Goji Berries

Jay was telling me about how great these Asian berries are. But my preliminary research suggests that it's likely just a con to make money off of the health food market.

Wikipedia has a lot of info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goji_berry

Excerpt:

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From marketing literature for wolfberry products including several "goji juices", a reputation exists for wolfberry polysaccharides having extensive biological effects and health benefits, although none of these has been proved by peer-reviewed research. Wolfberry polysaccharides show antioxidant activity in vitro[16] and might also have biological activities in vivo currently under research (20 publications on this topic since 1991; PubMed, February 2007). As a source of dietary fiber, however, polysaccharides would yield products from bacterial fermentation in the colon, such as several short-chain fatty acids, e.g., butyric acid, which may provide health benefits.[17][18] Although the macromolecular structure of wolfberry polysaccharides has not been elucidated, preliminary structural studies appear to indicate that they exist in the form of complex glycoconjugates .[19][20]

Wolfberry fruits also contain zeaxanthin, an important dietary carotenoid selectively absorbed into the retinal macula lutea where it is thought to provide antioxidant and protective light-filtering roles.[21][22] A human supplementation trial showed that daily intake of wolfberries increased plasma levels of zeaxanthin.[23]

Several published studies, mostly from China, have also reported possible medicinal benefits of Lycium barbarum, especially due to its antioxidant properties,[24] including potential benefits against cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases,[25][26] vision-related diseases[27] (such as age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma[28]), having neuroprotective properties[29] or as an anticancer[30] and immunomodulatory agent.[31]

However, in the west, none of this research has been scientifically verified, confirmed in clinical studies, or accepted by regulatory authorities.

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[Note on wolfberry polysaccharides: marketers of some wolfberry products claim polysaccharides have specific physiological roles mediated by specialized cell receptors, "master" control properties over other bioactive chemicals and cells, and characteristic spectral peaks defining one berry's geographic origin from another (Bibliography, Mindell, 2005). These claims are an important marketing message for wolfberry products branded as Tibetan Goji Berries or Himalayan Goji Juice[51]. Such statements, however, have no scientific evidence published under peer-review and are not compliant with regulatory guidelines for marketing natural food products (see below, Marketing claims under scrutiny in Europe, Canada and the United States)]

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Marketing

Since the early 21st century, the dried fruit has been marketed in the West as a health food (typically under the name "Tibetan goji berry"), often accompanied by scientifically-unsupported claims regarding its purported health benefits.

By unconfirmed reports, its most recognized nutritional attribute is an exceptional level of vitamin C, reputed to be among the highest in natural plants.[citation needed] However, demonstrated by independent assays on dried berries to actually be in a range of 29-148 mg per 100 grams of fruit[35][36], the level is actually comparable to many citrus fruits and strawberries[54][55]. Although considered nutritionally "excellent", wolfberry's vitamin C content is considerably lower than for numerous other fruits and berries, such as the Australian Kakadu "billy goat" plum (Terminalia ferdinandiana), blackcurrant, and sea-buckthorn.[56]

Companies marketing the berries often also include the unsupported claim that a Chinese man named Li Qing Yuen, who was said to have consumed wolfberries daily, lived to the age of 252 years (1678-1930), another one of the numerous myths surrounding the health benefits of wolfberry.

[edit] Commercial products marketed outside Asia

Typical of many exotic fruits being introduced into western food and beverage commerce, wolfberry is best known in the United States and Canada as a juice marketed over the Internet since 2002 with an increasing presence in North American health food stores and grocery markets. While juice prepared entirely from fresh wolfberries is rare, blends containing several other berry and fruit juices are used for nearly all "wolfberry" juice products, many of which are nevertheless labeled as "goji juice". The percentage of wolfberry contained in these juices is generally not stated on such products' labels.

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Marketing claims under scrutiny in Canada and the United States

In January 2007, marketing statements for a goji juice product were subject of an investigative report by CBC Television's consumer advocacy program Marketplace (TV series)[67].

In a review of medical literature pertaining to each proposed claim of health benefits from Himalayan Goji Juice[68] (Mindell and Handel, 2003), Gross et al. (2006, book chapter 6; see Article Bibliography) summarized that 22 of 23 claims had no evidence for providing a health benefit beyond that inferred from preliminary in vitro or laboratory animal research. For cancer specifically, four studies were reviewed in Chapter 4 of their book, but Gross et al. (2006) concluded the research was too preliminary to allow any conclusion about an anti-cancer effect of consuming wolfberries or wolfberry juice.

By one specific example in the CBC interview, Earl Mindell claimed the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York had completed clinical studies showing that use of wolfberry juice would prevent 75% of human breast cancer cases, a statement false in three ways:

1. no such project has been undertaken at Memorial Sloan-Kettering[69]
2. according to the National Cancer Institute of the US National Institutes of Health, no natural or pharmaceutical agent has been shown in clinical trials to fully prevent breast cancer, only to reduce its risk [70]; specifically, there are no completed or ongoing clinical trials in the United States testing the effects of wolfberries or juice on breast cancer outcomes [71] or any other disease[72] and
3. beyond preliminary laboratory studies[73] [74][75] and one Chinese clinical trial described only in an abstract[76], there is no scientific evidence for wolfberry phytochemicals or wolfberry juice having cancer-preventive properties (Gross, et al., 2006, chapters 4, 6).

Significant in nutrient and phytochemical composition, wolfberries are being developed[77][78][79][80][81] as new products in the functional food industry under FDA regulatory review since December, 2006 for label and marketing claims[82] as being conducted in 2007 by the European Union (above).

During 2006, the FDA placed two goji juice distributors on notice with warning letters about marketing claims. These statements were in violation of the United States Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act [21 USC/321 (g)(1)][83] because they "establish the product as a drug intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease" when wolfberries or juice have had no such scientific evaluation. Additionally stated by the FDA, the goji juice was "not generally recognized as safe and effective for the referenced conditions" and therefore must be treated as a "new drug" under Section 21(p) of the Act. New drugs may not be legally marketed in the United States without prior approval of the FDA.

The following touches upon the bullshit marketing of "Tibetan" goji berries:

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Although Lycium species do grow in some regions of Tibet, commercial export production of wolfberries in the Tibetan Himayalas must be a myth[12] fabricated for a marketing advantage, as this mountain range bordering the Tibetan Plateau is a region inhospitable to commercial cultivation of plant foods of any kind. In the Himalayan foothills, bleak desolation is unrelieved by any vegetation beyond sparse, low bushes[34], whereas eastern valleys and plains of the Tibetan Plateau at lower altitude support growth of wild Lycium chinense[35].

hey Adam, don forget to check out de acai berry,wich it is te berry with most anti-oxidantas .Found in the amazonian rain forest in brasil................

VIVA ACAI BERRYS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!