Sea Buckthorn Oil Capsule improves condition of mucous
membranes of patients with Sjögren`s syndrome
Sjogren’s Syndrome
Problems in mucous membranes are the central symptoms of Sjögren`s syndrome (SS).Patients suffer
from dryness, itching, pain and inflammation in mucosa in the mouth, eyes, and nose and often in the
genital tract as well.
Ageing and medication often worsen SS symptoms. Since there is no effective medical treatment for
SS, it is important to look for possible solution for the management of the disease through nutritional
supplementation.
Improvement by Sea Buckthorn Oil capsules indicated in previous research
Sea buckthorn oil has been reported to have beneficial effects on the health of gastric mucosa in oral
applications and genital tract mucosa in topical applications. In previous small-scale pilot studies,
orally taken Sea Buckthorn Oil Capsule improved dry mouth conditions of some SS patients and
reduced inflammation in the vagina of postmenopausal women.
New study on Sea Buckthorn Oil
A double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study was carried out at the Gynecology Center of Turku, Finland.
25 female Sjögren`s syndrome patients of age 37-66 (average age 52.2) were recruited through the Finnish
Sjögren`s Syndrome Association. Thirteen of the patients were postmenopausal. In the study, the patients took
randomly capsules of either of Sea Buckthorn Oil or fractionated coconut oil (as placebo), six capsules (3.0 g
oil) per day, each in a three month period. The first period of three months followed by a second period of three
months with an equal amount of the other product taken. typical symptoms, (see figure).
This clinical study demonstrated clear beneficial effects of Sea Buckthorn Oil Capsules on conditions of
genital tract mucosa – all typical symptoms, itching, burning, pain, liquid secretion and dryness in the
genital tract mucosa were improved (see figure).
The results of the first three months of the study indicated also positive effects of Sea Buckthorn Oil on
typical symptoms of Sjögren`s syndrome including dry mouth, dry eyes, fatigue, joint pain, pale finger, and
atopic skin.
Figure.
Summary of scores of improvement in different
symptoms of genital tract mucosa after use of
Sea Buckthorn Oil Capsule and the placebo. For each
patient, a score of +1 was given to each improved
symptom, -1 for each worsened symptom, and 0 for
unchanged symptom
References
Erkkola R and Yang B (2003) Sea Buckthorn oils: towards healthy mucous membranes. Agrofood Industry hi-tech. 3, 53-57
Le Bell AM, Soderling E, Rantanen I, Yang B, Kallio H (2001) Effects of sea buckthorn oil on the oral mucosa of Sjgren’s syndrome patients: a pilot study. Poster at the eightieth General
Session & Exhibition of International Association for Dental Research (IADR), March 6-9, San Diego, USA
Xing J, Yang B, Dong Y, Wang B, Wang J, and Kallio H (2002). Effects of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) seed and pulp oils on experimental models of gastric ulcer in rats.
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Yang B, Kallio H, Physiological effects of seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) fruit pulp and seed oils). In: Singh V, Yang B, Kallio H, Bala M, Sawhney RC, Gupta, Morsel, J.-T, RK, Lu
R, Tolkachev ON (Eds) 2005. In: Seabuckthorn (Hippophae L). A Multipurpose Wonder Plant. Vol. II: Biochemistry and Pharmacology. Dya Publishing House, New Delhi, India. Pg 363389