just a little word of warning for all you fans of cinnamon toast... i saw this in the july 26 edition of the halifax _daily news_.
CINNAMON'S SIN by Lawrence G. Proulx The Washington Post There's good news and bad news for cinnamon lovers, you daredevils! And if your passion for that piquant taste hasn't given you mouth ulcers or inflamed lips, you can skip the bad and hop right to the happy ending. For a tiny minority of cinnamon users, the very chemicals that give cinnamon its sharp flavor can be the source of chronic mouth problems. "If it's overlooked, that person can be miserable until it's diagnosed," said Toby Mathias, a staff dermatologist at Group Health Associates in Cincinnati. Unfortunate people can react badly to cinnamon in two ways, said Michael A. Siegel, an associate professor in the department of oral medicine at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, who presented several case studies at a recent meeting of the Academy of General Dentistry. Cinnamon can act as an irritant, in which case "in some people the mouth feels burning and dry." Or there can be a true allergic reaction; then "you're very likely to see ulcers like cancer sores on the inside of the mouth. It's what we would call a delayed hypersensitivity reaction, meaning that the body recognizes the cinnamon as foreign and 48 to 72 hours later your mouth breaks out." "In the case of the irritant," Siegel said, "you moderate, you use a little less of it. In the case of allergy, your very next bite will cause the ulcers. You can't eat cinnamon anymore." Dentists should be aware of cinnamon's dark side, said Richard L. Miller, a professor of oral pathology at the University of Louisville school of dentistry. "These lesions can be confused with more serious conditions," he said. Miller adds, "The majority of the cases we've seen have been (people chewing gum) in smoking cessation. It's not the occasional user. It's the person using two, three packs of gum or candy (a day)." Siegel emphasized: "We're not recommending that you stop using cinnamon if you don't have a problem. It is very likely that you will never have a problem ... This is not dangerous, and it will never lead to oral cancer." ************************************************** with that in mind, i suggest that all halifax netters attend the cinnamon toast bbq this sunday and check out rebecca west, plum tree, broken girl, and others. and eat your cinnamon toast! remember, it's not cancerous -- usually. james :-) p.s. someone should post directions; i don't know exactly where this thing is taking place. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- _James R. Covey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>_ sloan net is a discussion of the ___| | ___ __ _ _ __ _ __ ___| |_ halifax / east coast music scene / __| |/ _ \ / _` | '_ \ | '_ \ / __| __| [un]subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] \__ \ | |_| | |_| | | | | | | | | __| |_ to post to the list send mail to |___/_|\___/ \__,_|_| |_| |_| |_|\___|\__| <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Zedd recordZ/daydream records po box 29057 hfx shopping centre hfx NS B3L 4T8