Rutin for the Capillaries

T« .HE PRINCIPAL effect of rutin when taken into the body is to restore the strength of the capillary walls when they become weakened. Rutin is a new, cheap, nonpoisonous drug that comes from buckwheat, tobacco, yellow pansies, and at least 35 other plants. Extensive clinical studies of its use in various disease conditions associated with hemorrhage or weak capillaries have demonstrated the value of rutin in medicine. In 1936 a Hungarian biochemist, A. Szent-Györgyi, announced that he had accidentally discovered a substance that would restore weakened capillaries to normal. The substance, which he called vitamin P, could be obtained from citrus fruits and red peppers. It was distinct from vitamin C, which had previously been thought to have this strengthening action. Szent-Györgyi and his co-workers began a search for the new factor and soon announced that it was a glucoside termed hesperidin, a wellknown constitutent of citrus fruits that had been discovered more than a century previously. Further research, however, indicated that the vitamin P activity of hesperidin was due to some other substance, present as an impurity in the original crude crystals. Continuing the search, they prepared a concentrate that contained eriodictin (eriodictyol glucoside), a compound closely related to hesperidin but more soluble in water. Clinical studies showed this material to be active against increased capillary fragility, but again it was found that the activity was due to some other substance mixed with the crude eriodictin concentrate. Evidence was obtained that a related substance, long known as quercitrin, was present in these extracts. It was subjected to study on guinea pigs and appeared to be inactive. Szent-Györgyi concluded from all his experiments that vitamin G (ascorbic acid) is needed to activate vitamin P