Sorry, Phi- but I feel the only places where the use of cinnamon is justified is apple pie and as a minor spice in Indian cooking.  I don’t care for the flavor and I also don’t care for tea, no matter how many different types friends have tried to foist off on me as being “different”.

And even if it had any value, the amount of actual cinnamon in teas or other things is so small that it would be far below any effective dosage.

Occam

Write4U - 27 October 2010 03:59 AM

I read somwhere that honey is sterile. Apparently it contains a substance which prevents spoiling. Thus honey can be stored for long periods of time without spoiling . . .

There may be antibacterial chemicals in it, but the high sugar content alone is enough to kill germs - sugar, salt and the like, in concentration, are dessicants, and just suck the water out of such organisms. I’m told archeologists have found honey in egyptian tombs still (technically) edible, tho’ i somehow doubt it’s as tasty as the stuff that comes out of the little plastic bear from the store.

Chris Kirk

Hmmm ... honey is not sterile. Let’s recall that the levels of botulinum spore one finds in it means that one should never give honey to babies. (In one study 10% of sampled honey had botulinum spore).

It may have some bactericidal properties but that doesn’t mean it can’t make you sick ...

Well, it’s true that honey is not sterile, but it is actually pretty close. In addition to putative antibacterial chemicals, the osmolarity due to the sugar content does prohibit bacteial growth. Botulinum spores are an interesting adaptation in that they are dormant elements encased in a protective coat and so are able to survive conditions which living bacteria could not. So honey is, as Doug points out, not necessarily perfectly safe, but there is also some logic to the idea that applying it to wounds could inhibit bacterial growth.

The logistical problem, and it’s a big one, is that tissue fluids dilute the honey and reduce the osmalarity, and then it becomes a perfect medium for bacterial growth! So honey soaked bandages have to be changes very often or they actually can make infection worse. There are far better options availabel now, so medical use of honey is really only a curiosity at this point.

wow, that was interesting. 
Especially the spores edu, and the rest of the story re. honey soaked bandages.
thanks for posting that mckenzie

Occam. - 26 December 2010 07:59 PM

And even if it had any value, the amount of actual cinnamon in teas or other things is so small that it would be far below any effective dosage.

guess you haven’t heard about homeopathy    
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sorry Occam, the devil made me do it…

Quoting CC:

guess you haven’t heard about homeopathy

  Gee, you’re right, CC.  I don’t eat any cinnamon and I feel great.  It’s amazing what reducing a homeopathic medication all the way to zero will do. 

Occam

mckenzievmd:
Well, it’s true that honey is not sterile, but it is actually pretty close.

Is there *any* natural biological stuff that *is* sterile? (For that matter is even rock salt sterile?)

Chris Kirk

inthegobi,

I suppose it depends. Body fluids (blood, cerebrospinal fluid, even urine) are sterile under normal conditions, if by that you mean free of bacteria or other infectious organisms. Of sourse no “biological stuff” could be free of all living things, by definition. And living organisms can survive in all kinds of environments one would reasonably assume incompatible with life.