Natural Healing Sea Buckthorn
(Page 2 of 12)
November/December 2002
By Gina Mohammed, Ph.D.
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World interest in this plant has spawned an array of products derived from the juice, oil, and leaves. The major products, reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, are seed oil, yellow pigment dye, and juice (both clarified and unclarified). The juice goes into mixed-juice drinks, nectars, and other fruit beverages. The berries are acidic in taste, not very sweet, with a mild and unique whey-like aroma. The oil and juice have been used as additives to foods such as candies, jams, jellies, chutneys, and vinegars, and to wine, beer, and liqueurs. They also can be incorporated into personal-care products such as cosmetics, lotions, soaps, shampoos, gels, conditioners, styling gels, and sunscreens, and into pharmaceutical or nutraceutical products such as vitamin supplements, oil capsules, flavone powder, and syrups. The leaves are used for leaf extract, tea, and animal feed. The yellow-orange pigment is used in food coloring and in pharmaceutical and cosmetic compositions.
This vast array of products testifies to the longstanding interest in sea buckthorn in other parts of the world. In Russia and China, sea buckthorn provides approved medicines and has been an established part of the pharmacopeia of those countries for centuries. Until recently in Canada, it has been planted mainly for shelterbelts, land reclamation, and enhancement of wildlife habitat, but efforts are now underway (e.g., in British Columbia and Saskatchewan) to initiate commercial cultivation of the species for other uses. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada estimate that there is a potential annual demand for 10,000 kg of processed sea buckthorn oil in North America.
If you’re looking for sea buckthorn products, several North American manufacturers now have products on the Internet. Look for high-quality products, such as cold-pressed extracts, which retain phytochemical integrity better than solvent-extracted types. Also, products may need to be stored in the dark at cold temperatures to minimize degradation.
There are no reported cases of toxicity from sea buckthorn products, according to the International Centre for Research and Training on Sea Buckthorn (www.icrts.org). However, be careful to choose products that specify sea buckthorn, rather than just buckthorn. There are several unrelated buckthorn species (of the genus Rhamnus) from which medicinal bark extracts are derived, and which may irritate the intestinal tract. Thus, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cautions against using certain diet teas containing buckthorns.
Gina Mohammed, Ph.D., is a plant physiologist living in Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. She is the author of a new book, Catnip and Kerosene Grass—What Plants Teach Us About Life (Candlenut Books, 2002). E-mail her at mohammed@onlink.net.
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