[fragsworth]

It's sort of gimmicky to say that Cinnamon does this, because it's known to be sodium benzoate that causes this effect.

In 2012 they discovered that sodium benzoate has an effect on Parkinson's disease proteins: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21701815.

This new study is, at least, a confirmation of the older study, and is also an attempt to use it to treat the disease.

[nate]

Interesting. I didn't realize cinnamon metabolized to sodium benzoate. I've actually been trying to avoid sodium benzoate, especially in soft drinks because of worry what that preservative could possibly be doing to us (especially in the presence of vitamin c) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_benzoate But I've been purposefully eating a bunch of Cinnamon.

It's hard to reconcile sometimes what might be good for me or if it's killing me - Nicotine may have helped a young girl with epilepsy. http://www.clickorlando.com/news/central-florida-doctor-find...

[hvs]

Nicotine is sort of a mixed bag, but it isn't really the bad part of tobacco products. Cigarettes are generally bad for you because of all of the other things in them besides nicotine. The bad part of nicotine is that it is so highly addictive, but it's health benefits for things like ulcerative colitis and other afflictions are becoming better studied.

[matznerd]

The ingredients in cigarettes are what actually make nicotine addictive...alone, it can actually be beneficial to the brain

[BugBrother]

>> The ingredients in cigarettes are what actually make nicotine addictive

Uh, that sounds wrong.

"Snus" users get addicted. That is tobacco, even if it isn't burned. But afaik, users of e-cigarettes also get dependent -- that isn't tobacco.

[ethagnawl]

> But as laboratory scientists know, getting mice or other ani­mals hooked on nicotine all by its lonesome is dauntingly difficult. As a 2007 paper in the journal Neuropharmacology put it, “Tobacco use has one of the highest rates of addiction of any abused drug. Paradoxically, in animal models, nicotine appears to be a weak rein­forcer.”

http://www.salon.com/2013/12/29/sciences_obsession_the_searc...

[casualobserver]

There's a bunch of on-going research on nicotine gum dependence too. I was a participant in a study for this.

[jrlocke]

Radioactive polonium is the really worry with tobacco use.

[jrlocke]

Not sure why I was downvoted, look here: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polonium#Tobacco

Edit: I stand corrected. Thank you

[Alex3917]

It's not entirely true. Even though the vast majority of tobacco-related cancer deaths may be caused by polonium, cancer deaths are still only around a third (iirc) of total tobacco deaths.

[maxerickson]

Compare the 12,000 at the Wikipedia link to the 1.6 million here:

http://www.who.int/cancer/prevention/en/

From those numbers, the polonium is not a primary concern.

[tootie]

There is a craze at least my part of the world over eating roasted seaweed. Mosly Korean-style, but it's the same seaweed you find across most of East Asia. 10-20 years ago, MSG allergies were one of the first food allergy crazes and every wanted MSG-free food. MSG as an additive is harvested primarily from this type of seaweed. That's why the seaweed is so savory.

[autokad]

Chances are very likely that you will die as a partial result of what you eat, or don't eat regardless of whatever diet decision you make.

[mojobot]

I don't think it's gimmicky. Cinnamon is cheap and easy to make and easy to deliver to the patient. Those practical implications are lost if it's only referred to as sodium benzoate. I don't know if this research is done with the same grants as the MS/Cinnamon study from the NIH, but it sounds like it: http://www.rush.edu/webapps/MEDREL/servlet/NewsRelease?id=15...

[pcrh]

I doubt that cinnamon is cheaper than sodium benzoate.

[cbsmith]

Hey, we can use actually data for this!

http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/price-of-sodium-benzoate.htm... http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/cinnamon-price.html

Looks like the prices are surprisingly similar, though cinnamon is, if anything, more expensive. Additionally, I'd imagine that if sodium benzoate is the active ingredient, you'd need less of it to get the job done.

[nathannecro]

I'm not sure if you can assume this. I'm not sure myself, but the path that sodium benzoate finds its way into the bloodstream (or wherever it needs to be) is a bit more complicated than just "eat this pure sodium benzoate".

Apparently, cinnamon can be used as a vehicle for moving sodium benzoate to wherever it needs to be.

[casualobserver]

Just in case anyone is thinking of purchasing through Alibaba:

Alibaba is notorious for scammers. I know two startups that have lost around $20,000 each on material suppliers listed there who send something cheaper (usually completely different) than what has been requested upon payment. It's usually the orders that are around $1000 that Chinese chemical/raw materials supply companies selectively scam on.

[nitrogen]

Some of the "cinnamon" results are stuffing some very odd keywords for what looks like a simple fluorescent tube.

[topbanana]

Do Alibaba also have prices for apples and oranges?

[zhte415]

Apples: http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_...

Oranges: http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_...

[wisty]

Once there's a patent on the use of sodium benzoate to treat things, it will be.

OK, you'll still be able to get generic sodium benzoate cheap, but it won't have whatever magic fairy dust the patented version adds to it.

[bernardlunn]

and i can put cinnamon on my oatmeal but sodium benzoate sounds disgusting

[theophrastus]

weelllll the effect is supported in mice; likely after absorption. that is, starting with sodium benzoate may not survive the digestion process sufficiently before arrival at the target tissue (possibly the substantia nigra)

besides: cinnamon rolls! (with the more cinnamon the better)