Millions of people globally take fish oil supplements, mainly for their omega-3 content. It’s an essential fatty acid that has been linked with better heart health and cognitive function. Likewise, omega-6 and omega-9 have shown promise in improving bone health and immune function, respectively, among other aspects. All of these are unsaturated fatty acids, or ‘good fats’, that regulate cholesterol levels.
But omega-7, another class of unsaturated fatty acids, has received relatively little attention. Unlike omega-3 or omega-6, our bodies can produce omega-7. However, the body might not produce enough of it in cases of disrupted metabolism or inflammation. It’s also less likely to be found in most typical diets.
Its health benefits are similar and complementary to those of the better-studied omega-3 fatty acids. Omega- 7 mainly exists in two forms, palmitoleic acid and vaccenic acid, the former of which is found in high levels in many known sources of omega fatty acids. For these reasons, many ingredient companies have added omega-7 to their nutritional portfolio in recent years.
Where is omega-7 found?
Like omega-3, omega-7 is found abundantly in many fatty fish, including salmon, mackerel and sardines. After cold extraction to preserve the chemical structure of fatty acids, a series of distillation and filtration steps separates the different fatty acids and removes any impurities. Omega-7 is present in greater amounts in fish heads and viscera, as opposed to the fleshy parts. Since consumers in many Western countries typically don’t consume these parts, they are considered by-products, making the fishing industry a sustainable and scalable source of omega-7. Most producers, however, produce it from sea buckthorn, a spiny and bushy plant. The richest natural source of omega-7, it grows across the Himalayas, Central Asia and parts of Europe. Picking the right source is critical in ensuring good yields. Following the harvest, supercritical CO2 extraction ensures clean isolation of omega-7 and other bioactives while preserving their structural integrity. Although both seeds and berries of sea buckthorn contain omega fatty acids, omega-7 is much more enriched in berries, with concentrations reaching above 30% in oils extracted from them. Some companies derive omega-7 from sea buckthorn, whereas others offer berry oils as a rich source of omega-7. The latter approach could provide wider-ranging health benefits as sea buckthorn oil is rich in other fatty acids like omega- 3 and omega-9 as well as tocopherols and vitamins. Sea buckthorn oil is used in a wide range of products, including supplements, gummies, oil formulations and serums for cosmetic products. Among processed foods, it is an ingredient in bars, smoothies and dairy alternatives. However, there are certain kinds of food products for which it cannot be used. For instance, since heating omega fatty oils alters their chemical composition, they can only be added to products that don’t require heating to manufacture. Moreover, unlike purified omega-7, sea buckthorn oil has an intense taste. This largely restricts its use to superfoods where consumers care more about health benefits than taste. Macadamia nuts are another rich botanical source of omega-7 fatty acids, with levels intermediate of those seen in fish and sea buckthorn. Some algal strains have also been reported to produce large quantities of omega-7 as part of their biosynthetic pathways. Optimising bioproduction in these strains could lead to a clean and scalable source of omega-7 fatty acids.
Health benefits of omega-7
Omega-7 fatty acids are posited to have multiple health benefits. However, their benefits have not been researched as much as those of omega-3. But with increasing demand for omega-7 supplementation, that’s gradually changing. Preclinical and clinical work to date indicates that there are promising health benefits in reducing inflammation and improving cardiovascular biomarkers. Some studies suggest that omega-7 could improve metabolic health and decrease levels of bad cholesterol.
“Increasing dietary intake of palmitoleic acid can lead to better metabolism and lower inflammation,” says Philip Calder, a nutritional immunologist at the University of Southampton. However, he cautions that these are early results. “These effects are more easily seen in lab animals than humans, partly because of the dose used and partly because of different dietary background and control,” Calder adds.
One of the most promising health outcomes of omega-7 is its potential to improve skin quality, as it is well suited for improving skin hydration and reducing wrinkles. This makes it particularly promising for rejuvenating ageing skin. A 2018 study in Applied Biological Chemistry on human skin cells investigated how the omega-7 fatty acid palmitoleic acid affects skin ageing. It found that omega-7 activates SIRT1, an ‘anti-ageing’ gene. A more recent study from 2024 in the journal Nutrients reported that women taking the omega-7 supplement showed significant improvements in wrinkle depth, elasticity and moisture compared with a placebo group.
Consequently, omega-7 has seen greater adoption in Asian markets, which account for a large share of the beauty industry. More recently, with ageing populations, Europe and the US too have seen growing interest in omega-7’s benefits for beauty. In this segment, there is an increasing consumer interest in both topical and oral supplements.
In addition to its anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties, an important mechanism by which omega-7 maintains the skin’s protective barrier is by keeping its mucosal membranes hydrated. This translates to other
mucosal surfaces like the eye and the vaginal mucosa. Ageing is a key contributor to mucosal dryness, but a range of other factors, like medications, stress, diet restrictions and lifestyle choices can cause it as well.
For example, eye dryness is becoming a problem for the whole population due to increasing screen time for almost every age group. Research shows that omega-7, as well as sea buckthorn oil, alleviates dryness and discomfort for ocular health. For vaginal health, as more menopausal women are avoiding hormonal treatments if they can, omega-7 could also see greater adoption.
Renger Witkamp, a nutritional biologist at Wageningen University & Research, however, advises tempered expectations. “Regardless of whether the studies show a positive or negative association on skin health, they are typically small sample studies and most of them are in vitro,” says Witkamp.
Researchers are also investigating the role of omega- 7 in weight loss and satiety. Animal studies show that oral intake of omega-7 releases appetite-related hormones, generating a feeling of fullness. Moreover, its positive impacts on insulin sensitivity and metabolic activity could also aid in weight loss. Lastly, by promoting glucose uptake and healthy fat metabolism, it could prevent excess fat build-up.
Astaxanthin: value addition with other ingredients
Omega-7 isn’t always isolated from sea buckthorn oil. The oil may require balancing the beta-carotene and alpha-tocopherol profiles. These are precursors to vitamins A and E, respectively, that are added to products containing sea buckthorn oils to ensure a consistent composition. Producers also add other bioactives that either complement or enhance the beneficial properties of omega-7 fatty acids.
For example, omega-7 is often co-formulated with astaxanthin, a dietary supplement that improves immune function. Sea buckthorn oils are loaded with antioxidants, and astaxanthin enhances their action. On the other hand, astaxanthin is fatsoluble, and co-formulating it with oils improves its bioavailability. Together, they make a potent antioxidant combination that has shown promising results for skin conditions in particular.
Early studies suggest a possible synergistic effect between docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a type of omega-3 fatty acid, and omega-7, with speculative claims that combining them can lower total cholesterol more effectively.
Similarly, enriching omega-7 with lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoids that promote eye health, boosts both their actions – increasing visual acuity and decreasing risk of cataracts – and the antidryness activity of omega-7. Companies are also combining omega-7 with other oil-soluble ingredients that have anti-inflammatory benefits or are useful towards eye health, insulin sensitivity and metabolism. Some of these include resveratrol, curcumin, coenzyme Q10 and magnesium.
An active area of research is to increase the stability of omega-7. Unlike fish oils or sea buckthorn oils, purified omega-7 is susceptible to oxidative degradation and therefore requires microencapsulation. Developing better emulsifiers for omega-7 microencapsulation could improve its uptake in the gut.
Healthy unsaturated fats
Omega-7 plays a complementary role with omega-3 in the health benefits of fish oils. Sea buckthorn oil, too, is rich in other omega fatty acids and the gamut of other beneficial bioactives. Thus, it can be hard to link any of the specific health benefits to just omega-7. Further research should delineate the role of different omega fatty acids in different oils and other natural sources.
As consumers seek to prevent chronic diseases, the market for healthy fats is growing. Although protein has dominated the discourse around healthy eating in recent years, people are now realising that healthy fat intake is equally essential for better immunity, metabolism and weight management. There’s an emerging opportunity in replacing unhealthy fats and oils with healthier alternatives like omega-7 and other omega fatty acids.
For metabolic and cardiovascular health, omega-7’s benefits overlap with and improve the benefits from omega-3. People are also becoming more proactive towards their health, with a preference for natural solutions rather than medication. This makes omega-7 well positioned to meet the growing demand for healthy fat alternatives and supplements for an increasingly ageing population. This will hopefully be accompanied by more scientific interest in omega-7 in the future.
