Welcome to Sea Buckthorn Insider, your source for everything sea buckthorn. We strive to compile the web’s premier knowledge base for this amazing “super fruit”. Whether you’ve just heard of it from a friend, saw it on Dr. Oz or another TV show, or were recommended it by your health care practitioner … we hope this site serves as your cornerstone for information on sea buckthorn.
If you have any questions that aren’t answered in one of our articles or want to discuss a subject further, then please leave a comment in a relevant article for the public to see. We prefer if you avoid e-mailing us directly and instead let us respond to your public comment to increase the amount of information available on the site. We’re always here to help and try our best to educate one another about this marvelous super fruit. Of course, don’t be shy about e-mailing us if it’s private!
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About Sea Buckthorn | Health Benefits | Buying Guide |
Education | Omega-7 | Research |
Reviews | News |
What is Sea Buckthorn?
Sea buckthorn is a fruit or berry that grows most abundantly in Eastern Asia. It has been known for 1000’s of years for amazing health benefits and skincare when taken internally or applied topically. Typically it’s known as “Life Oil” or “God Sent Medicine” in folk medicine. Legends date back to ancient Greece about the potency of the berry as an inside-out body healer and the mythical Pegasus was said to have eaten the berries to gain the power to fly. Speculation exists that points to Genghis Khan feeding his horse-driven army sea buckthorn in its incredibly successful conquest that, at its peak, spanned 16% of the Earth’s total land area. More recently, sea buckthorn was a sponsored drink at the Beijing Olympics and also a tool used by Russian Cosmonauts for nutrition and radiation protection in space.
Sea Buckthorn’s Nutritional Profile
Legends and myths are exciting to read but in today’s modern world we want scientifically backed information. It’s more reliable and structured. Fortunately, there is a lot of science today behind sea buckthorn and its incredible nutritional profile is known to be robust and comprehensive for human health care. In brief:
- Essential Fatty Acids – Omega 3, 6, 9 and the rare Omega 7
- Vitamins & Minerals – Almost everyone the body needs
- Antioxidants – Including Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), the most powerful antioxidant
- Over 190 Phytonutrients – Yeah … your bases are covered
As you can see, sea buckthorn offers just about everything the body needs. Add some protein and fiber and you have a balanced, healthy diet one can live off!
Sea Buckthorn’s Recent Popularity
Consumer awareness of sea buckthorn is growing rapidly. It has been featured on Dr. Oz three times in the last couple years and on various other media programs. As opposed to a few years ago when sea buckthorn was still a cherished secret to many insiders, today it is becoming well known and is a rising star in the natural product industry. Consequently, many companies have begun introducing products containing sea buckthorn in an effort to claim their stake of market share. These companies have different motives with some specializing in the wonder berry and others just including it as a trendy new ingredient in the hope of landing more sales. This rise in popularity and competing sea buckthorn providers was one of the driving factors to start this site. There are some seriously inferior products out there marketing themselves as sea buckthorn miracles. This led to our continually evolving buyer’s guide to assure consumer success with this fruit. It’s always a shame when someone is deterred by a bad product when they could have reaped the benefits of an excellent fruit oil.
Sea Buckthorn Health Benefits
In folk medicine and traditional use, sea buckthorn is often considered a Panacea or cure-all. Need energy? Eat some sea buckthorn berries. Skin issue? Rub the sea buckthorn oils on your skin or face. Wound healing? Apply berry or seed oil and let it sit. Aging? Eat your daily miracle berries and watch the process slow. And so on. Sea buckthorn can be the answer to many, many health concerns.
It’s most well known, however, for promoting beauty, especially in the United States. Sea buckthorn has the rare Omega-7, a fatty acid that naturally occurs in the skin, and is the richest plant source known worldwide. Most information on this omega, and anecdotally from real-world users, indicates that Omega-7 is fantastic for healthy, vibrant, and glowing hair, skin, and nails. Many personal care products have begun adding sea buckthorn to their formulas for this reason alone and many consumers supplementing with the oils are noticing these beauty effects on their own body.
Sea buckthorn offers a laundry list of health benefits that are hard to encapsulate in one discussion. The nutritional profile is so robust that almost any issue one can imagine can be supported with sea buckthorn supplementation. For our purposes, we’ve tried to emphasize the most common uses and testimonials seen around.
Cardio | Skin Ailments | GI / Digestive | Weight Loss | Cognitive | ||||
Liver | Beauty | Gynecological | Immunity | Healing | ||||
Inflammation | Vision Support | Oral Health | Sun Damage | Animals | ||||
Chemotherapy | Anti-Radiation | Horses | Anti-Cancer |
We have written articles about most of these health issues and the support sea buckthorn provides. Feel free to use our search bar to find information on what you’re looking for or to follow this link to our health benefits article database. Also, feel free to comment or e-mail us with any questions you may have! Maybe it will lead to a new article to address the issue.
Health Benefit Articles:
- Benefits of Sea buckthorn
- Sea Buckthorn Has Amazing Benefits
- 3 Skin-Healthy Benefits of Sea Buckthorn Seed Oil
- What Is Sea Buckthorn And What Can I Do With It?
- Health Benefits of Sea Buckthorn
Sea Buckthorn Buying Guide
What to look for in sea buckthorn products?
Sea buckthorn is available in so many forms, qualities, quantities, and personal care products right now. It can be a bit overwhelming from a simple Google search. To clear the air in one brief stroke: Get yourself USDA certified organic sea buckthorn oil.
That’s it! If you had to pick one sea buckthorn product then this would be it. Not only is it top-notch quality but it’s versatile. Just add the oil in your current personal care products. Add a shot to your juice in the morning for the nutritional properties. Apply the oil on those Rosacea flare-ups or to those recent camping wounds. Swish it around your mouth to fight inflamed gums or nourish mucous membranes. Oil, oil, oil!
Why choose sea buckthorn oil over other forms?
Choosing a sea buckthorn product can be daunting. There are sea buckthorn oils, capsules, powders, teas, leaves, juices, wines, marmalades, and you name it out in the market. In a nutshell, if it’s powder, extract, or in any dry form … it’s not holding the wonderful omega fatty acids (aka oils) that make this fruit such a wonderful supplement. You’re taking the wonder out of it. Juices contain the EFA’s still but to a lesser degree. They’re also expensive, can spoil quicker, and taste about as tart as most people can bear. Leaves and teas are nice for the flavonoids and antioxidants but miss out, once again, on the majority of omega fatty acids found in the fruit or seed. Oil is simply more economical, stable, and nutritionally sound than any other forms. So choose sea buckthorn oil when making your product decision. Whether it’s in a soft gel or in a bottle, the oil will provide the most benefits the fruit can offer.
Berry vs Seed
So which part of sea buckthorn is right for me? Well, that depends. Sea buckthorn berries contain the majority of the fruit’s Omega-7 content, the rare fatty acid providing many of the unique benefits of the fruit. The berry also has excellent anti-inflammation characteristics and very high levels of Beta-Carotenoids which are excellent for the skin. Seed, on the other hand, has high levels of Omega 3, 6, and 9 which are officially essential fatty acids. They’re extremely important for all bodily functions. The seed also has a stronger antioxidant network and is a rich source of Vitamin A and E. Typically, take both if you can internally either blended in a soft gel or from droppers. This offers the best of both worlds. The synergy of both is a strong reason for sea buckthorn’s success over 1000’s of years. If you’re going to differentiate based on what’s ideal, then use the Berry Oil for skincare and the Seed Oil for internal support. We do strongly encourage you to take both internally for a nutritional foundation and Berry Oil topically as needed for beauty and/or skin ailments.
Buying Guide Articles:
- HairOilReviews.com – Sea Buckthorn Oil Review
- Sea Buckthorn Skincare Roundup – Top Manufacturers
- Sea Buckthorn Skincare Products – What Should You Look For?
- Sea Buckthorn Juice: the Ultimate Vitamin C Drink?
- Sea Buckthorn Oil Soft Gels – Brand and Product Review
Sea Buckthorn Education
History and Legends
Sea buckthorn has its share of legends and interesting history of use spanning from Eastern Asia through Western Europe. It all started in Ancient Greece where legend has it that warriors set loose their war-battered horses after the battle to die a natural death. The horses returned after a couple of days from a sea buckthorn patch, full of health, vigor, and a shiny coat of fur. Pegasus, the mythical winged horse of Greek mythology, is said to have gained its ability to fly after eating sea buckthorn and is often shown with the fruits leaves in its mouth. Genghis Khan, speculatively, fed sea buckthorn to his war machine while conquering the majority of Asia and much of Europe. These stories and legends have been passed down for 1000’s of years and even today you hear miracle stories about sea buckthorn. In the ’80s Russian Cosmonauts were supplementing with sea buckthorn in their space program as part of a nutritional plan and to fight off radiation. In Beijing, the fruit was used as the national drink at the 2008 Olympics. Sea buckthorn is, seemingly, just as popular today as 1000’s of years ago.
Different Species
Contrary to popular beliefs, there are many sea buckthorn variants across Europe and Asia. The color can differ and range from a crisp orange to a much lighter yellow. The vitamin C content, Omega content, and other nutrients can vary greatly depending on the particular species and even where it grows geographically. There are 7 main species known and Hippophae Rhamnoides is perhaps the most well known and commonly used worldwide. It originates in China where most of the worlds sea buckthorn currently resides.
Geography
Sea buckthorn has been known to grow in much of eastern Asia, the Siberian, parts of Europe, in the mountains, by the sea coast, and many other places. It’s growing in popularity in Canada where it’s being heavily planted. Still, it is estimated that 90% of the worlds sea buckthorn is in China. Sea buckthorn has the ability to survive in almost any condition and extremity. From scorching heat to freezing colds, from the windy, salt-water bashed sea coast to the tip of a mountain in the sky. It’s also known to fight soil erosion. For this reason, it was planted extensively throughout China in the ’70s to deter rapidly eroding lands. Today, China has most of the world’s sea buckthorn for this reason.
Extraction
Sea buckthorn berries are a difficult fruit to work with. They’re very fragile and the skin can easily break on them, making handling them for processing very difficult. To make this more difficult the shrub is full of sharp thorns to ward off predators. A common approach is to cut off branches and use a machine to shake the berries from the tree. Next, they need to be cleaned off. Again, due to the delicate berry skin, water can’t be used to simply spray them clean. They are carefully shaken and brushed of dirt, sand, leaves, and etc.
Now that the berries are harvested and cleaned they can be extracted. Supercritical CO2 extraction is the preferred method where Carbon Dioxide is forced into a liquid state. When the seed or berries are added to this liquid, the CO2 pulls the oils out retaining their magical omega fatty acids and incredible nutrients.
Cultivation
Sea buckthorn is planted much like any other plant, with seeds or cuttings. It’s important to prune and maintain the plant without letting it grow completely wild due to the difficult harvesting process. If left alone the plant can grow quite large and is full of thorns and delicate berries. It’s best to prune it on a regular basis and train it in a manageable growth pattern for future harvesting. Fortunately, the plant is very hardy and you need not worry about high heat or blistering colds. In fact, the cold makes it a little easier since a frozen berry is easier to handle than a thawed one where the skin can break very easily upon handling.
Education Articles:
- The Ins and Outs of Sea Buckthorn
- Don’t forget to look for sbt berries this fall!
- Permaculture Plants: Sea-Buckthorn
- Ray Mears Makes Wild Sea-Buckthorn Juice!
- Sea-buckthorn: suncreen for astronauts and superfruit for all!
Sea Buckthorn and Omega-7
Why does sea buckthorn seem married to Omega-7? You can’t read about sea buckthorn without coming across it. The reason is two-fold:
- Omega-7 is a rare fatty acid with unique properties
- Sea buckthorn is the richest plant source in the world for omega-7
This “superfruit” never ceases to amaze with its incredible nutritional foundation and to make things even better it contains a high amount of Omega-7 fatty acids. Although not an essential fatty acid absolutely required for survival, neither is being beautiful and feeling good. Omega-7 supports both.
Omega-7 Overview & Health Benefits
Omega-7, otherwise known as Palmitoleic Acid, is a rather rare fatty acid. It can be found in a few animal and plant sources throughout the natural world but no known plant source has a higher percentage of this oil than sea buckthorn itself. Omega-7 is actually present in all body tissues, especially in skin and fat tissue. This may be the reason it is so well known for skin and beauty, as well as on a recent note, for weight loss. Omega-7 is a cell membrane nourishing fatty acid that also helps with inflammation. It can be used in various ways such as nourishing the mouth and gums, preventing and fighting ulcers and wounds, reducing inflammation on the skin or internally, and a variety of other ways. If you can imagine an all-purpose tissue healing oil … you’ve got Omega-7. It’s also well known for invigorating the hair, skin, and nails from the inside-out and helping with lubrication problems such as vaginal dryness and dry-eye.
Sea Buckthorn Synergy
One of the issues that often comes up with heavy promotion of Omega-7, or any singled out component of sea buckthorn, is that the fruit works in mysterious ways. Sure Omega-7 can do wonderful things for the body, as can antioxidants, omega 3, vitamins, minerals, flavonoids, you name it. But sea buckthorn has all of these nutrients in it and more. When you supplement with this berry you’re getting a nutritional package that provides a real synergy and harmony in the body. It’s not any one component that is helping your acne, Rosacea, chemotherapy session, or what have you. It’s the combined benefit of all that sea buckthorn has to offer to promote synergy in the body that gives such wonderful benefits. Next time you’re boasting about sea buckthorn’s latest benefit you’ve noticed … remember that it’s sea buckthorn providing that benefit. Not just Omega-7 or Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) or any other amazing part of the fruit. It’s the entire fruit optimizing your body.
Omega-7 Articles:
- Sea Buckthorn For Skin Care
- For complete nutrition, choose sea buckthorn
- The Newest Super-Fat: Say Hello to Omega-7
- The Synergistic Health Benefits of Sea Buckthorn
- Omega-7 Fatty Acids
Sea Buckthorn Research
There are over 200 research studies that have been conducted on sea buckthorn. The range varies from weight management to skincare, to metabolical functions. It’s obvious why Dr. Oz has devoted 4 show segments to this “Miracle Berry” … he’s a believer. And so are we.
Relevant Articles:
- Sea buckthorn for Psoriasis?
- Cholesterol & Sea buckthorn
- Findings from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in the Area of Life Science Research Reported
- Researchers Say Prairie Fruits Like Buffaloberry are Superfruits
- Sea Buckthorn and Bilberries May Improve Metabolic and Heart Health for Women: RCT Data
Sea Buckthorn Reviews
For many, many years sea buckthorn was mainly known through word of mouth and cultural accumulation. Today this anecdotal evidence continues. As research slowly proves why sea buckthorn has so many health benefits, the testimonials and word-of-mouth stories keep furthering the push for sea buckthorn as an everyday home remedy.
User submitted sea buckthorn reviews
Sea Buckthorn News
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