Two bioactive are born these last two years from the underutilised leaves of sea buckthorn: EyegloriousTM and NoxifenseTM.
Exploring the potential of wasted raw materials
In the company's CSR roadmap, Gatt'Up&Act, the responsible management of waste is a strategic stake.
"Besides implementing a waste management system, we are also working with the notion of upcycling. Wastes' recovery is fully integrated right from the earliest stages of development. This approach has ever been reinforced within the last years of several projects underway based on upcycling, as a source of future sustainable, responsible and effective products", explains Laurent Schubnel, Group CSR Leader at Gattefossé.
This is how the company decided to make the most of the underutilised leaves of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides).
Hippophae rhamnoides, a highly nutritive and versatile plant
This shrub features a remarkable phytochemical richness with an abundance of phenolic acids, lipophilic compounds, vitamins, and organic acids, providing the plant with impressive biological potential.
Gattefossé's research team took an interest in the unused sea buckthorn's leave. Work to secure the supply of the supply of the plant has taken the company in Quebec, Canada, in a family-owned orchard dedicated to its organic cultivation and the transformation of berries into food items.
Every September, the fruit-bearing branches are manually cut, allowing for tree pruning. The leaves are separated from the fruits which will be transformed into juices, sorbets or jams.
Gattefossé recovers the leaves, upcycling this valuable material.
One plant, two bioactives
Gattefossé deployed its deep savoir-faire in plant chemistry, using different extraction technologies, to harness the full potential of this raw material.
Following the success of EyegloriousTM - a liposoluble anti-fatigue active obtained via supercritical CO2 extraction and launched in 2024 - Gattefossé will soon introduce NoxifenseTM. This new active introduces new possibilities for the application of sea-buckthorn leaves.
NoxifenseTM ensures a holistic approach to skin sensitivity care, by strengthening the skin's defence mechanisms against environmental stress. It draws on the emergent theory of "oxi-inflammation", the harmful interplay between oxidative stress and inflammation. Its soothing effect are achieved through a finely tuned process targeting specific families of flavonoids, which are of high interest for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
