Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Cinnamon rose is a wild rose of northern Europe. Its botanical name is Rosa majalis. In Finland it is called metsäruusu, the forest rose.
The part people use is the hip. That is the red fruit left behind after the petals fall. Dried hips are brewed as tea, cooked into soup, or milled into powder.
People take it for vitamin C, for colds and for sore joints. Human evidence for this exact species is very thin, and most trials used the related dog rose. Long use in Nordic homes is not proof that it works, and not proof that it is safe.
The clearest thing rose hips do is supply vitamin C. Vitamin C prevents and treats scurvy. That effect is settled in people.
Rose hip powder also holds a fat-like compound called GOPO. In lab studies it appears to slow white blood cells from moving into joint tissue. Whether that eases joints in people is still unclear.
The hips are rich in plant pigments and tannins. In test tubes these mop up reactive molecules and lower markers of swelling. Test-tube results do not tell you what happens inside your body.
Almost all of this work used dog rose (Rosa canina). Cinnamon rose has a similar make-up. It has barely been tested on its own.
Dried hips are the most common form. You steep them for tea or simmer them for soup.
Rose hip powder is the form used in the joint studies. It is milled from dried shells and seeds.
Capsules and tablets hold that same powder in a set amount.
Syrup, jam and fruit soup (nyponsoppa in Swedish) are the kitchen forms. Sugar is often the largest ingredient by weight.
Rose hip seed oil is pressed from the seeds and rubbed on skin. It is not the same thing as the fruit powder, and it is not for drinking.
Petals are sometimes dried for tea or flavouring. There is no useful evidence behind petal preparations.
In Scandinavia the hips were a winter food first and a remedy second. Households in Finland, Sweden and Norway dried them for soup, jam and tea.
Folk healers used hip tea for colds, tiredness and weak digestion. Some gave it for aching joints, and some as a mild water pill.
During the Second World War, Nordic countries gathered wild hips on a large scale. They supplied vitamin C when fruit imports stopped. Children were given rose hip syrup at school.
Cinnamon rose was picked side by side with dog rose. Old recipes rarely told the two apart.
Stop and get urgent help if your lips, tongue or throat swell, if hives spread, or if you wheeze or struggle to breathe.
See a doctor if joint pain, swelling or stiffness gets worse, or stops you using the joint.
See a doctor if you get sharp side or back pain, or blood in your urine, which can mean a kidney stone.
See a doctor if cold symptoms last beyond ten days, or if you have a high fever.
Stop taking it and ask a pharmacist if stomach pain or diarrhoea keeps going.
In the EU, including Finland and Sweden, rose hips are an ordinary food. They are also sold as teas and food supplements.
In the UK and the US they are sold as food or as dietary supplements. No regulator has approved rose hip as a medicine to treat any disease.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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