Hippophae Rhamnoides Oil, also known as sea buckthorn oil, is a natural oil extracted from the fruits and seeds of the Hippophae rhamnoides plant (Sea buckthorn). This oil is highly valued for its rich content of essential fatty acids, including omega-3, omega-6, omega-7, and omega-9, as well as antioxidant vitamins such as vitamin E and vitamin C. Due to its ability to nourish and regenerate the skin, sea buckthorn fruit and seed oil is widely used in cosmetic formulations for its anti-aging, moisturizing, and protective benefits.
Chemical Composition and Structure
Sea buckthorn oil is particularly rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, including linoleic acid (omega-6) and alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3), which help restore the skin's lipid barrier. It also contains palmitoleic acid (omega-7), which has powerful regenerative and anti-inflammatory properties, aiding in the healing of damaged skin. The vitamins E and C in the oil provide strong antioxidant action, protecting the skin from free radical damage and premature aging.
Physical Properties
Sea buckthorn oil is characterized by a deep yellow color due to its high carotenoid content and has a lightweight texture that is easily absorbed by the skin. It is oil-soluble and used in a wide range of cosmetic products, such as creams, serums, facial oils, and hair care products, where it delivers moisturizing, regenerative, and protective effects.
Production Process
Sea buckthorn oil is primarily obtained through cold pressing of the fruits and seeds, preserving the integrity of the fatty acids and vitamins. This extraction method ensures a high-quality final product, rich in essential nutrients that maintain the oil’s antioxidant and regenerative properties.
Harvesting the Fruits and Seeds: The fruits and seeds of Hippophae rhamnoides are harvested when ripe. It is essential to follow sustainable harvesting practices to ensure the quality of the plant material.
Cleaning: After harvesting, the fruits and seeds are cleaned to remove dirt, residues, and impurities. This step is crucial to ensure that the final oil is of high quality.
Extraction: The fruit and seed oil is extracted using appropriate methods, such as cold pressing or solvent extraction. In cold pressing, the fruits and seeds are mechanically pressed to obtain the oil, while in solvent extraction, the plant materials are immersed in a solvent to dissolve the oils.
Filtration: After extraction, the obtained oil is filtered to remove undissolved solids and impurities, resulting in pure, high-quality oil.
Refining: The extracted oil may be refined to remove further impurities and improve the flavor and appearance of the final product. This process may include deodorization and bleaching.
Quality Control and Packaging: Finally, Hippophae rhamnoides fruit/seed oil undergoes quality control checks to verify its purity, efficacy, and compliance with standards. After analysis, it is packaged in appropriate containers for distribution and use in cosmetic products and dietary supplements.
Applications
Skincare: Sea buckthorn oil is ideal for treating dry, mature, or damaged skin. It helps restore skin elasticity, improve radiance, and promote cell regeneration.
Anti-aging Products: With its high antioxidant and essential fatty acid content, the oil is widely used in anti-aging formulations to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and fine lines, while protecting the skin from environmental damage.
Hair Care Products: Sea buckthorn fruit and seed oil is also used in hair care products to nourish the scalp and strands, improving hair health and adding shine.
INCI Functions:
Antimicrobial agent. This ingredient is able to suppress or inhibit the growth and replication of a broad spectrum of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and viruses by making the stratum corneum temporarily bactericidal and fungicidal.
Skin conditioning agent. It is the mainstay of topical skin treatment as it has the function of restoring, increasing or improving skin tolerance to external factors, including melanocyte tolerance. The most important function of the conditioning agent is to prevent skin dehydration, but the subject is rather complex and involves emollients and humectants that can be added in the formulation.
CAS: 90106-68-6 290-292-8
Health and Safety Considerations
Safety in Use
Sea buckthorn oil is considered safe for use in cosmetic products. It is well tolerated by the skin and does not pose significant risks of irritation. Major regulatory authorities, such as the European Union and the FDA, approve its use in skincare and hair care products.
Allergic Reactions
Allergic reactions to this oil are rare. However, it is recommended to perform a patch test before use, especially on sensitive or allergy-prone skin types.
Toxicity and Carcinogenicity
It is considered a safe and beneficial ingredient for skin and hair health due to its nourishing and antioxidant properties.
Environmental Considerations
Sea buckthorn oil is obtained from a renewable and sustainable resource. The plant thrives in harsh environments, reducing the need for pesticides or other chemicals. Cold pressing is an eco-friendly process that keeps the environmental impact low.
Regulatory Status
Sea buckthorn oil is approved for use in cosmetics by major regulatory authorities, including the European Union and the FDA in the United States. It is widely used in skincare formulations, particularly in moisturizing, regenerative, and anti-aging products.
Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) Studies
From the leaves and berries of the sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is extracted chloroform and n-hexane, components with intense antibacterial activity (1).
It is a rich source of vitamins C and E, carotenoids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, organic acids, amino acids, sterols, triterpenols and isoprenols (2) with an antioxidant activity.
The berries produce an oil containing carotenoids, palmitic, palmitolic and oleic acid, while the seed oil is composed of linoleic, linolenic and oleic acid as main components (3) .
This oil has traditionally been used to improve blood circulation and for the treatment of dermatological problems including wounds, gastritis, peptic ulcers, uterine erosion and inflammatory disorders of the genital organs (4).
Sea buckthorn has significant cardioprotective activity and a positive effects on the healing of the cardiovascular system, including inhibition of platelet activation (in particular platelet aggregation), reduction of cholesterol concentration, blood pressure and antioxidant action (5).
In this study, a positive evaluation of the topical effects on atopic lesions as it improved the severity of dermatitis by reducing epidermal thickness (6).
The results of this study on the extract of Sea buckthorn, provide a basis for affordable, low side-effect therapy for the treatment of psoriasis (7).
Cosmetics
It produces a regenerating effect on the skin produced by carotenoids, vitamin E and unsaturated fats contained in the pulp and seeds.
Other applications
It is placed in foods, candies, to give a particular taste.
Sea buckthorn studies
References_______________________________________________________________________
(1) Qadir MI, Abbas K, Younus A, Shaikh RS. Report - Antibacterial activity of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Pak J Pharm Sci. 2016 Sep;29(5):1711-1713.
Abstract. Objective of the present study was to investigate the antibacterial activity of Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) berries and leaves against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) by using the standard disc diffusion method. Chloroform, n-hexane and aqueous extract of the plant parts were used. Doses of 2mg/ml, 4 mg/ml and 6mg/ml were tested against the microorganism, and the zone of inhibition was compared against the standard drug vancomycin. Results indicated that n-hexane and chloroform extracts of berries and n-hexane extract leaves showed significant (p<0.05) antibacterial activity comparable with vancomycin. It was concluded from the study that extracts berries and leaves of Hippophae rhamnoides have antibacterial activity against MRSA.
(2) Yang B, Kallio H. Supercritical CO2-extracted sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) oils as new food ingredients for cardiovascular health. In: Proceedings of Health Ingredients of Europe, Paris; 2002, p. 17–19.
(3) Süleyman, Z., Erdemoğlu, N., Küsmenoğlu, Ş., Gürbüz, İ., Yesilada, E., and Çalış, İ. Fatty acid composition and anti-ulcerogenic activity of Hippophae rhamnoides fruit oil. J Fac Pharm Gazi Univ. 1998; 15: 11–17
(4) Li, T.S.C. and Wang, L.C.H. Physiological components and health effects of ginseng, echinacea and sea buckthorn. in: G. Mazza (Ed.) Functional foods, biochemical and processing aspects. Technomic Publishing Company, Lancaster, PA; 1998: 329–356
Abstract. Background: Increased consumer´s interest in health has driven the development of foods that offer specific beneficial effects. The list of foods and ingredients includes essential and non-essential nutrients, plant and marine components, whole foods, microorganisms, microalgae and technological approaches. Traditionally, health outcomes focussed on the prevention of chronic diseases but health targets have expanded to cover areas such as brain health, inflammation, eye health, women´s health, healthy ageing and beauty. Objective: This review highlights, from a nutritional biochemistry perspective, differential aspects on designing and interpreting human studies to support the health effects of functional foods. Results: Despite the available evidence from in vitro, animal and observational studies, welldesigned human studies are necessary to support the health effects of functional foods. Intervention trials with foods are complex as they imply limitations due to methodological, food-related and host-related factors. The use of responsive, validated and clinically relevant markers becomes essential even though there is a lack of reliable biomarkers of exposure for many bioactives. Furthermore, the effect of modulating factors such as subclinical inflammation, gut microbiota and genetic variability should be taken into account. Multiple indicators may provide a more reliable alternative to assess physiological processes while emerging biomarkers (microRNAs, epigenetic changes) constitute a promising approach. Additionally, the magnitude of the change is critical to support any health effect although interventions may have a limited clinical impact but be epidemiologically relevant. Also, based on the available data, the premise that bioactivescontaining foods are safe may be questionable. Conclusion: An integrated approach including multiple biomarkers, genetic variability, effect of gut microbiota and risk/benefit assessment should be used to support the potential health effects of functional foods.
(5) Olas B. Sea buckthorn as a source of important bioactive compounds in cardiovascular diseases. Food Chem Toxicol. 2016 Nov;97:199-204. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2016.09.008. Epub 2016 Sep 9. PMID: 27616182.
(6) Hou DD, Di ZH, Qi RQ, Wang HX, Zheng S, Hong YX, Guo H, Chen HD, Gao XH. Sea Buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides L.) Oil Improves Atopic Dermatitis-Like Skin Lesions via Inhibition of NF-κB and STAT1 Activation. Skin Pharmacol Physiol. 2017;30(5):268-276. doi: 10.1159/000479528. Epub 2017 Sep 6. PMID: 28873377.
(7) Boca AN, Ilies RF, Saccomanno J, Pop R, Vesa S, Tataru AD, Buzoianu AD. Sea buckthorn extract in the treatment of psoriasis. Exp Ther Med. 2019 Feb;17(2):1020-1023. doi: 10.3892/etm.2018.6983.
Abstract. Psoriasis is one of the most common chronic dermatological conditions, with a strong impact on patients' quality of life. Currently, psoriasis benefits from conventional therapy with a high rate of adverse effects and an increase in non-compliance and self-medication of patients. As such, there is a need to pinpoint low-adverse effects and accessible remedies for this condition. Our single-blind, placebo-controlled study assessed the effect of sea buckthorn extract on psoriasis lesions in previously untreated patients. Our results showed an improvement in Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) scores and in Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) scores when compared to the baseline values, as well as at the 4- and 8-week time marks for the lesions treated with sea buckthorn extract. By contrast, the measurements for the placebo treated lesions showed no alteration at the 4-week mark, and significant worsening at the end of the trial. These findings provide a solid, optimistic base for the in-depth research of sea buckthorn as an adjuvant or a component in psoriasis care protocols.
Hippophae Rhamnoides Oil 
