Butcher's broom (Ruscus aculeatus) is a plant whose rhizome (underground stem) extract is taken by mouth for lower-leg swelling in chronic venous insufficiency, poor blood flow in the leg veins. In some European countries it is combined with hesperidin methyl chalcone and vitamin C as a vein medicine.
Also known as: Ruscus aculeatus, ruscus, ruscus extract.
The placebo-controlled trial used the daily amount in the German monograph for a capsule product; the abstract does not give the amount in milligrams (Grützner 2002). We do not list an amount.
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling.
What studies show: in a placebo-controlled trial of 166 women with chronic venous insufficiency, 12 weeks of butcher's broom extract reduced lower-leg volume (by about 20 mL more than placebo at 12 weeks), ankle and calf size, and feelings of heavy, tired legs and tension (Grützner 2002). A 2016 review says the combination of butcher's broom extract, hesperidin methyl chalcone and vitamin C has been used for vein disease for more than 50 years in some European countries (Allaert 2016). The evidence for butcher's broom alone rests mainly on this one trial.
Safety: in the 12-week trial, tolerability was rated good, and of 22 side effects in the butcher's broom group only one was thought possibly (unlikely) related to it (Grützner 2002). The sources here do not describe drug interactions.
We could not find a single published half-life or time to peak for butcher's broom that applies to a supplement dose, so we do not list one. Plant and bee products are mixtures of many compounds, so no single figure would describe them.
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