[BelgianSheepDog]

I was looking stuff up in Susun Weed's book out of idle curiousity today and she says that rutin is an emmenagogue. Granted in doses of 500 mg or so, and the rutin in my prenatals (Prenatal Forte, bought from a mw/ND practice) is miniscule. It's in the form of Japanese sophora, which I couldn't find much about. Most stuff online is like "don't take herbs while you're pregnant!! Danger! Warning! RRL is hazardous!"

So I guess rutin must be one of those things that is great in small amounts but not so great in larger doses in pregnancy. Now I'm just curious what it *does* do.

I'd be really interested to hear what you all think.

 

[BelgianSheepDog]

Was this a stupid question?

 

[mwherbs]

susun weed is not well researched-- vitamin C and the bioflavinoids that go with it are not emmenagogues-- Susun has some things right... but not everything . It was an ambitious undertaking when she wrote it and has been a useful tool for many women but get several other resources to cross check--- as for a true counterindicated herbal list that has some fairly sound reasoning I prefer M. Moore's list ( the herbalist not the film maker) it is at the SouthWest school of botanical medicine-- Aviva Rhomm has a pregnancy herbal out - and she is not only an herbalist but a CPM as well-- Robin Lim has a good postpartum book out, there is Amanda McQuade's herb book for women and Rosemary Gladstar's book for women's health she also has a family herbal.
Berries across the world have been women's health allies and I would say that beyond a supplement eating fresh or frozen berries is a good idea- and you live in the right place to find those rosy fruits- blackberries being a weed in your region-- not to mention huckelberries, and strawberries - this stuff has tons more flavinoid activity that just a bit of bottled rutin-- this stuff is for connective tissue for one thing but a spectrum ...

 

[Defenestrator]

Rutin is very helpful in supporting the blood vessels and preventing/minimizing/treating varicose veins. It is often part of vit C complexes and I recommend it to pregnant women in that form -- the dose there is never large enough to cause a problem.

I take advice about emmenagogues with a grain of salt -- there are so many things on the list of substances to avoid, but the dose makes the poison. Lots of things, like ginger, for example, can be ingested in relatively high amounts before they cause a problem.

Happy pregnancy!

 

[BelgianSheepDog]

Thanks! And yum, berries...

 

[Stephanie L.]

I might be confused, but I THINK that's what my MWs suggested I get, BUT through consuming oranges & grapefruit. I was supposed to leave on as much peel as possible... does that sound right??

:

see THIS is why I'm not a midwife!!

 

[mwherbs]

sure there are different forms of flavinoids-- actually the darker ones are suppose to be better for the circulation-- ( vessels and arteries are connective tissue-- smooth muscles -- actually all sorts of tissues have one type or another of connective tissue-- there is even a study from one of the European countries that shows that the flavinoids in St. John's wort oil applied topically help prevent varicosities ... just another excuse to live a "colorful" life