Exciting New Additions to Cosmeceuticals: Sea Buckthorn, Rooibos and Evodia Rutaecarpa

As the trend of “going natural” is increasingly adopted by mainstream consumers, cosmeceutical companies continue to search for innovative new plants used medicinally for centuries by other cultures. Scientific studies have documented the main active constituents and the positive skin-healing benefits of three remarkable plants: sea buckthorn, roobios, and Evodia rutaecarpa, which can be added nicely into a formulator’s repertoire of skin care ingredients.

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae Rhamnoides) is well known in China, Russia and Europe, where it grows naturally as one of nature’s most useful medicinal plants. Its small, bright orange berries have been cherished for centuries for its healing and nutritive qualities. Sibu Yidian, the classic Tibetan medical book written in the eighth century A.D., devotes 30 chapters to the amazing medicinal uses of sea buckthorn. It is an essential ingredient in Indian Ayurveda and the Chinese Pharmacopeia. The ancient Greeks used it as food for race horses—thus the botanical name Hippophae, which means "shiny horse." There are presently more than 200 therapeutic and nutritional products made from sea buckthorn worldwide.
Sea buckthorn berries have an extremely high content of carotenoids (pro-vitamin A), tocopherols (vitamin E), phylloquinone (vitamin K1), beta-sitosterol, and more than 190 varieties of bioactive substances, including six different fat-soluble vitamins, 22 fatty acids, 42 kinds of lipids and 36 kinds of flavonoids and phenols.
The fatty acid profile of sea buckthorn berry oil is quite impressive. It is rich in a rare monounsaturated fatty acid, palmitoleic acid, or omega-7, a potent antiviral and antibacterial agent. It is also similar to natural skin sebum lipids and is thought to provide important healing and anti-aging benefits for problem skin.
The most important pharmacological functions attributed to sea buckthorn oil are anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, analgesic and regenerative. A 2005 Indian animal study found its leaves promote wound healing, based on the increased antioxidant levels in the tissues that were healed using the leaves. The oil has a long folk history for burns. It blocks ultraviolet (UV) rays, is an emollient and helps heal tissues, making it ideal for preventing and treating sunburn. A 2006 controlled study of 151 burn patients found topical sea buckthorn oil accelerated healing time and reduced swelling, weeping, redness and pain. In a 1999 study, researchers gave dermatitis sufferers 5 g/d (10 capsules) of oil for four months; their dermatitis improved significantly.
Sea buckthorn seed oil is already used to treat burns, rosacea, acne and eczema, and is a popular ingredient in high-end European skin care lines. It may be prepared by conventional extraction techniques or by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction. Products promoting this ingredient have already made it in the United States; for example, Aubrey Organics' Sea Buckthorn Moisturizing Cream, Weleda's Sea Buckthorn Body Oil, and Dr. Hauschka's Shampoo with Apricot and Sea Buckthorn are made with the ingredient.

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