Safe Cinnamon Calculator: Coumarin & Lead by Body Weight
How much cinnamon is safe per day? It depends on three things: your body weight, which cinnamon you use (true Ceylon or cassia — most supermarket "cinnamon" is cassia), and what's actually in the batch. This calculator uses the European Food Safety Authority's coumarin limit and the measured lead value from our own lab-tested batch — not marketing estimates.
Coumarin — your daily limit
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–Coumarin — your chosen amount
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Lead — at our tested batch's level
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–Reference values: EFSA tolerable daily intake for coumarin 0.1 mg per kg body weight; coumarin content — cassia ≈3.0 mg/g and true Ceylon ≈0.017 mg/g (published food-survey averages; we'll switch the Ceylon figure to our own measured batch values as coumarin testing joins our COA panel); lead — our current quills batch measured 0.2 ppm (see the full lab results); FDA Interim Reference Levels for lead: 2.2 µg/day (children) and 8.8 µg/day (adults of childbearing age). 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ≈ 2.6 g. [FILL: verify these reference values before publishing, then delete this note.]
This tool is educational, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, take medication, or have a liver condition, talk to your doctor about cinnamon supplementation.
What the numbers mean
Coumarin: the reason cassia has a daily limit and Ceylon effectively doesn't
Coumarin is a natural plant compound that can stress the liver at sustained high doses, which is why EFSA set a tolerable daily intake of 0.1 mg per kg of body weight. Cassia cinnamon carries roughly 175 times more coumarin than true Ceylon on published survey averages. Run the numbers for a 70 kg adult: the cassia limit works out to about 2.3 g — less than one teaspoon a day — while the equivalent Ceylon figure is over 400 g, more cinnamon than anyone could eat. Coumarin is simply not the limiting factor for true Ceylon cinnamon; it's the whole reason "low coumarin cinnamon" is worth searching for.
Lead: why the batch matters more than the type
Unlike coumarin, lead isn't a property of the cinnamon species — it's a property of the specific batch and its supply chain, which is why the FDA's 2024–2025 alerts hit individual products, not cinnamon types. Our calculator uses the measured value from our current batch (0.2 ppm, tested by ICP-MS at Sri Lanka's Industrial Technology Institute). At one teaspoon a day, that's about half a microgram of lead — a small fraction of even the FDA's strictest reference level for children. For untested cinnamon there is nothing to calculate: no test, no number, no answer. Our full per-batch lead results are published here.
Why we show our own measured values instead of "trust us": anyone can claim their cinnamon is safe. We publish the batch numbers and the math, and let you check both. Every batch we ship carries a certificate of analysis — browse them here.
Frequently asked questions
How much cinnamon per day is safe?
For true Ceylon cinnamon, normal culinary use (1–2 teaspoons daily) is far below the EFSA coumarin limit at any adult body weight. For cassia, the limit is roughly one teaspoon a day for a 70 kg adult — and less for children or smaller adults. Enter your weight above for your personal number.
Is one teaspoon of cassia cinnamon a day too much?
For a 70 kg adult, one teaspoon of typical cassia (~2.6 g, ≈7.8 mg coumarin) sits right around the EFSA daily limit of 7 mg — so daily habitual use leaves no margin. For a child or smaller adult it exceeds the limit. The same teaspoon of true Ceylon carries under 0.05 mg of coumarin.
Does Ceylon cinnamon have coumarin at all?
Yes, in trace amounts — published surveys put true Ceylon around 0.017 mg per gram, versus roughly 3 mg per gram for cassia. The amount varies batch to batch, which is why we're adding measured coumarin values to our per-batch lab panel rather than quoting averages forever.
How is the lead figure calculated?
Grams of cinnamon eaten per day × the measured lead concentration of the batch. Our current quills batch tested at 0.2 ppm (0.2 µg per gram), so one teaspoon (~2.6 g) contributes about 0.5 µg of lead — compared against the FDA's Interim Reference Levels of 2.2 µg/day for children and 8.8 µg/day for adults of childbearing age. Untested cinnamon can't be calculated at all.
Cinnamon you can actually run the numbers on
Every batch we ship is lab-tested with the certificate published — the values in this calculator come from real reports, not brand promises.
Shop Alba-Grade Ceylon Cinnamon