Sea Buckthorn
Scientific Name(s): Hippophae rhamnoides L.
Family: Elaeagnaceae
Common Name(s): Sea buckthorn
Botany
Sea buckthorn is a medium-sized, hardy, deciduous shrub that grows 2 to 6 m in height. It is found along riversides, in mountainous areas, and in sandy and gravel ground at elevations of 3,300 to 4,500 m. The bark is thick and rough. Each leaf is elongate-oblanceolate or elongate-spatulate, green at the top, and silver-ash green on the underside. It flowers in April and the sour, pearl-shaped, yellowish-orange fruits are collected from August to October. There are 9 described subspecies.
The plant is naturally distributed in Central Asia, in Europe from the Black Sea coast to the Alps, and along the shores of northwestern Europe. It also is found in Canada and the United States.
History
Sea buckthorn has a rich history of use in treating numerous medical conditions. It has been called a wonder plant in many Asian countries, including China, India, and Pakistan. The berries have been used for more than 1,000 years in Tibetan and Indian systems of medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, it has been used to aid digestion and treat cough, circulatory disorders, and pain.
Because of their hemostatic and anti-inflammatory effects, the fruits are added to prescriptions in Indian and Tibetan medicine to treat pulmonary, GI, cardiac (eg, ischemic heart disease), blood, hepatic, and metabolic disorders. Ancient Tibetan medical literature documents the use of sea buckthorn for fever, inflammation, toxicity, abscesses, cough, colds, clearing sputum, laxative effect, tumors (particularly in the stomach and esophagus), and gynecological diseases.
The flowers are used as a skin softener in Tajikistan. In Mongolia, extracts from the leaves and branches of the plant are used medicinally to treat colitis and enterocolitis in humans and animals. In Middle Asia, the leaves are used to treat GI and skin disorders, and topically applied to treat rheumatoid arthritis.
In Russia, the oil from the seeds and fruits was used topically to treat chronic dermatoses, eczema, psoriasis, lupus erythematosus, burns, frostbite, and cervical erosion. Oil from the fruit has been used to treat thrombosis. Oil extracts have been used in ophthalmology to treat keratitis, trachoma, conjunctivitis, and injuries or burns of the eyelid.
As an economic resource, sea buckthorn is used in a range of products, including oil, juice, cosmetics, shampoos, and as a food additive to candies and jellies. It has been planted extensively to help prevent soil erosion.
Chemistry
Sea buckthorn contains carotenoids, tocopherols, sterols, flavonoids, lipids, ascorbic acid, and tannins.
Flavonols in the leaves, fruit, or juice of sea buckthorn are noted because of their antioxidant and anticarcinogenic activity. Most occur as C-3 glucosides, rutinosides, and sophorosides.
Flavon-3-ols found in the juice of sea buckthorn include (+) catechin (and +/- gallocatechin) and (-) epicatechin.
Phenolic acids found in the leaves, juice, or fruit of sea buckthorn include gallic, protecatechuic, p-coumaric, ferulic, p-hydroxybenzoic, and ellagic acid.
Tocopherols and tocotrienols in the fruit or seeds of sea buckthorn, collectively known as vitamin E, have antioxidant activity. α-Tocopherol has the highest antioxidant activity and is the most abundant tocopherol, comprising approximately 76% to 89% of the berry.
Carotenoids found in the fruit of sea buckthorn may decrease the risk for age-related macular degeneration and include α-, β-, and γ-carotene; lycopene; zeaxanthin; zeaxanthin dipalmitat; and β-cryptoxanthin palmitate. The antioxidant activity is more potent with extracted sea buckthorn oil because of higher carotenoid levels. Organic acids in the juice of sea buckthorn have been identified as oxalic, citric, tartaric, malic, quinic, and ascorbic acid.
Fatty acid composition differs between the seed oil and soft parts of the fruit. The seed oil contains linoleic, α-linoleic, oleic, palmitic, stearic, and vaccenic acids. The fruit contains palmitoleic, palmitic, and oleic acids. Sterols are found in 1% to 2% of the seed oil and 1% to 3% in the soft parts of the fruit as sitosterol, isofucosterol, campsterol, stigmastanol, citrostadienol, avenasterol, cycloartenol, 24-methylenecycloartanol, and obtusifoliol.
More than 40 volatile compounds are in the fruit and leaves of sea buckthorn. Steam distillation of the fruit yielded 8 aliphatic esters, 9 aliphatic alcohols, and 10 aliphatic hydrocarbons. The primary constituents of the volatile fruit aromas are ethyl dodecenoate, ethyl octanoate, decanol, ethyl decanoate, and ethyl dodecanoate.
The tannins hippophaenins A and B have been isolated from the leaves of sea buckthorn.
Sea Buckthorn Uses and Pharmacology
Numerous pharmacological effects are documented in the scientific literature, including:
Antimicrobial activity
Antiulcerogenic activity
Effects on liver injury
Effects on platelet aggregation
Effects on CV disease risk factors
Antioxidant effects
Anticancer and radioprotective effects
Other pharmacological effects, such as effects on skin and mucosa.
Flavonoids from seed and fruit extracts of sea buckthorn inhibited glycometabolism and reduced serum glucose, serum cholesterol, and serum triglycerides in mice. The seed oil from sea buckthorn may reduce infarction volume after occlusion of middle cerebral artery in rats and protect against ischemic cerebral infarction. Sea buckthorn juice may protect against learning and memory changes caused by lead-induced neurotoxicity in mice. Flavones from sea buckthorn promoted healing of the patellar tendon in a rat model by enhancing collagen deposition and muscle fiber recovery. Administration of a sea buckthorn leaf extract on the same day or 5 days prior to inducing inflammation in the right hind paw of rats reduced the inflammation in a dose-dependent manner when compared with controls.
Sea Buckthorn Dosing: Five to 45 g of seed oil and 300 mL/day of juice have been studied in clinical trials.
Contraindications: None well documented.
Pregnancy/Lactation: Avoid use during pregnancy and lactation because clinical trial data are lacking.
Sea Buckthorn Interactions: Sea buckthorn oil reportedly induces the cytogenetic activity of cyclophosphamide and farmorubicin.
Sea Buckthorn Adverse Reactions: None well documented.
Toxicology
Sea buckthorn has been used as a food in Asia and in Europe. Toxicological studies in animals suggest seed oil and oil from the fruit's soft parts are safe. Acute and chronic toxicity of blood, liver, and heart as well as mutagenicity and teratogenicity of sea buckthorn oils have been studied.
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