Benefits of Rosehips
When roses drop their petals, they reveal their green seed pods. Called hips or haws, these turn red as they mature. With sixty times the amount of vitamin C than lemons, hips help prevent colds, flu and infections.
Said to strengthen body tissues, build and maintain a healthy vascular system and prevent damage to capillaries, rose hips are thought to destroy infectious ailments when taken daily as a prophylactic.
Research has shown them to be effective in treating heart disease, arthritis, strokes and cancer.
History
Rosa canina are herbaceous shrubs from temperate regions throughout both hemispheres.
Likely first cultivated in ancient Persia, hundreds of species are now grown worldwide for their flowers, but the seed pods have a vital place in medicine, perfumes, soaps, foods and cosmetics.
In the first century A.D., Pliny recorded 32 disorders that responded well to rose preparations. First mentioned about A.D. 470 in Chinese medical literature, rose hips are still used for chronic diarrhea with stomach weakness.
Native Americans used rose hips to treat muscle cramps. The contain flavonoids; antioxidants that protect against aging and stress.
Vitamin C
Rose hips were used during WWII in England to make a syrup high in essential vitamin C, which cannot be manufactured by the human body. Vitamin C helps prevent and treat infection, the common cold, flu and pneumonia.
The lack of vitamin C causes potentially fatal scurvy. A Japanese study showed the risk of stroke in those with high levels of vitamin C was 29 percent lower than those with low levels.
The Nurses' Health Study of more than 85,000 women over 16 years, suggests that higher vitamin C intake may be cardioprotective.
Benefits of tea
There is no way to tell how much rose hips are in supplements or other forms. Brewing fresh or dried hips into tea yourself guarantees the content.
Pick the hips once they've turned red. Use the whole pod, including the seeds, when brewing, then strain before drinking.
Drink three to four large cups daily for two weeks at the start of each flu season.
Simmer five to six tablespoons of rose hip seeds for thirty minutes in one quart of water and strain. Drink two cups of the tea daily as a mild diuretic and to relieve rheumatic pain.
The tea retains its effectiveness for twenty-four hours.
Rose Hip Remedies
The BBS News reported in 2007 that in a six-month trial in Denmark and Germany, LitoZin containing rose hips increased activity and reduced joint pain in rheumatoid arthritis, a potentially crippling affliction of the joints.
The components of rose hips form a strong antioxidant that boosts the immune system and is effective against cold and flu.
Rich in pectin---a fiber that improves blood cholesterol, heart health and blood predigestive efficiency---rose hips also promote fullness and can diminish hunger cravings.
Oil made from rose hips contains natural trans-retinoic acids used to treat wrinkles, age spots, hyper-pigmentation, scars and skin burned from the sun or other sources.
Cost
The University of California at Berkeley cautions that vitamin C pills labeled "with " may contain little or no hips, since health supplement content is not regulated.
Rose hips probably contain beneficial phytochemicals (such as bioflavonoids), but no studies establish how these benefit your health or the amount you should take.
Hips are a concentrated natural source of vitamin C, but 250 to 500 mil day is a recommended dose and 500 mil of would be the size of a horse pill, says the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, which questions whether consumers need to pay ten times more to get vitamin C from rose hips than from synthetic pills.
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