ABOUT HIPPOPHAE

The Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is a small tree with slender, willow-shaped leaves and sharp thorns that grows from Greece and Eastern Europe eastwards to Russia, Siberia and Central Asia.  Its branches are heavily clustered with soft, juicy bright orange berries that mature in August and September.
The Sea Buckthorn berry is so rich in vitamins and minerals that many speculate that it must have been cultivated by an ancient plant breeder to be the ultimate tonic and superfood.  Its botanical genus name, Hippophae, literally means, "shiny horse", because the ancient Greeks fed it to their prize racehorses to keep them sleek and healthy.  Legend has it that this Hippophae berry was also the preferred food of Pegasus, the flying horse, by which he became airborne.
The Sea Buckthorn berry is featured in the classical medical texts and herbals of Dioscorides and Theophrastus, and even figures prominently in Tibetan Medicine. Its traditional medicinal use centers on disorders of the skin and digestive tract; it's able to speed the healing and regeneration of the skin and digestive mucosa in inflammatory and ulcerative conditions.

Biochemically, Sea Buckthorn is so rich in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that it could be called a vitamin pill in a berry.  In terms of vitamin C and flavonoid content, Sea Buckthorn is second only to Rose Hips and Acerola cherries.  The berries are also incredibly rich in vitamin A, carotenoids, essential fatty acids, vitamin E and other tocopherols.  Phytosterols, along with the above fat soluble nutrients, help lower blood cholesterol, protect the heart, and stimulate the endocrine system.  Other vitamins include B1, B2, K and P.  Sea Buckthorn berries are also rich in minerals, including phosphorus, iron, manganese, boron, calcium and silicon.

All the above nutrients combine to make Sea Buckthorn berries an adaptogen, antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antiscorbutic, aperient, astringent tonic, cholagogue, hepatic, immunomodulatory, lipotropic, restorative, virilific and vulnerary.  All these therapeutic actions give Sea Buckthorn berries a broad spectrum action against a wide variety of disorders affecting multiple organ systems:
Visual:  restores and improves the eyesight.

Vital:  improves energy, vitality and resistance to stress.
Respiratory / Immune:  improves resistance to colds and flu; lessens systemic inflammation and ulceration; improves health of the mucous membranes.
Circulatory:  lowers blood cholesterol; protects the heart.
Digestive:  cholagogue, hepatoprotector in biliary dyskinesia, hepatobiliary insufficiency; heals chronic gastric and duodenal ulcers; digestive stimulant; gentle aperient laxative in chronic constipation.

Sexual:  virilific in impotence, premature ejaculation
Musculoskeletal:  speeds healing of wounds, bruises, ulcers, sores.
Skin:  protects against eczema, psoriasis, skin disorders; beautifies skin, protects against aging, speeds healing of cuts and burns.
The fresh Sea Buckthorn berries are exceedingly sour and astringent; and so, they are prepared in various ways to make them more palatable.  The berries can be dried and powdered, and either taken by the spoonful and washed down with water, or mixed with honey to make a paste or electuary.  The juice of the fresh berries is usually mixed with sweeter fruit juices to make it more palatable.  Conserves, jams and syrups are also made from the fresh berries or juice.
The oil pressed from the dried Sea Buckthorn berries is a valuable, prized product.  Applied topically or externally, it speeds the healing of burns, cuts, ulcers and slow to heal wounds; restores and regenerates the gums in gingivitis; and also heals canker sores.  Internally, it's taken for various digestive complaints, like reflux esophagitis, acid reflux disease, gastric and duodenal ulcers, and ulcerative colitis.

The Russians have been very aggressive in promoting the use of Sea Buckthorn.  They gave preparations of the berries as a special food to their cosmonauts to protect them from cosmic radiation.  The Chinese haven't been far behind; at the Seoul Olympic Games, the official sports drinks of the Chinese athletes were made from Sea Buckthorn berries.