A Pilot Study on the Effectiveness of a Rose Hip Shell Powder in Patients Suffering from Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

We carried out a 3‐month preliminary investigation on the effectiveness of a rose hip shell powder and its mechanism of action. Of 52 patients suffering from acute exacerbations of low back pain (n = 39) or knee pain (n = 13), 29 had participated earlier in the pilot study with the pseudofruit powder Litozin^®. After assessing the baseline values, patients were offered up to 20 g of a rose hip shell powder per day. Patients were encouraged to adjust the daily dose upwards or downwards according to their symptoms for the period of 3 months. The examination for possible effectiveness was by intention‐to‐treat analysis with last observation carried forward. There was no difference in any generic or disease‐specific outcome variables between the patients consuming the rose hip shell powder and those consuming the pseudofruit powder Litozin^® in the previous surveillance study. A human protein array system and fractions from the rose powders were used to study their effect on cytokine expression in vitro. The data indicate that lipophilic rose hip fractions from the shell and the pseudofruit inhibit cytokine expression and that the shell powder may be the better starting material for a future rose hip extract prepared with a lipophilic solvent. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.