The efficacy and function of seabuckthorn leaves

I believe that everyone must have eaten sea buckthorn in their lives. Sea buckthorn is a plant that grows by the river and has a particularly tenacious vitality. This plant has thorns and the leaves of the plant are long and slender. The fruits of sea buckthorn are gathered together one by one. They are orange-yellow in color and taste sour. They can also be used to make sea buckthorn juice. Sea buckthorn leaves are also a kind of traditional Chinese medicine. So what are the effects and functions of sea buckthorn leaves?

The important roles of sea buckthorn can be divided into two categories;

One category is the important role in ecological construction.

Another major category is the significant impact on human health. As for the important role of seabuckthorn in human health, my country has a documented history of more than 1,200 years in research and utilization of seabuckthorn. Ancient Tibetan and Mongolian medicine in my country used seabuckthorn fruit as a common medicine for treating diseases. It has the pharmacological effects of removing phlegm, benefiting the lungs, nourishing the stomach, strengthening the spleen, promoting blood circulation, and removing blood stasis. Seabuckthorn fruit can be used as both medicine and food, and has attracted more and more attention and reuse from people at home and abroad. After more than 40 years of research, the former Soviet Union found that there are more than 190 active ingredients in sea buckthorn fruit and 106 active ingredients in sea buckthorn oil, including 6 fat-soluble vitamins, 22 fatty acids, 42 lipids, and 36 flavonoids and phenols. These many active ingredients show that sea buckthorn is a very precious medicinal plant. It can be made into various medicines, various functional foods, and many other products needed by humans. In 1977, my country's Ministry of Health officially included seabuckthorn in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia for the first time. Seabuckthorn has special and important functions and effects in treating and preventing various diseases, strengthening the body and prolonging life. Judging from the results of seabuckthorn research so far, it is not an exaggeration to call seabuckthorn the guardian of human health.

Seabuckthorn contains extremely rich biologically active substances and has broad prospects for development and utilization in human medicine and health care.

1. Vitamins.

Sea buckthorn fruit is rich in vitamin C. Its vitamin C content is the highest among all vegetables and fruits, 20 times that of hawthorn, 2-3 times that of kiwi, 6 times that of orange, 200 times that of apple, and 80 times that of tomato; moreover, the vitamin C contained in sea buckthorn is quite stable.

In addition to vitamin C, vitamin E, and β-carotene, sea buckthorn also contains B vitamins. Sea buckthorn is a vitamin "source" plant. The physiological functions of β-carotene, in addition to the known functions of vitamin A after being converted into vitamin A, such as treating night blindness, bone hyperplasia, promoting the development of male and female germ cells, protecting epithelial cell growth and differentiation and preventing glandular atrophy, in recent years it has been found that β-carotene has a role in preventing lung cancer. It also has a preventive effect on cervical cancer, ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, laryngeal cancer, oral cancer and nasal cancer. There are currently four types of vitamin E detected in seabuckthorn. Its physiological and pharmacological functions are mainly: protecting biological membranes, resisting free radicals and lipid peroxidation, improving immune function, promoting liver cell detoxification, lowering blood lipids and preventing and treating atherosclerosis, delaying aging, preventing and treating brown spots, protecting the nervous system and preventing and treating anemia.

2. Flavonoids.

The flavonoid components in sea buckthorn fruit and leaves that have been identified include: quercetin, isorhamnetin, kaempferol and its glycosides, myricetin, chlorogenic acid, hyaluronic acid, catechin, astragaloside, etc. Sea buckthorn juice contains 7 kinds of flavonoids, mainly isorhamnetin, isorhamnetin-3-β-D-glucoside, isorhamnetin-3-β-rutinoside and quercetin.

The flavonoid compounds in sea buckthorn fruit mainly include anthocyanidins, catechins, flavonols and a small amount of flavanones. Isorhamnetin, quassin, camellia sinensis, etc. are separated from flavonols. Flavonoids and other phenolic compounds have the ability to enhance the body's tolerance, reduce the permeability of capillary walls, and prevent the destruction of vitamin C. The physiological effects of flavonoids on blood vessel walls can be achieved through the participation of vitamin C. Its activity can stabilize the vitamin C in the body and can also restore oxidized vitamin C. These substances also have the effects of inhibiting the development of atherosclerosis, lowering blood cholesterol levels, restoring hyperthyroidism to normal, and also have anti-inflammatory effects.

3. Triterpenes and steroid compounds.

Experts from the former Soviet Union have isolated dozens of triterpenes and steroid compounds from seabuckthorn leaves, fruits and oil.