Rose hip seed oil is a pressed seed oil, extracted from the seeds of the wild rose bush ''

Rosa rubiginosa ''Rosa rubiginosa'' (sweet briar, sweetbriar rose, sweet brier or eglantine; syn. ''R. eglanteria'') is a species of rose native to Europe and western Asia. Description It is a dense deciduous shrub 2–3 meters high and across, with the stem ...

'' ( es, rosa mosqueta) in the southern Andes. Rosehip seed oil can also be extracted from ''

Rosa canina ''Rosa canina'', commonly known as the dog rose, is a variable climbing, wild rose species native to Europe, northwest Africa, and western Asia. Description The dog rose is a deciduous shrub normally ranging in height from , though sometimes it ...

'', a wild rose species native to Europe, northwest Africa, and

western Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

. The fruits of the rosehip have been used in folk medicine for a long time. Rosehips have prophylactic and therapeutic actions against the common cold, infectious diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, urinary tract diseases, and inflammatory diseases.

Nutrition

The oil contains

provitamin A A provitamin is a substance that may be converted within the body to a vitamin. The term previtamin is a synonym. The term "provitamin" is used when it is desirable to label a substance with little or no vitamin activity, but which can be converted ...

(mostly beta-Carotene). It has been wrongly said to contain

retinol Retinol, also called vitamin A1, is a fat-soluble vitamin in the vitamin A family found in food and used as a dietary supplement. As a supplement it is used to treat and prevent vitamin A deficiency, especially that which results in xeroph ...

( vitamin A) which is a vitamin solely made by animals from provitamin A. It does however contain levels (up to .357 mg/L) of tretinoin or all-trans retinoic acid, a vitamin A acid that retinol converts to. Similarly, while the fruit is rich in vitamin C, the oil does not contain any, as it is a water-soluble vitamin. Rose hip seed oil is high in the

essential fatty acids Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are fatty acids that humans and other animals must ingest because the body requires them for good health but cannot synthesize them. Only two fatty acids are known to be essential for humans: alpha-linolenic ...

linoleic acid Linoleic acid (LA) is an organic compound with the formula COOH(CH2)7CH=CHCH2CH=CH(CH2)4CH3. Both alkene groups are ''cis''. It is a fatty acid sometimes denoted 18:2 (n-6) or 18:2 ''cis''-9,12. A linoleate is a salt or ester of this acid. L ...

omega-6 Omega-6 fatty acids (also referred to as ω-6 fatty acids or ''n''-6 fatty acids) are a family of polyunsaturated fatty acids that have in common a final carbon-carbon double bond in the ''n''-6 position, that is, the sixth bond, counting from ...

, and α-linolenic acid or

omega-3 Omega−3 fatty acids, also called Omega-3 oils, ω−3 fatty acids or ''n''−3 fatty acids, are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) characterized by the presence of a double bond, three atoms away from the terminal methyl group in their chem ...

. Rose hips are remarkable fruits for their traditional pharmaceutical uses, which may be partly attributed to their rich profile of bioactives, especially antioxidant phenolics (Olsson et al., 2005). The seed lipids of rose hips contain high amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids (Szentmihalyi et al., 2002). Rose hips are popular due to their food, phytomedicine, and cosmo-nutraceutical uses (Uggla et al., 2003). The fruits (rose hips) of Rosa canina in particular contain high content of vitamin C and proanthocyanidins and are used for various food and pharmaceutical applications (Osmianski et al., 1986). This chapter mainly focuses on the traditional pharmaceutical and food science applications of rose hips and the essential oil of a widely distributed species of rose hips, R. canina L https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283507224_Rose_Hip_Rosa_canina_L_oils/link/5a6dfc610f7e9bd4ca6d46bd/download

Uses

Researchers have tested the efficacy of topical rose hip seed oil together with an oral fat-soluble vitamins on different inflammatory dermatitis such as eczema, neurodermatitis, and cheilitis, with promising findings of the topical use of rose hip seed oil on these inflammatory dermatose. Due its high composition of UFAs and antioxidants, rose hip oil has relatively high protection against inflammation and oxidative stress. Research on rose hip oil has shown that it reduces skin pigmentation, reduces discolouration, acne lesions, scars and stretch marks, as well as retaining the moisture of the skin and delaying the appearance of wrinkles. Cosmetologists recommend wild rose seed oil as a natural skin-vitaliser. A 2014 study on the nutritional composition and phytochemical composition of the rose hip seed and the fatty acid and sterol compositions of the seed oil showed that rose hip seed and seed oil were good sources of phytonutrients. Consumption of foods rich in phytonutrients is recommended to reduce the risk of chronic diseases. The nutritional composition and the presence of bioactive compounds make the rose hip seed a valuable source of phytonutrients. The rose hip seed was highly rich in carbohydrates and ascorbic acid, and the rose hip seed oil was highly rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and phytosterols. The rose hip seed and seed oil proved to have antioxidant activity. The findings of the study indicated that the rose hip seed and seed oil may be proposed as ingredients in functional food formulations and dietary supplements.

Nutrition

Uses

References

Further reading