Plump, juicy and full of nutrition
Those glorious colours and that plump juiciness. Rosehips have a surprising constituent which brings great relief to those who suffer with arthritis.
I have been aware of morning stiffness and a difficulty in fully bending my small finger joints on my right hand. I have also noticed that it seems to react badly to wheat and tomatoes and even more to a combination of the two. I generally avoid eating wheat as home-made Spelt products seem to be ok instead. But, I do love a tomato and have always loved tomato based sauces and all the dishes which depend on them such as chilli con carne and spaghetti.
But, food delights aside, I was concerned that I seemed to be starting a degenerative joint condition and have sought out an X-ray for confirmation (results pending) and am limiting the consumption of tomatoes outside of their season (for some reason, the impact on my finger joints is considerably less in summer)
What to do?
Well, one of the most effective and simple treatment combinations I have found when working with my patients and also in quick advisories to others, is to combine Rosehips and Fish oils. A colleague noted that within 1 month of treatment, severe knee pain was gone simply taking a combination of these two nutrients as supplements! And, my partner’s audible-on-the-stairs knees also improved and he has remarked that they feel better.
Panacea for all?
Now, of course, this may not work for everyone as nothing is a blanket panacea and these cases are knees not fingers. And, with such a small sample size, far from conclusive. So, I thought to myself, as I have already been taking fish oils for years (not a keen fish eater), could the rosehips really make a substantial difference? Worth a try. We had some in the house. And, lo, after a few weeks, it has been making a really notable difference.
Why?
Well, rosehips contain a constituent which has been found to be pain relieving in a few small studies. GOPO is a galactolipid and considered to be an active constituent in rosehips. Now, as a herbalist, I am a great believer in the Aristotolean principle that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. There are other aspects of rosehips which are also likely contributory factors. Vitamin C, if there is any left in the preparation, or it is added, plays a role in collagen formation. Collagen is a vital component of our connective tissues forming gelatine and helping make our joint spaces spongy and skin more elastic. This could explain why my fingers are less stiff in the mornings too.
Evidence
So, if you want to read an un-biased, scientific review of some of the evidence, there is one here on the NHS website https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/rosehip-for-osteoarthritis-pain/
Personally, I find that this kind of writing is rather deadly and prone to making me feel that there is no hope. Mainly because I find it discouraging that studies of natural products tend to have rather small cohorts and be, to my mind, rather limited in their focus. I think that an isolated constituent is considerably less interesting than when it is in the symbiosis of its natural state. But, multi-constituents do not fit the paradigm and make for a less conclusive study as it is unclear exactly what it was which did the job. But, as we know from using single constituent medications, there tends to be unwanted side effects when we isolate and synthesise and ingest without the complement of the full spectrum. Back to Aristotle, please.