“Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.” – Mark Twain
Twain had the right instinct, even if the science came later. Natural compounds have been used, misused, and abused in health care. Their utility tends to fall into three buckets: food-based, a supplement to meet the Nutrient Reference Value (NRV), or a mega- or pharmacologic dose. With a familiar compound like vitamin C, that’s the difference between eating an orange, supplementing 80 mg, or taking 5 or more grams.
One compound that deserves more attention than it gets is rutin (aka vitamin P), and it’s already on your plate. Rutin turns up in many foods:
- Apples
- Aronia
- Asparagus
- Buckwheat
- Cherries
- Citrus
- Mulberry
- Chili peppers
- Red sweet peppers
Buckwheat is considered the best source, followed by aronia. There’s currently no specific NRV for rutin; a common pharmacologic dose is 500 mg.
What are the benefits?
The benefits of rutin span multiple body systems and are generally attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions. A number of studies have associated it with protective effects against neurodegenerative disorders, cardiovascular disease, and skin cancer, among others.
That’s a striking list, given it touches conditions like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s. Rutin has also been shown to induce bone formation via osteoblast stimulation, and on the cardiovascular side, to reduce cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis.
There’s a catch, though. The benefits of rutin depend heavily on how much you get and how well you absorb it. Rutin is poorly soluble in water, isn’t easily absorbed, and is excreted rapidly — all of which complicate its use. To get around the absorption problem, it can be combined with phosphatidyl choline as a rutin-nanophytosome (RNP).
How about toxicity?
Here rutin is reassuring. Even at enormous doses — over 500 mg/kg/day — no adverse or toxic effects have been reported. Safety simply isn’t a concern.
So is rutin, or any single natural compound, the fountain of youth? The easy answer is no. But its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties would plausibly add to healthspan and longevity, given the known benefits to the skeleton and the cardiovascular and nervous systems.
Want to go deeper on nutrition and healthspan?
Rutin is one small piece of a much larger picture. If bone density, supplementation, and evidence-based nutrition are where you want to build your clinical edge, Dr. Alan Cook’s courses are a strong next step.
Take a course with Dr. Alan Cook →
