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A little berry magic
Seabuckthorn is one of the few wild resources in our mountainous regions that grows abundantly in nature and is still waiting for its meaningful use.
seabuckthorn is said to have originated in China. Tradition has it that a famous Tibetan doctor first explored its nutritional value in the eighth century. For many centuries, the knowledge of the miraculous effects of seabuckthorn was mastered by Tibetans and Mongolians.The 12th century Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan praised seabuckthorn as an invigorating energizer and even ordered his armies to eat it to improve stamina and prevent altitude sickness. Today, it is available in the form of a juice called Leh Berry in India.
It is perhaps the only fruit juice that claims to have anti-ageing properties, enhancing body endurance and memory. And that’s not all, the juice packaging even states that it contains 100 nutrients, eight vitamins, 24 minerals and 18 amino acids, all packed together with original fruit colour and flavour.
Interestingly enough, the juice is a result of the efforts of the Indian army. The Field Research Laboratory (FRL) of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) conducted research on seabuckthorn for five years before it finally launched Leh Berry in 2003. Its manufacture and distribution is now a private business. Leh Berry juice is regularly supplied to the Indian army, especially at high altitude areas, like the Siachen glacier, to increase their energy levels.
At high altitudes, you need to tolerate the stress of cold hypoxia, owing to low oxygen pressure and isolation. Seabuckthorn is highly stress-resistant, as it contains vitamins C, E, beta-carotene and flavonoids and also serves as an anti-oxidant that slows down ageing and improves memory. Thus, the product is highly beneficial for soldiers. While most other drinks freeze at low temperatures, this plant has a gene that gives it protection against freezing at temperatures as low as -22 degrees.
Leh Berry was launched in Mumbai in November 2003 and is now available widely across India. Currently, the juice is available in 200ml and one litre packs priced at Rs12 and Rs55, respectively. In 2004, 300 tons of Leh Berry juice was being produced in India. Of this, 0.3 million litres was supplied to the army and about 1.5 million liters to the public. Additionally, seabuckthorn can also serve as a base for other juices, jams and sauces.
Traditional plants have a large untapped potential to provide a great variety of chemical compounds that can be used as starting points for synthesis, having im-proved pharmacological properties. Only a small fraction of the existing plant species has been investigated up to now.
Seabuckthorn (family: Eleagnaceae) is one of the few potential wild resources in our mountainous regions that grows abundantly and is still waiting for meaningful exploitation. It grows naturally in our northern areas. In the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, it is known as “Tsermang” or “Tasru” — wonder plant. In India, it is also referred to as “Jadu-paudha” — magic plant.
Seabuckthorn is a plant of immense medicinal and nutritional importance to humans. Its fruits contain a high amount of bioactive substances, with about 5 to 100 times more vitamin C than any other known fruit or vegetable. Seabuckthorn pulp and seeds contain medicinal oil.
It is packed with carotenoids, tocopherols, rare fatty acids and phytosterols, giving it synergistic power to protect cell membranes and enhance cell regeneration. For a while now, it has been used in Asia for treating various skin conditions.
Seabuckthorn berry oil has a tremendous effect on skin regeneration. This was found especially useful in treating various conditions requiring enhanced cell regeneration, for example, burns, scalds or eczema-like damage. Its yellow colour is due to the high content of carotenoids. It is used for the application of cell anti-ageing, enhancement of
microcirculation, anti-oxidant protection, epidermal regeneration, anti-inflammation, natural UV blocking and sunscreens. Seabuckthorn oil effectively combats wrinkles, dryness and other symptoms of malnourished or prematurely ageing skin and is used in anti-ageing skin creams and lotions.
The oil also shows promise because of its light absorption and emollient properties as an ingredient in cosmetics and UV skin protection preparations. Seabuckthorn is traditionally used in the treatment of gastric ulcers and laboratory studies confirm the efficacy of seed oil for this application. With this combination of health-active components, it is no wonder that this oil has special medicinal effects.
The work of the Indian DRDO has been summarized in a recent issue of Current Science, an Indian journal available on the web. More information may be obtained from Dr T. Parimelazhagan (drparimel@yahoo.com), the principal author of the DRDO report. In this era of increasing understanding and cooperation between Pakistan and India, it is important for our scientists to collaborate with the Indians so that the masses can make use of this plant.
A Pakistani environmentalist, Ms Helga Ahmed, has also found this plant to be useful for binding soil in our northern areas, thereby reducing soil erosion and landslides. Her continuing work at Nagar (District Gilgit), 6km above the Karakoram highway and 3,000m above sea level, is supported by donations and personal funds.
In an interview, she spoke about her childhood in Germany. Her mother would make a cough syrup for her children from seabuckthorn berries —they grew near a small town’s railway station. Eight years ago, when she spotted the same berries on our mountains, she began to preach their benefit to the local people and soon, her project encouraged them to plant seabuckthorn systematically and use it as a nutritional and health drink. This thorny plant is difficult to harvest manually but despite that, thanks to her effort, some families mix seabuckthorn juice in flour to get “rich” flour for their chapattis. They have planted the seeds above and below their homes to reduce the possibility of landslides.
Ms Ahmed feels our ministry of agriculture is aware of the benefits of this berry and has, in fact, supported a project during the days of President Farooq Leghari. Seeds were imported from India and China, but unfortunately, they were planted in an ecologically inappropriate area (the hot plains of Punjab), where they naturally did not mature into shrubs. Overall, there has not been much to report on seabuckthorn in Pakistan — there was a seminar on the subject in Islamabad some two years ago, but such events hardly ever achieve anything and so, it did not produce the desired results.
The Chinese, according to Ms Ahmed, started massive plantation of seabuckthorn 20 years ago, when they realized that dry areas were silting their rivers. Their efforts were successful and have led to a 200-year programme for the berry’s large-scale cultivation. Also, the plantation resulted in the renewal of springs and the return of wildlife that had disappeared due to arid and dry conditions in the past.
To add to this, nearly 200 Chinese byproducts of the berry are now available in the market. Given our close links with China, we should be able to obtain this technology at a reasonable cost, provided we are willing to take the initiative.
It is important that our herbal experts and companies make products from this berry, so that they are widely available in Pakistan. A major programme for its systematic cultivation and plantation is needed to reduce soil erosion, which can begin soon after the initial medium-scale experiments. Such an effort would improve employment prospects in the north, apart from the direct health advantages the people of this area, and also other regions, stand to gain.
The writer holds a doctorate in physics from Edinburgh University, Scotland
Tracing the origin
The history of seabuckthorn and its usage is rather interesting. Consider the following excerpts from a report titled “The medicinal research and development of seabuckthorn” by Xu Mingyu, Sun Xiaoxuan and Cui Jinhua:
“In historical records, Chinese people were the first to use seabuckthorn as a drug. More than a thousand years ago, seabuckthorn was recorded in Yue Wang Yao Zhen, from the Tang Dynasty, and in Sibu Yidian, whose writing was finished in the eighth century. Sibu Yidian is a classical Tibetan medical book with four volumes and 158 chapters altogether... .
“More than 60 entries refer to its capacity to strengthen the spleen and the stomach, and to promote blood circulation, to remove blood stasis and there are 84 prescriptions with seabuckthorn, which come in the form of seven different preparations: decoction, powder, pill, medicinal extract, shortbread, ash and tincture...
“In 1952, Xu Zhonghu, an associate professor of Sichuan Medical College of China, rediscovered seabuckthorn in Tibet. Following this, the Sichuan Medical College took the lead in medicinal research on seabuckthorn, and an academic thesis was written by Xu Zhonglu et al...
“From 1985 to 1993, Chinese scientists were engaged in a series of scientific experiments on its juice, oil and other extracts with analysis of its nutrient and chemical composition, pharmacodynamics and toxicology. The results have been predicated that seabuckthorn was a medicinal food containing many kinds of vitamins, trace elements, amino acids and other bioactive substances, such as ß-carotene, VC, VB1, VB2, VK1, Zeaxanthin, lycopene, flavonoids, folic acid, sitosterol, triterpene, fatty acids, tannin acid, 5-HT ( 5- hydroxytryptamine) and umbelliferone, etc. In the former USSR it was discovered that the fruits of seabuckthorn contained more than 190 kinds of bioactive substances, and the oil contained 106 kinds of such substances. Of these, there were 6 kinds of fat-soluble vitamins, 22 kinds of fatty acids, 42 kinds of lipids and 36 kinds of flavonoids and phenols. For these reasons, it has great potential in the medical field, both as a medicine and health food.
“So far, the registration number of the business permit of the seabuckthorn oil has been replaced five times since the first time it was approved as a drug for production and utilization by the Ministry of Public Health of the former USSR. The medical products made from it include simple prescriptions as well as complex ones, e.g., oil solution, soft extract, membranous preparations and aerosols. Seabuckthorn oil can be used to treat burns, skin radiation lesions, cervical erosion, gastric and duodenal ulcer, etc.”
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