What Is Sea Buckthorn?

Post by Troy Parkinson

Jun 10 2026

Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is a hardy, thorny shrub that produces small yellow-orange to deep orange berries. It grows naturally across parts of Europe and Asia and is particularly well adapted to cold, dry and mountainous environments.

The berries have a distinctive tart flavour and contain a diverse mixture of naturally occurring compounds, including carotenoids, flavonoids, vitamin C and lipids. Sea Buckthorn is especially interesting because different parts of the fruit — including the pulp and seed — have different compositions.

Sea Buckthorn also has a long history of food and traditional botanical use across parts of Asia and Europe.

At Organic Superfood Capsules, we use organic Sea Buckthorn in several whole-food products, including capsules, dried berries and botanical blends.

For a deeper look at its composition, history, different product formats and modern research, see our Complete Guide to Sea Buckthorn.

Where Does Sea Buckthorn Come From?

Sea Buckthorn occurs across a broad geographical range extending through Europe and Asia. Different subspecies and populations grow in environments ranging from coastal areas to high-altitude regions of Central and East Asia.

Its ability to tolerate cold temperatures, poor soils and exposed environments has helped the plant establish across some particularly harsh landscapes.

The berries are typically orange because of naturally occurring carotenoid pigments, although their exact colour, size and composition vary between varieties and growing regions.

What's Naturally Found in Sea Buckthorn?

Sea Buckthorn has attracted considerable research interest because of the diversity of compounds found across its berries, seeds and oils.

These include:

Carotenoids — plant pigments associated with the berries' characteristic yellow-orange colour
Flavonoids and other polyphenols
Vitamin C — concentrations vary considerably according to variety, growing conditions and processing
Vitamin E and other fat-soluble compounds
Naturally occurring fatty acids in the lipid-containing portions of the berry and seed

One of the better-known fatty acids associated with Sea Buckthorn is palmitoleic acid (omega-7). However, the concentration of fatty acids depends heavily on which part of the fruit is used and whether the product is a whole berry, powder, pulp oil or seed oil.

This is why different Sea Buckthorn preparations shouldn't automatically be treated as nutritionally identical.

Sea Buckthorn in Traditional Use

Sea Buckthorn has a long history of use across several Asian and European traditions.

The plant appears in Tibetan traditional medical literature and has also been used as a food and botanical ingredient across regions where it grows naturally.

Modern descriptions sometimes compress these different traditions into a single story, but Sea Buckthorn's historical use varies considerably by region, preparation and period.

For that reason, traditional use is best understood as part of the plant's cultural history rather than evidence that a particular modern Sea Buckthorn supplement produces the same effects.

Whole Berries, Powder & Sea Buckthorn Oil

One of the most important things to understand about Sea Buckthorn is that the preparation matters.

Whole dried berries retain the physical components of the fruit after much of its water has been removed.
Sea Buckthorn powder provides a shelf-stable form of the berry, although composition depends on how the powder has been produced.
Sea Buckthorn pulp oil concentrates lipid-soluble components from the fleshy portion of the fruit.
Sea Buckthorn seed oil comes from the seeds and has a different fatty-acid composition from pulp oil.
Extracts may concentrate particular constituents and therefore shouldn't automatically be compared directly with whole-fruit powder.

This distinction is particularly important when reading Sea Buckthorn research: a study using an oil or concentrated extract doesn't necessarily tell us what to expect from a whole-berry powder.

It's also worth noting that dried Sea Buckthorn berries and powder are considerably darker in colour than the bright orange fresh berries commonly shown in photographs. The drying process changes the appearance of the fruit, so the product you receive may look quite different from fresh-berry imagery.

What Does Modern Research Study?

Modern research into Sea Buckthorn examines several aspects of the plant, including its carotenoids, polyphenols, fatty-acid composition, oils and other naturally occurring constituents.

Research also investigates how cultivar, geography, ripeness and processing influence the composition of Sea Buckthorn products.

When interpreting this research, it's useful to distinguish laboratory studies from human studies and to identify the actual preparation being tested. Whole berries, powders, oils and extracts can contain substantially different concentrations of particular compounds.

For a more detailed look at the research and Sea Buckthorn's different preparations, see our Complete Guide to Sea Buckthorn.

Why Choose Organic Sea Buckthorn?

Organic certification provides information about the agricultural and production standards under which an ingredient has been produced.

It is separate from questions such as geographical origin, processing method and nutrient composition, so these factors are also worth considering when comparing Sea Buckthorn products.