Short Communication
M. Selvamuthukumaran
Abstract
Sea buckthorn berries are among the most nutritious and vitamin-rich fruit found in the plant kingdom. In India, it is distributed wildly in various parts of the Himalayan region. All parts of the plant viz., bark, leaves and fruits are rich in biomolecules with unique medicinal values. The array of biomolecules synthesized by sea buckthorn has imparted a central role to the plant not only as a health promoter but also for prevention and treatment of different diseases. However, the fruit is highly acidic and having very peculiar flavor, due to these reasons the utilization of these fruits for edible purposes is very minimal. Adding to these limitations, the plant is very thorny, the fruits are very delicate, difficult to harvest. On top of all these the fruit ferments very fast after harvesting. By and large the plant as a whole is being wasted or at the most it is being used as fodder for animals and fencing for the houses. Therefore, keeping in view the superior health benefits and unavailability of sea buckthorn based products in India, this review will stress about importance of developing value added products with proven health benefits from this fruit for its commercial exploitation.