Loomis Enzymes has adopted rose hip (Rosa canina, Rosaceae) through the American Botanical Council’s Adopt-an-Herb botanical research and education program.
 
Also known as dog rose, dog brier, or brier rose, “rose hip” is the name of both the plant and its fruit. The species is a large shrub or small tree with white or pink flowers and vibrant red fruits or “pseudo-fruits” that typically appear in September and October in the Northern Hemisphere. It is widely distributed in Europe and grows wild throughout Central Asia and northern Africa. Rose hip also has been naturalized to the Americas, southern Australia, New Zealand, and southern Africa. 
 
The species name is derived from the Latin word canis, meaning “dog.” According to ABC, This name may stem from a misunderstanding or mistranslation of its former name “dag rose,” which comes from the Italian word daga, meaning “dagger” (a reference to its thorns).
 
Other possible origins of the common name derive from the belief that the species name stems from Greek physician Hippocrates or Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, who both recommended wild rose hip root preparations to treat rabid dog bites.
 
Rose hip has astringent properties and was used in traditional medicine to treat thirst, colic, cough, and gastrointestinal conditions such as dysentery and diarrhea. Seventeenth century English herbalist Nicholas Culpeper recommended a sweetened rose hip preparation to “gently bind the belly and stay [the flow of bodily fluids] from the head upon the stomach, drying up the moisture thereof, and promoting digestion.”
 
Laboratory and animal studies support rose hip’s potential antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties. It is high in galactolipids, phenolics, vitamin C, and carotenoids. Human clinical studies have investigated different types of rose hip for osteoarthritis, high cholesterol, Crohn’s disease, and chronic musculoskeletal pain among other conditions. Rose hip preparations have also been linked to reductions in C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation, in randomized, controlled trials.
 
According to Loomis Enzymes, rose hip has one of the highest levels of vitamin C of any fruit or vegetable.
 
Loomis’ rose hip adoption supports ABC’s HerbMedPro database, ensuring that the educational resource remains up to date for researchers, health professionals, industry members, students, consumers, and other members of the herbal and dietary supplement communities.
 
“Loomis Enzymes adopts herbs through the American Botanical Council to ensure that the sharing of knowledge creates a base of effective and safe ingredients for generations to come. Choosing rose hip is one step to ensure our commitment,” said a Loomis company representative. “The use of natural products grows every year as individuals look for ways to support their health and well-being. This interest makes it paramount that research and availability of that research is easily accessible for health care professionals, as well as the public. Expanding documentation will facilitate the safety, legitimacy, and effectiveness of natural ingredients.”
 
“ABC is deeply grateful to Loomis Enzymes for its adoption of rose hips on ABC’s robust HerbMedPro database,” said ABC founder and executive director Mark Blumenthal. “Rose hip is a classic herb, used for millennia as a food and as a medicine, and we are grateful that we can now ensure that the rose hip-related research in the HerbMedPro record will stay up to date. I remember when I first started studying wild foods and herbal medicines and buying herbal teas and dietary supplements in health food stores in the late 1960s, vitamin C with rose hips was one of my first-ever daily dietary supplements. I have been a big fan of rose hips ever since, particularly rose hips jams and jellies.”