Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum J. Presl) Bark Extract after In Vitro Digestion Simulation

Abstract

Cinnamon bark is widely used for its organoleptic features in the food context and growing evidence supports its beneficial effect on human health. The market offers an increasingly wide range of food products and supplements enriched with cinnamon extracts which are eliciting beneficial and health-promoting properties. Specifically, the extract of Cinnamomum spp. is rich in antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer biomolecules. These include widely reported cinnamic acid and some phenolic compounds, such asproanthocyanidins A and B, and kaempferol. These molecules are sensitive to physical-chemical properties (such as pH and temperature) and biological agents that act during gastric digestion, which could impair molecules’ bioactivity. Therefore, in this study, the cinnamon’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory bioactivity after simulated digestion was evaluated by analyzing the chemical profile of the pure extract and digested one, as well as the cellular effect in vitro models, such as Caco2 and intestinal barrier. The results showed that the digestive process reduces the total content of polyphenols, especially tannins, while preserving other bioactive compounds such as cinnamic acid. At the functional level, the digested extract maintains an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect at the cellular level.