Natural nutraceuticals - do we know what we are using?

In the current „industrial“ world, the „natural“ nutraceuticals of plant origin are increasingly popular as dietary supplements, herbal remedies or fitness enhancers, preferred by many in comparison with the „chemical drugs“, produced by the pharmaceutical industry. Alas, one well-known disadvantage of the drugs and extracts based on natural products is their potential variability, which may make any of their effects irreproducible or unreliable. We demonstrate this variability on the preparations based on the sea-buckthorn (Hippopae rhamnoides), which is a rather popular source of unsatorated fatty acids, rich in vitamins, containing also a plethora of polyphenolics and other potentially biologically active coumpounds. Analytical data from literature and from various commercially available preparates of „oil from berries“ were compared. Both the macroscopic parameters of the preparations, and the details of their composition vary rather widely, reflecting not only biological (and geographic) variablity of the species, but possibly also the influence of the used extraction method and of the final adjustment in the commercial preparate. This variablity is reflected also in the differing stability during storage and it may quite strongly influence the potential biological effects and benefits connected with the use ot the sea-buckthorn-based nutraceuticals.