Sea-Buckthorn Oil – the Best Ingredients for Nutrition and Personal Care
date:2016-09-05
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By Julier ZhuEditor of Herbridge Media

Sea-buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is also known as sallow thorn, sand thorn and sea berry. It is a species of the family Elaeagnaceae. In China, sea-buckthorn has a time-honoured history of medicinal use. As early as 8th century, Somaratsa and The Four Medical Tantras well documented its medicinal use. Sea-buckthorn has been listed as the top one in the first medicinal and edible plants, and also been regarded as the most promising nutrition and medicinal plant in 21st century.

Studies have found that sea-buckthorn fruit is rich in over 190 kinds of active compositions, among which there are 106 kinds in sea-buckthorn oil (6 fat-soluble vitamins, 22 fatty acids, 42 lipids, 36 flavones and phenols). These compositions make sea-buckthorn oil a treasury medicinal and nutritional source. It can be used to treat diseases and be added into health care foods, as well as personal skin care. Currently, lots of experiments have conducted in-depth researches on its healthy function, showing that sea-buckthorn oil can lower the blood lipid, strengthen immunity, nourish stomach and intestines, protect liver. It’s also anti-aging, anti-radioactive, anti-tumour, and anti-oxidative.

Sea-buckhorn fruit is the best botanic source of omega-7
Omega-7 (palmitoleic acid) is a kind of unsaturated fatty acids. It’s usually found in deep-sea fishes and some plants (like macadamia, sea-buckthorn, algae, etc.). Deep-sea fish oil contains omega-7, but with low abundance. Meanwhile, omega-7 comprises 20% - 45% of sea-buckthorn pulp oil, and other necessary fatty acids, such as omega-3 and omega-6, also consist in the pulp oil. So, sea-buckthorn pulp oil is superior health care oil, and it’s seen as the best botanic source of omega-7.

With other unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins, flavones and carotenoids, omega-7 endows sea-buckthorn pulp oil with so many healthy benefits:
1. Omega-7 has the remedial effect on skin and mucosa. The effect is embodied in: protecting gastric and intestinal mucosa, remedying gastric ulcers, treating burns and scalds, alleviating dermatitis and susceptibility of skin and mucosa, relieving allergic dermatitis, keeping oral mucosa moist, preventing cellular lipids from oxidation, boosting the regeneration of urinary and genital mucosa.
2. sea-buckthorn oil can elevate the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol) in blood.
3. The oil can provide other high-quality fatty acids, like moega-3, 6 and 9, to help body fight against inflammation and maintain a balanced immune system.

In the market of sea-buckthorn oil supplement, the content of omega-7 is usually seen as a glittering point to highlight product’s quality and feature. Omega-7 and -9 comprise at most 65% of sea-buckthorn pulp oil; while omega-3 and 6, linoleic acid and linolenic acid comprise at most 75% of sea-buckthorn seed oil. From the nutritional point of view, nutrition can be more balanced when the pulp oil and seed oil are mixed up. Therefore, there have been lots of health-care products adopting formula that mixes pulp oil and seed oil (common proportion is from 3:1 to 4:1) in present market for enriching and balancing nutrition of unsaturated fatty acids.

Application in Market
Recently, nutrition manufacturers from all over the world have increasing demand on sea-buckthorn oil, and the market is in its growth stage. According to researches, sea-buckthorn products in domestic and foreign markets have been claimed to possess multiple functions, such as being anti-fatigue, anti-inflammation, anti-radioactive, anti-aging, and balancing immunity, improving digestion, regulating blood lipids, scavenging free radicals, alleviating dry eyes, boosting metabolism, etc. Some latest studies show sea-buckthorn oil is able to treat Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and can remedy the alcoholic liver damage. The applications of sea-buckthorn oil will be expanded while related researches and studies are going further.
Sea-buckthorn oil is suitable for skin care, too. Due to its plentiful unsaturated fatty acids, the oil is powerfully reparative to skin and mucosa, and can help re-build the protection from our skin. Besides, sea-buckthorn oil contains abundant antioxidants: VE, VA, carotenoids, and so on. It can help skin fight against the damages caused by ultraviolet, stress and aging. Nowadays, sea-buckthorn oil has been widely used in cream, emulsion, essential oil, and other skin care products, to moisten and remedy skin, whiten face and remove spots. Also, the oil is effective for dermatitis, eczema, burns and scalds.

How should we choose qualified sea-buckthorn oil?
Guangzhou Honsea Sunshine Biotech told Herbridge Media they are the first manufacturer to adopt supercritical fluid CO2 extraction (SFE-CO2) to extract sea-buckthorn whole fruit oil and sea-buckthorn seed oil. Its product has been certified to SC in China, as well as Organic Certification in EU, USA and Japan.

These years, customers’ attention to food security has impelled manufacturers to purchase more high-quality sea-buckthorn oil for their nutrition. So, how should we choose qualified sea-buckthorn oil? Superior sea-buckthorn oil can be estimated through quality control of raw material, extraction method, content of omega-7 and other unsaturated fatty acids.

(1) In terms of raw material, there is a quite big difference between different places of origin and different species. Sea-buckthorn is mainly divided into two subspecies: Hippophae rhamnoides L. (with greater fruit) and Hippophae rhamnoides ssp. sinensis (with lesser fruit). The former is juicy, so it’s fit for making juice; the latter is plump and easy to dry, thus making it more suitable for extracting oil. Moreover, proportions of fatty acids in those two kinds differ very much.
Currently, there are 3 types of raw materials for sea-buckthorn fruit oil: whole fruit, pulp and pomace. There is no doubt that the oil from whole fruit is more nutritious than those from pulp or pomace.

Besides, in order to guarantee a stable supply of sea-buckthorn fruit, it’s necessary to establish an own planting base for a manufacturer. For instance, the raw material chosen for Honsea Sunshine’s product SeabuPure® sea-buckthorn oil is wild sea-buckthorn grown in Xinjiang; considering a stable, natural and non-polluting supply, Honsea Sunshine takes a cooperative approach that gets local government, farmers and the company itself to work together, and establishes a plant base for the company in Aksu, Xinjiang to protect wild sea-buckthorn. By the way, sea-buckthorn is a main species of tree for soil and water conservation in arid or cold area. It means not only does developing and protecting sea-buckthorn benefit local economy, but also it can better Aksu’s environment.

(2) Compared to traditional press and solvent extraction, supercritical fluid CO2 extraction (SFE-CO2) can ensure the product is free from pesticide residues, solvent residues, plasticizer and PAH4 (like benzopyrene). Meanwhile, the active compositions of sea buckthorn fruit is reserved; unsaturated fatty acids, omega-7, comprises over 35% of the oil, and other nutrients, such as carotenoids (lutein, lycopene, zeaxanthin), β-carotene, vitamin E and flavonoids. It is understood that manufacturers with high requirements will tend to purchase sea-buckthorn oil extracted with SFE-CO2. Besides, in order to meet the customers’ demand of natural and organic products, manufacturers will also prefer certified organic sea-buckthorn oil while purchasing.

Price trend and market outlook
These years, since sea-buckthorn is massively cultivated, the supply of raw sea-buckthorn fruit has been sufficient, thus making the price stable. However, the price of wild lesser sea-buckthorn has been keeping rising every year, and in 2016, current it has risen by about 10%. Due to this reason and an obvious trend that worldwide demand is increasing, the prices of sea-buckthorn pulp and seed oil have been going up by 10% these years.

According to a report from Persistence, a market research enterprise, it is found that the market size of unsaturated fatty acids supplement had already reached 1.9 billion dollars in 2013, and the scale would increase by 13.1% of compound annual growth rate over the next decade. It’s expected that the sales volume of fatty acids supplement will reach 4.48 billion dollars by 2020.

Over the past few years, more clinical trials have found that omega series of fatty acids are conducive to eyes, skin, heart, immunity, etc. Over the next decade, attention to nature, health and nutrition from customers will continue. The raise of health awareness and people’s acceptance to unsaturated fatty acids will boost the market of omega fatty acids include sea-buckthorn oil.

Currently, sea-buckthorn oil has been used in food, medicines and health supplement. In future, market demand on sea-buckthorn product will diversify. For example, functional food like chewing fudge, nutrition bar, chocolate bar and some functional beverage, oral nutricosmetics, etc. Sea-buckthorn oil has the function to remedy skin damages caused by environmental deterioration and increasing pressure. This enables sea-buckthorn oil to be a raw material with huge potential in functional cosmetics market.
 
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