Homemade treatments should be in our diets
During World War II, destructive German submarines sank commercial shipping vessels and created a shortage of citrus fruits, famed for their high levels of vitamin C, from the tropics. To counter this shortage the people of Britain were encouraged, through letters to The Times newspaper, articles in the British Medical Journal, and pamphlets produced by Claire Loewenfeld, a dietician working for Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, to gather wild-grown rose hips and create a homemade vitamin C syrup for their children.
Whist today there isn't a lack of lemons and oranges to keep our vitamin C levels up new research published this month shows we should maybe be looking at including rosehip syrups in our children's diets once again, not to mention our own.
Scientists have been getting excited about rosehips again and two studies, published this month have looked beyond rosehips nutritional content (as well as being extremely high in Vitamin C, they also contain calcium, and a high amount of vitamin B3, or niacin, which important for the digestive system and converting food into energy) to investigate whether rosehips may have more powerful health benefits capable of bolstering the immune system. The results showed that rosehip extracts (taken from rosehip tea) contain several kinds of exceptionally powerful anti-oxidants that in the tests were capable of inhibiting oxygen free radicals, chemicals blamed for a whole host of health issues, perhaps more significantly one of the anti-oxidants tested, called polyphenols, were able to stopping the growth of diseased human cells (the research used individual human cells).
Another interesting paper published this month acknowledged that there may be scientific backing for the use of a traditional remedy, used in the Middle East, to help regulate the immune system; one of whose major ingredients is rosehip.
Further studies, published in leading journals over the last few months have shown rosehip extracts may help strengthen the immune system5, act as an anti-inflammatory and even prevent kidney stones.
So it seems, whilst we may no longer need rosehips to keep our Vitamin C levels up we could all benefit from adding rosehips back to our diets.
Luckily you don't have to hit the hedgerows looking for rosehips like are ancestors during the war anymore because Belrosa now produce a ready-made chidlren's syrup, with added vitamins, that is available in selected Waitrose stores, online at www.waitrose.com, and leading from health stores. Keep an eye pealed for the adult's version appearing soon.
Tagged in Health