Sea Buckthorn Berry: Nature’s Wrinkle Fighter

No one could ever say that modern medical research hasn’t uncovered some amazing discoveries. However, in spite of all that has been achieved, there are times when ancient civilizations can still teach us a thing or two.

A good case in point is the Sea Buckthorn Berry. Herbalists have been using it as a therapy for a variety of ailments for several millennia. In fact, the first recorded usage of the berry dates back to the 8th century Tibetans. The Four Tantras is considered the definitive text describing the medical practices of these ancient peoples and this 156-chapter book contains no less than 30 chapters describing the various medicinal uses of the Sea Buckthorn. The berry has also been used in traditional Chinese medicine since the Tang Dynasty. In recent years, North Americans have come to appreciate the medicinal properties of this fruit and a number of companies have begun developing commercial applications for the berry.

Sea Buckthorn is a member of the Hippophae genus, and belongs to the family Elaeagnaceae. There are 6 species and 12 subspecies. The plant itself is a hardy shrub with orange or yellow berries. Sea Buckthorn thrives in a dry, salty environment, which explains why it is most commonly found around coastal areas. Wild Sea Buckthorn grows in China, Sweden, Turkey, and along the east coast of Great Britain. The Germans and the Russians have been cultivating the berry for some time now. In North America, the Canadian province of Saskatchewan has been experimenting with growing it commercially.

All of this interest in the Sea Buckthorn is the result of research that has shown that bioactive substances in the oil extracted from the seed and pulp of the berry can be used in dermatological applications like anti-aging face creams and body lotions. These nutrients, some of which are uncommon n the plant world, reduce wrinkles and nourish the skin. Sea Buckthorn contains over 100 elements including beta-carotenes, Vitamin A and Vitamin E. The human body converts the beta-carotene it gets from plants into vitamin A. Vitamin A keeps skin tissue healthy and looking younger longer. Vitamin E promotes healing and lessens the risk of scar tissue forming. These two antioxidants, A and E, work together to slow down damage to skin cells.

Sea Buckthorn is also rich in unsaturated fatty acids like palmitoleic and linoleic acids. Palmitoleic acid is one of the components of the gylcerides found in human connective tissue. A glyceride is a compound that results from combining an acid with glycerol. When used in personal care products, glycerol acts as an emollient that draws moisture out of the air to moisten the skin. Linoleic acid is an essential fatty acid used in the body’s production of cell membranes. It is added to personal care products to prevent dryness and roughness.

In addition to containing all of these elements that restore, nourish and revitalize skin, Sea Buckthorn has no known allergens and is very gentle to the skin. It’s so gentle that it is used in topical preparations to promote healing of skin damage caused by the sun, skin ulcers, burns, eczema, psoriasis, and dermatitis. It reduces inflammation, relieves pain, and encourages tissues to regenerate.

The other important dermatological use for the Sea Buckthorn Berry is to retard the effects of age-related wrinkling of the skin. It combats wrinkles in several ways. The first is by reducing the lipids' peroxidation process. Lipid peroxidation is the degeneration of lipids or fats through oxidation. Molecules present in the body known as “free radicals” have one electron that isn’t paired with any other electron. These free radicals look for electrons, and they find them in the lipids in cell membranes. They steal the electrons and that results in cell damage, which cause wrinkles. The antioxidants in Sea Buckthorn, like Vitamin A and E, reduce lipid peroxidation which in turn reduces wrinkling.

Another way Sea Buckthorn fights wrinkles is through the natural lipids found in the berry that repair the moisture barrier function of the upper layer of the skin. This moisture barrier is slightly acidic and is known as the acid mantle. The acid mantle decreases the growth of harmful bacteria and fungi. It also helps maintain the hardness of keratin proteins found in the skin, and keeps them tightly bound together. If the skin's surface loses its acidity, keratin proteins become loose and soften, losing their protective properties. When this happens, the skin becomes susceptible to dehydration, roughness, irritation, flaking, wrinkling, and infection.

And finally, Sea Buckthorn fights the signs of aging by increasing skin metabolism. Skin that has aged has lost a lot of its defense mechanism and it cannot protect itself from wrinkles, roughness or dryness the way it could when it was young. The Vitamin E and beta-carotene in Sea Buckthorn strengthens the skin’s ability to regenerate. The new skin that is formed can effectively stop the formation of wrinkles.

Are there other ancient and forgotten remedies which can help in the fight against the effects of aging? Perhaps future medical advances will result from knowledge gained by past civilizations.

Sea Buckthorn image from Wikipedia.