Every technical term this site uses, defined once in plain English. When a label, study, or guide on SeaBuckthornWorld uses a word that needs unpacking, this is the page that unpacks it.
How to use this glossary
Each entry starts with the plain-English definition, the sentence you came for. Below it sit the working parts: how the term shows up on labels, what it does not tell you, and where the real numbers live on this site. Read just the first paragraph of every entry and you still leave dangerous in a supplement aisle.
The fatty acids
Omega-7 (palmitoleic acid). A monounsaturated fatty acid that is rare in the plant world and abundant in sea buckthorn berry oil, typically 25 to 40 percent of it. The compound behind most supplement interest in the plant.
Omega-3 and omega-6. The essential fatty acids your body cannot make. Sea buckthorn seed oil carries them in a near 1:1 ratio, which is unusual and useful.
Omega-9. Oleic acid, the olive oil fat. Present in both sea buckthorn oils in modest amounts. Healthy, but not the reason anyone buys this plant.
The plant parts
Berry oil (fruit oil, pulp oil). Oil pressed or extracted from the orange flesh. Thick, deep orange, omega-7 rich, stains everything. The seed vs berry comparison is the full story.
Seed oil. Oil from the small dark seeds inside the berry. Pale, light, omega-3 and 6 rich, almost no omega-7.
Pomace. The skins and pulp left after juicing. Where a lot of the carotenoids live.
The compounds
Carotenoids. Fat-soluble orange and red pigments (beta-carotene, lycopene, zeaxanthin). They color the oil, tint your skin if you overapply it, and act as antioxidants in the body.
Flavonoids. A broad family of plant compounds, including quercetin and isorhamnetin in sea buckthorn. Studied for antioxidant and circulation effects, mostly in early-stage research.
Tocopherols. The vitamin E family. Concentrated in the seed oil, where it also helps keep the oil from going rancid.
The processing terms
Supercritical CO2 extraction. Using carbon dioxide under pressure as a solvent to pull oil from the plant, leaving no solvent residue and preserving heat-sensitive compounds. The gold standard for this oil.
Cold pressing. Mechanical pressing without added heat. Traditional, gentle, and a step below CO2 extraction for preserving delicate fatty acids.
Solvent extraction. Using chemical solvents like hexane. Efficient and cheap, and the method we dock points for in reviews.
The measurement terms
Comedogenic rating. A 0 to 5 scale estimating how likely an oil is to clog pores. Publisher and formulator ratings place sea buckthorn oils at the low end, though no lab study has pinned an exact number on them. Light oils high in unsaturated fatty acids, like these, are the kind that rarely clog pores. Patch test regardless.
Tear film osmolarity. The salt concentration of your tear film. Higher means drier eyes. The dry-eye trial measured exactly this, which is why it appears on our dry-eye page.
ORAC. A lab antioxidant score the USDA stopped endorsing in 2012 because it predicted little about real health effects. We mention it only to retire it.
The botany terms
Dioecious. Plant species with separate male and female individuals. Sea buckthorn is dioecious, which is why fruit requires both sexes. See the growing hub for the practical rules.
Nitrogen-fixing. Hosting root bacteria that pull nitrogen from the air into the soil. Sea buckthorn does this, so it feeds itself on poor ground.
The full entries
Compounds.
Omega-7 (palmitoleic acid)
What omega-7 is, where it occurs in food, and why sea buckthorn berry oil is its richest common plant source.
Palmitoleic acid
The molecule behind the omega-7 name, how it appears on labels, and why the whole oil gets the trial credit.
Carotenoids
The orange pigments that color the oil, tint your skin, and convert (one of them) to vitamin A.
Flavonoids
The plant-compound family behind quercetin and isorhamnetin, and why the oil is the wrong place to look for them.
Isorhamnetin
Sea buckthorn’s signature flavonoid: research regular, authenticity marker, not a miracle.
Tocopherols
The vitamin E family, why the seed oil is the rich source, and the in-bottle job they provably do.
Phytosterols
Plant sterols that compete with cholesterol, present in the oil at bonus-level doses.
Polyphenols
The umbrella family covering flavonoids and more, concentrated in juice, puree, and powder.
Antioxidants
A chemistry term, not a health guarantee: what antioxidants do in the bottle, the tube, and the body.
Processes.
CO2 extraction
Supercritical carbon dioxide as the solvent: the gold-standard method and its limits.
Cold pressed
Mechanical pressing without added heat: traditional, gentle, and only part of the quality story.
Terms.
The omega family: 3, 6, 7, and 9
What the omega number actually means chemically, and which of the four are essential.
ORAC
The lab antioxidant score the USDA retired, and why a high-ORAC label claim is a red flag.
Comedogenic
The 0-to-5 pore-clogging scale: what it claims, why it wobbles, and where the two sea buckthorn oils land.
Hippophae
The genus name, the horse-shine story behind it, and how to read it on a label.