Rose hips

There's nothing wrong with making rose hips a part of your daily diet, but don't count on the bright red fruits - or the prepackaged teas containing them - to supply all the vitamin C you need, especially if you use the vitamin to try to treat the common cold and flu.

Rose hips contain a significant amount of vitamin C.  However, the drying process destroys from 45 to 90 percent of it, and infusions extract only about 40 percent of what's left.  That still leaves a fair amount of vitamin C, but considerably less than most herbals promise.

Many companies that manufacture vitamin C claim their products are "made from rose hips."  In fact, none are made exclusively from rose hips.  In commercial "rose hip" vitamin C preparations, the hips are combined with ascorbic acid from other sources.

Some scientific studies have supported the use of vitamin C to help relieve the symptoms and decrease the duration of the common cold.  The studies that show positive benefit - including those published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the New England Journal of Medicine - call for using 2,000 milligrams a day or more from the moment the first cold symptoms appear until all symptoms disappear.

That's a lot of vitamin C - considerably more than the current Recommended Daily Allowance (USRDA) of 60 milligrams a day.  It would be impractical to obtain this much vitamin C from rose hip preparations alone.

But rose hip tea can help boost cold and flu sufferer's overall vitamin C intake.  In addition, hot liquids may help relieve the sore throat, nasal congestion, and cough associated with colds and flu, and they warm the throat, which may help impair viral replication. (Cold viruses reproduce best at around 95 deg. F)