How we ranked these

Most omega-7 lists on the internet are padded with foods that barely qualify. This one is ranked on a single, honest measure: what share of the food's oil is actually palmitoleic acid, the main dietary omega-7, in the published literature.

The unit matters, so here it is out loud once. We rank by percentage of total fatty acids, because that is how food chemists report oil composition and it is the only unit that lets a berry, a nut and a fish sit in the same table without cheating.¹ A food can have a high share of omega-7 in a small amount of oil, or a tiny share in a lot of oil. The table states both.

• Ranked by share of total fatty acids that is palmitoleic acid (16:1n-7).
• Every share traces to a published analysis, a food standard, or a government food database. The source is on every figure.
• What we could not source to that standard is grouped in an honest trace tier rather than given fake precision.

Swipe to compare

Omega-7 foods compared by share of total fatty acids

Food	Omega-7 share of the oil	Where the omega-7 sits	How you eat it	Source
Sea buckthorn	12 to 39%	The pulp and peel oil, not the seed	Whole berry, puree, pulp oil	Yang and Kallio, 2001
Macadamia	Roughly one fifth	The nut oil	Whole nuts, nut oil	Frigolet and Gutierrez-Aguilar, 2017
Olive oil	0.3 to 3.5%	The pressed oil	Oil	Codex olive oil standard
Avocado	Trace tier, single digits	The flesh oil	Whole fruit, oil	USDA FoodData Central
Oily fish	Trace tier, single digits	The body fat	Whole fish	USDA FoodData Central
Butter, egg yolk	Trace tier, low single digits	The milk fat and yolk fat	Whole foods	USDA FoodData Central

Sources: Yang and Kallio, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2001; Frigolet and Gutierrez-Aguilar, Advances in Nutrition, 2017; Codex Alimentarius standard CXS 33 for olive oils; USDA FoodData Central.

What omega-7 actually is

Palmitoleic acid is a monounsaturated fat the research literature calls a lipokine: a fat that behaves like a signalling molecule, not just a calorie.

The name omega-7 works exactly like omega-3: it tells you where the first double bond sits in the carbon chain. Omega-3 and omega-6 are essential, meaning food has to supply them. Omega-7 is different again. Your body can make some of it, and the skin and the gut lining are among the tissues where it naturally concentrates.² What almost no modern food supplies is a meaningful dietary dose of it, which is why the list above is so short.

The 2017 review in Advances in Nutrition that mapped this field names the same two foods this article ranks first and second, sea buckthorn and macadamia, as the notable dietary sources.² Everything else on the list is there for completeness, because a reader deserves to know that the olive oil in their kitchen carries a little, not none, and that no amount of salmon turns it into a rich source.

Sea buckthorn pulp oil up to 39%

Macadamia oil about 20%

Trace tier: avocado, oily fish, butter, egg yolk single digits

Olive oil up to 3.5%

Sources: as Figure 01. The trace tier bar shows the top of its range, not a per-food value.

The ranked list

1. Sea buckthorn

A wild, thorned berry that grows where almost nothing else survives, and the only food where omega-7 is a headline act rather than a footnote.

• Share of the oil: 12 to 39 percent of the pulp and peel oil is palmitoleic acid, matching Figure 01 exactly.
• Where it sits: in the pulp and peel, which is why seed-only extracts miss most of it.
• Best at: being the densest omega-7 food that exists.
• Not good at: tasting sweet. The whole berry is sharply tart, and any sweet sea buckthorn product got that way by addition.
• How it is sold: whole-berry puree, juices, pulp oil, seed oil and capsules, which are not interchangeable.

The defining study measured berries from different origins and found the pulp and peel oil running from 12.1 to 39.0 percent palmitoleic acid, while the seed oil carried practically none.¹ That one sentence explains most of the confusion in this category: two products can both say sea buckthorn on the label and differ enormously in omega-7, depending on which part of the berry went in.

2. Macadamia

The only common food that gets anywhere near the berry, and the one entry on this list you can buy in any supermarket.

• Share of the oil: roughly one fifth, per the published review literature, matching Figure 01.
• Where it sits: spread through the nut's oil, which is most of the nut.
• Best at: delivering omega-7 alongside a rich, fatty snack people actually enjoy.
• Not good at: density per bite. The nut is mostly other fats, and the calories add up long before the omega-7 does.
• How it is sold: whole nuts, butters and a cold-pressed oil.

The review literature lists macadamia beside sea buckthorn as the two meaningful dietary sources of palmitoleic acid.² If sea buckthorn did not exist, this nut would be the entire category.

3. Olive oil

The most honest surprise on the list: there is real omega-7 in olive oil, just not much of it.

• Share of the oil: 0.3 to 3.5 percent, the range the international Codex standard for olive oils permits, matching Figure 01.
• Where it sits: in the pressed fruit oil.
• Best at: being already in your kitchen.
• Not good at: ever being a source you could rely on. At the top of its range it is still a tenth of sea buckthorn's.
• How it is sold: as oil, everywhere.

The Codex Alimentarius standard that defines what may legally be called olive oil sets palmitoleic acid at 0.3 to 3.5 percent of fatty acids.³ It is a genuine but minor presence, which is exactly how it should be described.

4. Avocado

A good fruit with a small, real omega-7 fraction that internet lists routinely oversell.

• Share of the oil: single digits, in the trace tier of Figure 01.
• Where it sits: in the flesh oil.
• Best at: being a whole food people already eat daily.
• Not good at: earning the omega-7 label it keeps getting given.
• How it is sold: whole fruit and pressed oil.

Government food composition data records a measurable but small palmitoleic fraction in avocado.⁴ Eat it because it is good food, not for its omega-7.

5. Oily fish

Salmon and its relatives carry a little palmitoleic acid in their body fat, wrapped around the omega-3s they are actually famous for.

• Share of the oil: single digits, in the trace tier of Figure 01.
• Where it sits: in the body fat, alongside far larger omega-3 fractions.
• Best at: omega-3, which is a different nutrient and a different article.
• Not good at: omega-7 as a reason to choose it.
• How it is sold: as fish.

Food databases record small 16:1 fractions across oily fish.⁴ Butter and egg yolk sit in the same trace tier for the same reason: real, measurable, and never enough to matter.

The questions people actually ask

Is omega-7 the same as omega-3?

No. They are different families of fat with the first double bond in a different place. Omega-3 is essential and abundant in oily fish and some seeds. Omega-7 is non-essential and rare in food, which is the entire reason this list has five entries instead of fifty.

Which nut has the most omega-7?

Macadamia, and it is not close. No other common nut carries a meaningful palmitoleic fraction, which is why macadamia is the only nut in Figure 01.

Why do sea buckthorn products differ so much?

Because the omega-7 lives in the pulp and peel, not the seed.¹ A whole-berry puree carries the pulp by definition. A seed-oil capsule can be legitimately labelled sea buckthorn and carry almost none of the berry's omega-7. Reading which part of the berry went in tells you more than any front-of-pack claim.

Frequently asked questions

The bottom line

Omega-7 is one of the rarest fats in the food supply. Two foods carry it in meaningful amounts, sea buckthorn first and macadamia second, and everything else is a rounding error. If you want it from food, the list is short enough to memorise.