Sea Buckthorn Powder: Why We Don't Use It!

When something seems too good to be true, watch out because it usually is. This can be said for a variety of things in life but is especially true in the world of food and nutritional supplements. It seems that almost daily we hear about food fraud and poor quality or contaminated ingredients in our food chain. Some products are more ‘pure’ than others and some are simply gimmicks.  It is time to set the record straight about sea buckthorn products.

The health benefits of sea buckthorn have been known for thousands of years. The fruit, leaves and stems contain a number of healthy compounds, not limited to flavonoids, antioxidants, minerals and several omega fatty acids. Its boom in popularity as a health supplement has been followed by a similar boom in different types of products: pet supplements, cosmetics, fruit juice, powders, purees and oils.   It seems that there is a lot of conflicting information on the internet about using powders vs. oils, so let’s take a look:

Sea buckthorn oil

The majority of the oil found in the sea buckthorn plant is in fact in the berries, or fruit.  It can be extracted by a variety of different ways, one of the best being CO2 supercritical extraction. This is a low-temperature process that works similarly to an oversized espresso machine.  The raw, pureed sea buckthorn berry and/or seed is put into the machine and the oil fraction is extracted under high pressure CO2.  The benefit of any sea buckthorn oil, from either seed or pulp origin, is that this oil comes with a plethora of fat-soluble compounds.  Omega-3, 6, 7 and 9, vitamin A, vitamin E, amino acids, and flavonoids are just a few of these beneficial compounds that ‘hitch a ride’ with the oil and into your product.

Sea buckthorn powder

Sea buckthorn powder is made by dehydrating either sea buckthorn puree or juice. Sometimes the powder is made from the by-product of the oil-extracting process.  It can be difficult to find a sea buckthorn powder with a complete list of ingredients. Some ingredients in the powder may include added sugars such as maltodextrin. Sea buckthorn is naturally a bitter fruit and sweeteners are often added to the powder to improve palatability. While the final product can be high in Vitamin C, the oil fraction is greatly diminished in these powders, leaving the omega fatty acid nutrients almost non-existent; which is where some of the biggest health benefits truly lie.  

One of your best options is sea buckthorn oil. Be sure to select a pure oil and not a ‘purified’ oil – as there is a difference. We discussed these important differences in our previous article. Sea buckthorn oil has no additives or sweeteners and packs the best nutritional punch with high, concentrated amounts of omegas 3, 6, 9 and the elusive omega 7. Another option is to try a liquid pulp form. Pureed sea buckthorn fruit not only retains the important omegas, it provides full body nutrition with 190+ bio-active compounds. 

This is a key difference between sea buckthorn pulp and its oils. The latter contains the fat-soluble nutrients while the pulp contains the water-soluble nutrients. You can't remove the water-solubles and keep the nutrients it carries. CONSUMERS BE CAUTIOUS: Any claims stating that sea buckthorn oil houses this full array of 190 nutrients is false. This can only be found when the entire  sea buckthorn berry is incorporated. Be wary of this misleading marketing tactic. 

Most of all- be an educated consumer

When selecting a sea buckthorn product, make sure that sea buckthorn puree or oil is high on the ingredients list – listed first or possibly second is best. If there are no ingredients listed ask the company for more information before making a purchase. 

My advice: If you are going to make an investment in your pet’s health, purchase what is pure and closest to nature. You will see an improvement in their health faster than if you used an inferior or heavily processed product.