Rose Hip Powder Improves Aspects of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Lee Swanson Research Update
A recent randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluated a special type of Danish rose hip powder (LitoZin®, marketed as i-flex®) in the treatment of RA symptoms.
Patients over the age of 18 who met the American Rheumatism Association criteria for RA were randomized by computer to receive either placebo or rose hip powder capsules. The patients were recruited between April 2005 and August 2006 from outpatient clinics in Berlin, Germany and Denmark. The patients took 5g of rose hip powder per day in two divided doses for six months. The placebo had a similar taste, appearance and smell to the rose hip capsules.
The Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQDI) was the primary outcome measure. The researchers also used the disease activity score (DAS-28) to assess swollen and tender joint counts, erythrocyte (red blood cell) sedimentation rate (ESR) as an inflammatory marker, and the patients’ self-assessment of disease activity on a scale of 0-10, with higher scores reflecting greater disease activity.
At baseline, 89% were enrolled in the study, including 44 in the i-flex rose hip group and 45 in the placebo group. By the end of the study, 15 patients had withdrawn from the study, leaving 33 patients in the rose hip group and 41 in the placebo group.
The HAQDI scores improved in the rose hip group and were significantly better than the placebo group scores at three and six months of treatment. The rose hip group experienced a greater improvement in DAS-28 scores compared to the placebo group with a trend toward statistical significance at six months. (For example, the number of tender joints [as noted in the DAS-28 score] showed a significant decline in the per-protocol population of 45%.)
The physicians’ global assessments indicated a greater improvement in the rose hip group compared to the placebo group at six months. At six months, the SF-12 physical and RA QoL scores were also significantly better in the rose hip group compared to the placebo group.
The authors conclude: "This study suggests some benefit of patients with RA treated with the present rose hip powder." Due to the small size of the study, the authors comment that additional studies with larger samples of patients are needed to confirm the results and provide adequate power for multivariate analysis. The authors write that dose-finding studies and research on different rose hip formulations are also warranted.
Phytomedicine 17(2):87-93, 2010-10-12
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October. 2010