Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Dog rose is a wild climbing rose found in hedges across Europe. The part used is the fruit, called the rosehip. It is red, oval, and ripens after the first frosts.
Rosehips are both a food and a folk remedy. They are dried for tea, boiled into syrup or jam, and ground into powder for capsules. Joint supplements use a powder made from the whole fruit, seeds included.
Here is the honest verdict. A few small trials suggest rosehip powder may ease osteoarthritis (wear-and-tear joint disease) pain a little. Long use in folk medicine is not proof that a plant works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
One part is settled. Rosehips are rich in vitamin C, and vitamin C prevents and treats scurvy. That much is proven in people.
The joint effect is less clear. In lab studies, a fat-like seed compound called GOPO appears to slow the movement of white blood cells. In test tubes, rosehip extracts also lower some markers of inflammation.
Whether those steps explain the small pain changes seen in trials is not established. Nobody has shown the chain from seed compound to human joint.
Folk use also treated rosehip as a mild water pill (diuretic). Human proof for that is thin.
Dried hips, whole or cut, for tea.
Rosehip powder from the whole fruit with the seeds left in. This is the form used in most joint trials. It comes loose or in capsules.
Capsules of seed-rich extract, labelled for GOPO content.
Syrup and cordial. British children were given rosehip syrup for many years.
Foods: jam, jelly and Nordic rosehip soup.
Rosehip seed oil. This is a skin product. It is pressed from the seeds and is not meant to be swallowed.
Tinctures, which are alcohol extracts, sold by some herbal suppliers.
Rosehips were a hedgerow food and medicine across Europe for centuries. Medieval herbals listed them for chest complaints, loose bowels and urinary trouble.
In Britain during the Second World War, volunteers picked wild hips by the ton. The fruit was made into syrup to give children vitamin C when citrus fruit was scarce.
Nordic cooks made rosehip soup each autumn. Folk healers in several countries gave the tea for what they called rheumatism. These records show the plant was valued and widely eaten.
Stop and get emergency help if your lips, tongue or throat swell, or if you struggle to breathe. These are signs of a severe allergic reaction.
Stop and see a doctor if you get a rash, hives or itching that spreads.
See a doctor if you get bad stomach pain, ongoing diarrhoea, or pain in your side with blood in your urine.
See a doctor if joint pain, swelling or stiffness gets worse, or if a new joint becomes hot and red.
In the UK, the EU and the US, rosehip is an ordinary food. Teas, syrups and jams are sold freely. Capsules and powders are sold as food supplements and are not approved as medicines.
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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