Debunking the myth around Goji berries

Debunking the myth around Goji berries

As you probably are aware, goji is the recent hot topic. Imports of goji berries from China have exploded.  In addition, dealers also import goji juice into Europe.  It has been mostly marketed as Himalayan goji berries or Tibetan goji berries.  I am goji fan as well, so I have bought goji berries from healthy food stores, supermarkets such as Tesco, but I think they are too expensive from these places.  So I advice looking for online retailer for goji berries.  In the mean time, I have done a lot of research about goji, and would like to share with you.

So what are goji berries? Lycium barbarum is its academic name.  In China they are also called wolfberries, or simply "Gou Qi Zi".  You will also find that some people even mis-spell it as gogi berry. It is a dark-red coloured sweet-taste dried fruit, and has similar size of raisin.  

Where are goji berries  from? They are from north-western part of China, and have been grown and consumed in China for many thousand years.  For some strange reasons goji berries are mostly found  in European and American markets as Tibetan or Himalayan Goji Berries.  Chinese people will be confused by the term "Tibetan Goji berries", as they know goji berries are not from Tibet, but from northwest part of China.  However, it doesn't imply no goji berries can be found in Tibet, but only means that there is no commercial growing of goji berries in Tibet.    The reason for marketing it as Tibetan Goji Berries (I guess) is that fruit coming from mountain area usually has more polysaccharides content.

Are goji berries popular in China? The answer is: yes.  Firstly Traditional Chinese doctirs thinks it works on kidney and liver, so they are usually used to treat liver and/or kidney disease.  The reason that it is also used to treat eye diseases is because Chinese doctors believes eyesight is governed by liver and kidney. What is more, since Chinese Medicine also believes that sexual capability is dictated by the strength of kidney, it is also widely used by Chinese doctors to treat sexual impotency etc.  But the Chinese consumption of this fruit is more than that, they also eat goji berries in day-to-day lives, for example, to prepare herbal tea along with Chrysanthemum, to add it to soup etc.

Then why has it gained popularity  in Europe and USA?  As you probably know, traditional Chinese medical theory is not based on molecular biology, but based on Yin, Yang, and Qi.  When Western people discovered this fruit, they studied  its biological content, and explained why it is beneficial from the viewpoint of western medicine.  It has been found that goji berries contain 21 trace minerals, 18 amino acids, Vitamins B1, B2, B6 and Vitamin E, much more much more vitamin C than kiwi fruit, much more antioxidants than any other fruit, much more beta carotene than carrots, and much More iron than spinach.  Following are the short summary of its benefits: anti-cancer, anti-aging, weight loss, boost libido, enhancing immune system etc.

I also found a lot of retailers market their goji berries as organic.  In fact the commercial growth of organic goji berries is not an easy process. It requires at least 3 years to get the land ready, along with other measures.  So far the annual yield of organic goji berries in China is still not significant by comparison with normal goji berries, simply because there are not many lands ready for it.  Therefore there is a big difference in terms of pricing.  So when you see somebody sell organic goji berries in eBay at dirty cheap price, would you trust them? 

In addition to raw goji berries,  there are also some processed goji products, such as  goji berry extract, goji juice, goji tablets, etc.  However, natural raw goji berries contain more nutrients than the processed goji products.  This is because processed goji berries lose a large amount of their nutritional properties due to the oxidation process during processing

I recommend customers to purchase small packs of goji berries, as once opened, it will suck the moisture, and become soft. Small packs can be consumed quickly. Consumption of 30 grams per day is recommended, though it doesn't do harm if you want to eat more because essentially it is fruit.  So enjoy your goji berries.