 2011. It sets no limit for cinnamon itself.
• The US treats food with added coumarin, as such or from tonka beans, as adulterated under 21 CFR 189.130, based on a 1954 order. That rule doesn't mention cinnamon.
• BfR singles out cinnamon supplements: cassia capsules can exceed the TDI at their recommended dose.

If you have liver disease or take cinnamon capsules, that's a question for your doctor, not your spice drawer.

The spice isn't the villain. The dose is the whole story.

How can you tell which cinnamon is in your jar?

Read the label: look for "Ceylon" or Cinnamomum verum, because ground cinnamon is almost impossible to identify by eye. BfR says consumers can hardly tell the two powders apart.

• Check the jar for the words "Ceylon cinnamon", "true cinnamon" or the botanical name Cinnamomum verum. BfR notes some products state the type on the packaging.
• If the jar just says "cinnamon", assume cassia. In the Spanish study, 14 of 16 supermarket samples were cassia.
• With sticks, look at the cut end. BfR describes Ceylon as several fine rolled layers, like a cigar cross-section, and cassia as a thicker single roll.
• Smell is a weak clue. The Spanish study's 24 trained panelists linked Ceylon with "citrus" and cassia with "sweet", but that took training.
• When you decant, copy the type onto your own jar label. Our guide to what to write on spice labels besides the name has a system for it.

Labels are mostly honest, not perfect. A 2025 EU study in npj Science of Food tested 104 cinnamon samples; 44 were sold as Ceylon, and 4 ground ones among them turned out to be substituted. That leaves 44 - 4 = 40 of 44, about 91%, that passed the cassia-substitution check; across all 104 samples, though, the study flagged some quality, compliance, fraud or coumarin issue in 66.3%. The same study found 43 samples gave no species at all.

No label, no idea. Buy the jar that tells you.

Which cinnamon should you keep for everyday use?

Keep Ceylon for anything you eat daily by the teaspoon, and let cassia handle occasional baking. Match the cinnamon to how often you reach for it.

1. Daily oatmeal, smoothies or coffee with 1 teaspoon or more: Ceylon, since that dose sits near or above the limit with average cassia.
2. A sprinkle on toast a few times a week: either works; that's well under a level teaspoon a day.
3. Kids who eat cinnamon rice pudding or oatmeal often: Ceylon. BfR's own example says frequent heavy home use should be Ceylon.
4. Holiday baking: cassia is fine. BfR says brief exceedance over 1 to 2 weeks isn't a health risk.
5. Cinnamon supplements, or any liver condition: ask your doctor first.

Two jars is the easy fix, one for each cinnamon. A spice rack like the one recommended earlier keeps both in view, but the limit is plain: a rack shows you the jars; it can't tell you what's inside them. Label both, or keep the original store labels facing forward. Hang the rack clear of the stove, too; whether the wall above the stove is the worst place for a spice rack explains why. More storage ideas are in the kitchen and home collection.

Buy for the spoon you actually use, not the one in a viral video.

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