The plant pigment Rutin: Uses and Side Effects

What is Rutin ?

Rutin, also known as rutin, quercetin-3-rutinoside and locustin, is a plant pigment found in certain fruits and vegetables. It is also a biologically active herbal plant extract that is a natural flavonoid compound. It is mainly derived from buckwheat, Japanese pagoda tree, eucalyptus, citrus fruits, apples, figs and in tea. Appearance is yellow powder with bitter taste, hygroscopic, soluble in hot water.

Uses of Rutin

Rutin has a variety of pharmacological effects including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, hypoglycemic, cholesterol-lowering, cytoprotective, vasculoprotective, neuroprotective and cardioprotective. It is commonly used medicinally for autism, skin aging, and exercise-induced airway infections. It is also used as an antioxidant, colouring agent, food preservative, stabiliser and UV absorber. Due to its important role in human health, Rutin is also mostly marketed as a dietary supplement. It has been used therapeutically in order to reduce capillary fragility.

One of rutin’s common uses is to ease arthritis pain. A studyTrusted Source found that it aided in suppressing oxidative stress in people with arthritis. This may be due to rutin's strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. There's also evidence that rutin improves knee function in some who have arthritis.

It was shown that rutin was able to alleviate the activation of NLRP3 inflammatory vesicles by modulating M1/M2 macrophage polarisation and inhibiting the activation of the TLR4/NF-κB-P65 pathway, thereby ameliorating ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) in mice.

Side Effects of Rutin

Rutin is usually well tolerated. And since rutin is mostly derived from fruits and vegetables, it has mostly no adverse effects when taken orally, and rutin supplements may be safe when taken in doses of up to 600 mg per day for up to 12 weeks. Side effects may include headache or stomach upset.

References

[1] SHENGSONG CHEN. Rutin alleviates ventilator-induced lung injury by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation.[J]. iScience, 2023. DOI:10.1016/j.isci.2023.107866.