Medicinal Uses and Benefits of Rose Hips
Rose Hips are rich in many nutrients, Rose Hips have gained an honored place as a healthy supplement to help maintain good health and prevent colds, flu and infections. They contain sixty times the amount of vitamin C than found in lemons! Rose Hips help to strengthen body tissues, build and maintain a healthy vascular system and prevent damage to fragile capillaries. Rose Hips are thought to prevent many types of infectious ailments before they happen by using a prophylactic dosage on a daily basis.
Medical Uses:
This well-known source of vitamin C is often recommended for boosting resistance and fighting infections, although scientific proof of its effectiveness is still considered lacking.
Rose Hip seed is recommended for urinary tract infections, although here too, effectiveness awaits further confirmation. Other unverified uses of the seed include treatment of rheumatism, gout, kidney disease, water retention, and sciatica (nerve pain in the lower back and thigh). The plant’s seed receptacle contains its vitamin C, while the seeds themselves harbor compounds that flush excess water from the body and exert a laxative effect.
Plant Description: Roses are a group of herbaceous shrubs found in temperate regions throughout both hemispheres and grown in sunny or light shade and thrive in well-drained, slightly acid soil. Probably cultivated first in ancient Persia and carried to Greece and Rome, there are now hundreds of species of this beautiful flower cultivated throughout the world that occupy a vital place in medicine, as well as cosmetics, perfumes, soaps, and foods. The leaves of Rosa canina were once even used as a substitute for tea.
History:
The botanical name, Rosa, is derived from the Greek, roden, meaning “red” and the Latin, ruber, also meaning “ruby” or “red,” as apparently, the Roses of the ancient Mediterranean region were deep crimson, giving birth to the legend that the flowers sprang from the blood of Adonis. Roses have a long tradition of medicinal use. The ancient Romans used Rosa canina (or Dog Rose) for the bites of rabid dogs, and in the first century A.D., the Roman, Pliny, recorded thirty-two different disorders that responded well to Rose preparations.
An oriental species (Rosa laevigata) was mentioned in Chinese medical literature about A.D. 470, and in China, Rose Hips are still used for chronic diarrhea with stomach weakness. In Ayurvedic medicine, Roses have long been considered “cooling” to the body and a tonic for the mind, and Native Americans used Rose Hips to treat muscle cramps. In 1652, the British herbalist, Nicholas Culpepper, prescribed them for “consumptive persons,” for “tickling rheums,” to “break the stone” (kidneys) and to help digestion. Long used for medicinal purposes in Great Britain, Rose Hips remained listed in the official British Pharmacopoeia well into the 1930s and were considered an overall cooling tonic, an astringent, a great help for sore throats and a source of the essential vitamin C.
During World War II, there was a shortage of citrus fruit in England, and the British government organized the harvesting of all the Rose Hips in England as a substitute for vitamin C.
This illuminated the importance of Rose Hips as a superior source of the vitamin and began its worldwide popularity. Rose Hips have a reported sixty times the amount of vitamin C than citrus fruit, and we now know how absolutely essential vitamin C is to the maintenance of good health and the prevention of many diseases. Rose Hips are the fruits of the Rose, the ripe seed receptacles that remain after the petals are removed, and they contain many vitamins and other beneficial supplements, including beta-carotene, bioflavonoids, pectin, sugar, resin, wax, malates, citrates and other salts, tannin, malic and citrus acids, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sulfur, zinc, vitamins B-1, B-2, B-3, B-5, C, E and K. Rose Hips contain the highest measure of vitamin C than is known in any other herb.
Treatments:
Probably the greatest known use of Rose Hips is an extraordinary source of vitamin C, which is most beneficial for the prevention and treatment of infection and a great many common diseases, including the common cold, flu, and pneumonia. It is said to prevent ailments before they happen by using a prophylactic dosage on a daily basis. Vitamin C is necessary for every cell in our bodies and without it; we would not be able to sustain life.
Natural vitamin C and bioflavonoids are combined in nature, and for efficacy, it is vital that they are used together. Rose Hips are rich in both, and together they help to strengthen body tissues and build and maintain a healthy vascular system and are said to heal and prevent damage to fragile capillaries. The combination is also thought to enhance the body’s ability to absorb vitamin C in those who have difficulty absorbing it.
Rose Hips, with its abundance of vitamin C, are useful in treating infections of all kinds and have been used for centuries for the relief of diarrhea and dysentery. It is considered to be a cleansing agent and may be helpful for temporary bladder problems, gallbladder dysfunction, kidney health, general debility, and exhaustion.
Current research indicates that large doses of vitamin C in Rose Hips could be helpful in enhancing our immune systems, which may be valuable in warding off infectious invaders and serious disease.
Rose Hips are said to have mild laxative and diuretic properties.
