Ripe rose hips growing near a mustard field in Germany. DPA

Severely affected patients already being treated with conventional drugs experienced significant improvement after taking capsules of rose-hip powder for six months, a pilot study showed.

Experts now want to conduct more extensive trials which could form the basis of new clinical guidelines.

Scientists say the rose hip remedy, called LitoZin, may in the future help reduce spending by healthcare services on expensive new rheumatoid arthritis drugs.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a painful and debilitating autoimmune disease which affects millions of people worldwide. It occurs when the immune system attacks the joints, causing swelling and damage to cartilage and bone.

Traditional treatments, such as the disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug (DMARD) methotrexate, have only limited effectiveness.

Newer medicines, including TNF Alpha inhibitors and the latest "smart" drugs targeting different parts of the immune system, are now becoming available, but are so costly that it is questionable how many patients will receive them. Treating just one patient with anti-TNF drugs, which act on a particular signaling molecule, costs up to $25,000 a year.

LitoZin, made from processed ground rose hips, is already widely used by patients with osteoarthritis, a less serious condition caused by general wear and tear of the joints.

One month's supply of the supplement retails over-the-counter for less than $30.

The new research was prompted by RA sufferers who claimed they had been helped by the product.

Scientists who conducted the trial in Copenhagen and Berlin said they were surprised by the results, since RA is a far more serious and challenging disease than osteoarthritis.

A total of 89 mostly female patients with an average age of 57 were recruited, all seriously affected by RA which they had suffered for more than 18 years. Of these, 74 stayed in the trial for the full six months.

Thirty-three were randomly assigned to a group taking LitoZin on top of their regular medication. The remaining 41 were given a "dummy" capsule containing no active ingredients.

After six months, activity levels improved by 20 to 25 percent for those taking LitoZin. The number of joints causing them pain and discomfort fell by 40 percent, but did not change for patients treated conventionally without the rose hip supplement.

Generally, overall tenderness of painful joints was significantly reduced in patients given the supplement, and quality of life greatly improved.

Professor Stefan Willich, from the Charite University Medical Center in Berlin, who co-led the study, said: "It's a tough disease, which makes it all the more remarkable to find such beneficial effects from this natural remedy."

DPA

(China Daily 08/15/2007 page19)