Hippophae rhamnoides, also known as sea buckthorn is an ancient plant with modern virtues, due to its nutritional and medicinal value. Sea buckthorn berry is rich in oil. Oils from sea buckthorn seeds and berries have traditionally been used in the treatment of disorders of skin and mucosa in China. Seeds (seed oil) and fruit pulp (pulp oil) are used for oil extraction. Oil from sea buckthorn contains several bioactive components such as vitamin E, vitamin K, carotenoids and phytosterols. Total phytosterol content is 4–20 times higher than in soybean oil.
Along with that chemical composition, sea buckthorn oil has shown great healing effect in treating damaged mucous membranes of the gastrointestinal tract, wound, burn, dry eye, dermatitis and sunburn.
Potential Benefits
The oil from pulp and the seeds of sea buckthorn have been shown to possess anti-diabetic, anti-atherogenic, hypo-cholesteromic, hypotensive, anti-hypoxic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
1. The antiulcer
The antiulcer action of sea buckthorn oils related to an increased in the hydrophobicity of the mucosal surface, retarded the gastric emptying (Xing et al., 2002), inhibited lipid peroxidation in gastric mucosa, accelerated of the mucosal repair (Xu et al., 2007), inhibited proteolytic activity in gastric liquid, promoted the wound reparation processes of mucosa and prevent mucosa damage (Halis et al., 2001).
2. Antimicrobial
The phenolic compounds of sea buckthorn oil represent the main group of phytochemicals, which exhibit antibacterial and antiviral effects. These compounds suppress gram-negative bacteria (Khan et al., 2010) and reduce grampositive bacteria (Kumar and Sagar, 2007).
3. Antidiabetic
Sea buckthorn fruit oil (SBFO) is rich in palmitoleic acid, which has been reported to play roles in many metabolic processes.
4. Eye health
Oil from seeds and fruits are used in the treatment of keratitis, trachoma, injuries or burns of eyelid, and conjunctivitis (Guliyev et al., 2004).
5. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
The seed oil and pulp oil from sea buckthorn berries contain all the natural isomers of tocopherols and tocotrienols. . The oil is rich in phytosterols, associated with potential antioxidant and anti inflammatory activity. Ting et al., (2011) studied antioxidant activity of seed oil found significant radical-scavenging activities.
6. Anti-atherogenic
Because sea buckthorn seed oil is a rich source of unsaturated fatty acids, phytosterols, carotenoids and flavonoids, the anti-atherogenic activity of sea buckthorn seed oil in animal have been evaluated (Basu et al., 2007).
7. Skin health
The unique combination of multiple natural antioxidants of SBT oil provides the skin with a synergistic protection against oxidation induced by UV and ageing.
8. Antihypoxic
Sea buckthorn seed oil significantly attenuated hypoxia-induced oxidative stress, maintaind blood-brain barrier membrane integrity, restricted the rise in plasma catecholamine, and significantly enhanced the hypoxic tolerance in experimental animals (Purushothaman et al., 2008).
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[1] Vinita, Darshan Punia, and Neeta Kumari. Potential health benefits of Sea buckthorn oil: A Review. Agricultural Reviews. 38(3) 2017 : 233-237. Print ISSN:0253-1496 / Online ISSN:0976-0539