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Advice needed - Goji berries?

DeVega

Critical Thinker
D
Joined
Nov 17, 2004
Messages
342
I know some of the guys on here are extremely knowledgable re nutrition etc. Would anyone mind taking a look at the page and LMK what you think? The first thing that springs to my mind is - how can they suddenly 'invent' a new fruit/berry? To be fair - they are not marketing it to cancer sufferers in the same way that the makers of the Hawaian mushrooms or the crocodile serum stuff did - but of course, the usual things are happening, someone just 'pops up' and mentions it on cancer discussion groups - y'know if I were a cynic as well as a skeptic...!

http://www.detoxyourworld.com/acatalog/goji.html

Any input would be appreciated.

DeVega

PS: Good to be back!
 
At the risk of answering my own question!

WARNING

Deceptive Marketing:

Since the early 21st century the dried Goji fruit has begun to be sold in the West as a health food (typically under the name "Tibetan Goji Berry"), in ever increasing quantities and often accompanied by grossly exaggerated claims regarding its purported health benefits. However, the Goji berry is said to contain 2500 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams of fruit, making it one of the world's richest sources of vitamin C behind the Australian billy-goat plum and the South American camu-camu. It is rated #1 on the ORAC scale (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), which measures the antioxidant level in foods. This means pure and unadulterated Goji Berry juice is a proven and powerful anti-oxidant full of bioflavinoids, scientifically proven to be very beneficial to human health. But can you trust what the marketing men say about their particular product?

Unfortunately for the natural health industry, Goji Berry Juice is joining the ranks of that other well known and common plant product Aloe Vera, in that it is making millionaires out of greedy and unscrupulous promoters in the United States (and other countries), thanks to its name recognition and to the lack of standardized testing methods to determine its quality and the amount of active ingredient. Greedy suppliers, brokers and manufacturers frequently stretch 1kg or liter of 100% genuine Goji Berry liquid or powder into literally tens or even hundreds of liters of finished Goji Berry "health" drink, reaping outrageous profits. The taste of the Goji Berry juice or drink the unsuspecting public experience is mostly due to citric acid, flavours and preservatives. These dubious manufacturing and marketing methods are starting to impact on the perception held by members of the public when it comes to assessing the health benefits of genuine Goji juice.

The image for Goji juice is not helped by wild claims being made by irresponsible manufacturers that Goji juice will cure cancer as has been the case recently in New Zealand. Companies marketing the Goji juice drinks 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).

********************

I found this info on http://www.health-report.co.uk/goji_berry.html

It's not all bad though - it does seem as if the berries are very high in vit C & antioxidents... hmmm... I'm swaying... wonder if it would be more beneficial for example than the Selenium ACE I take each day?
 
DeVega said:
Would anyone mind taking a look at the page and LMK what you think?
Click to expand...
Well you certainly won’t find anecdotes like this…

This is Evie, aged 2 and a little bit. She's eaten goji berries nearly every day since she started eating food (and when she was in her mummy's tummy). She's a raw organic vegan unvaxed breastfed child. She's never ever been to the doctors with an "illness". Here, she's eating raw chocolate cereal that her mummy, Shazzie, made her, which is topped with coconut milk and yummy goji berries.
Click to expand...

…in this article:

A Friendly Skeptic Looks At Goji Juice
http://chetday.com/gojijuice.htm
 
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Hey- If I read something in last week's newspaper and an hour later it appears on JREF it must be synchronicity, right?

I never heard of Goji berries till an hour ago. The reporter had actually gone to Tibet and couldn't find anyone who had ever seen these berries. They actually grow at far lower altitudes, in China, but because of China's associated pollution, "heath supplements"sell better if it says they come from Tibet.


How many 2 (and a bit) year olds have been to the doctor with an illness, anyway?
 
Hiya SS

I've also just read on the BBC website that they grow naturally... in Norfolk/Suffolk - I imagine they have become naturalised in the same way as buddlia and rodadendrums (sp?) after the Victorian plant hunters brought them back. Now, if some enterprising Norfolk small-holder or farmer were to harvest them, it would cut out the infamous "food-miles" the media is so fond of moaning about... but hey, it wouldn't sound so glamerous/mysterious if they came from Diss!
 
DeVega said:
but hey, it wouldn't sound so glamerous/mysterious if they came from Diss!
Click to expand...
I don't know, selling foods that come from the lower circles of hell would probably be quiet a marketing gimmick. ;)
 
Blue Wode said:
Well you certainly won’t find anecdotes like this…Here, she's eating raw chocolate cereal that her mummy, Shazzie, made her, which is topped with coconut milk and yummy goji berries.



…in this article:

A Friendly Skeptic Looks At Goji Juice
http://chetday.com/gojijuice.htm
Click to expand...

I'm probably not far wrong in guessing that Shazzie is a warm friendly raving lunatic.
 
There's a berry from Newfoundland- I forget the name. There's just a single berry per plant, so the numbers harvested are always small. Makes lovely, but pricy jam.
I'm sure it's LOADED with invaluable iso-flavothings , neutrovitamins and other goodstuff. The rarer the better, right?
 
Has any bona fide study even shown any advantage to anti-oxidents?

Goji is in the nightshade family- tobacco, potatoes, and tomatoes. Which makes me wonder about something. I've seen tobacco seeds, but never the fruit. Perhps I'm missing a marketing opportunity? "Solenacia Berry Juice" ? I bet it would be loaded with anti-oxidents.
 
casebro said:
Has any bona fide study even shown any advantage to anti-oxidents?

Goji is in the nightshade family- tobacco, potatoes, and tomatoes. Which makes me wonder about something. I've seen tobacco seeds, but never the fruit. Perhps I'm missing a marketing opportunity? "Solenacia Berry Juice" ? I bet it would be loaded with anti-oxidents.
Click to expand...


As far as supplementation with vitamins (such as E and C), the answer is no, there doesn't seem to be an advantage. But I don't know if any studies have been done measuring health when a person is eating an antioxidant rich diet. I also couldn't find any studies from independent labs verifying the ORAC scale number of Goji berries.
 
If they taste good, then it gives you one more fruit to make tastey treats out of. But is it magically better than other fruits? Most likely not.

As for antioxidant rich diets, I saw one study when I was at UPenn,
take mice and feed it copius (can't remember amounts) amounts of flax seed oil.
than take those mice and control mice and place them into hyperoxic conditions (95%O2), The Flaxed mice will take longer to die than the non flax mouse. Since hyperoxic death is an oxidation induced, presumably the antioxidant capabilities of Flax seed oil is the reason.

So, next time you plan on sitting in your hyperoxygen tent, have some flax seed oil or goji fruit( i guess).
 
Well, not sure about the Goji berries claims, but I am suspicious of any "health" product that has MLM schemes as a way to sell it ;) FreeLife is one of the Sponsored links when you search Goji Berry on Google.

Also, your catalog linky includes Magnotherapy, woo, so, the woo warning bells are ringing louder.

The berries may very well be fine and dandy to eat, they may make fine juices that are nice to drink and they may have many good things in them like many fruits do, but seems like this is just the latest get healthy scheme for the get rich quick woos.
 
The Chinese wolfberry is not a new fruit/berry. The dried form is actually a very common ingredient in a lot of Chinese herbal soup recipes as it lends a subtle "sweetness" in flavour. My mom uses it regularly in her cooking and encourages the family to eat it because it's allegedly "good for our eyesight". Well, I like the taste and consume it eagerly, but my eyesight has been deteriorating since age 10 and now I can't function without my glasses. On the other hand, my brother hates soup of any kind, and therefore consume far less of the wunderberry than I do, but he has near 20/20 vision.

Anecdotal, I know, but it makes me question its efficacy.

Anyhow, this Goji story reminds me of a "funny" episode of Kungfu where the protagonist claims that the mystical "Dragon Eye" can cure cancer (or some terminal illness). Well, "Dragon Eye", otherwise known as Longan, is a common Asian fruit. It's Malay name, "Mata Kuching", means "Cat's Eye". While the dried form is regularly used in TCM, partly for its sweetening properties, I've never heard of any wonder curative properties for serious illnesses. I'm half-tempted to rummage through my mom's fridge for any other "obscure" oriental ingredient to market to the West for big money. Unfortunately, I'm held back by something known as scruples.
 
They sell 'em at the local Grocery Cooperative for about $5.50 for a smallish bag (12oz maybe?). They look tastey, but I wasn't about to pay that much for some dried berries that might be terrible.
 
Blue Wode said:
Well you certainly won’t find anecdotes like this…

…in this article:

A Friendly Skeptic Looks At Goji Juice
http://chetday.com/gojijuice.htm
Click to expand...
Thanks very much for this link - DeVega, hope you read it too. My father has had this pushed on him by a well meaning friend who's a naturopathy convert (now trained and running a business).

I quite openly scoffed at the stuff, but backed off slightly with the "no harm" excuse..... until I read the caution towards the bottom of that page:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Caution: Every indication is that goji is safe to drink in moderation. However, there is one exception to that rule. Like some other natural products, it may have anti-coagulant activity. While this is generally desirable, it could lead to a dangerous situation for anyone who is taking the prescription medication Warfarin (coumadin). One should therefore be careful about taking the two together, as this could lead to dangerous episodes of bleeding (Lam 2001).[/FONT]

(my bolding).

Dad's stopped taking it and I'll be going out of my way to bring the caution to the attention of our Naturopath friend.

Again - thanks to DeVega for raising the question and Blue Wode for the link. Take a pause in your day and feel the glow of knowing you've directly helped at least one man and perhaps even a "practioner" with a bit of sensible advice.

I'm beholden' to you both.​
 
Someone I know from China uses these as a topping for breakfast rice. They are somewhat like a raisin, but thinner and reddish in color with a bitter after-taste. The version sold at the local Asian food mart is way cheaper than the Tibetan health food store version.
One package called them 'medlars'.
 
Caution: Every indication is that goji is safe to drink in moderation. However, there is one exception to that rule. Like some other natural products, it may have anti-coagulant activity. While this is generally desirable, it could lead to a dangerous situation for anyone who is taking the prescription medication Warfarin (coumadin). One should therefore be careful about taking the two together, as this could lead to dangerous episodes of bleeding (Lam 2001).

(my bolding).

Dad's stopped taking it and I'll be going out of my way to bring the caution to the attention of our Naturopath friend.

Again - thanks to DeVega for raising the question and Blue Wode for the link. Take a pause in your day and feel the glow of knowing you've directly helped at least one man and perhaps even a "practioner" with a bit of sensible advice.

I'm beholden' to you both.
************************


No worries EHocking. In fact I posted the caution on the Breast Cancer community board I frequent also - because some of the women DO get prescribed Warfarin after BC treatment as chemo puts you at a higher risk of Deep Vein Thrumbosis. One of the girls said - "I was going to try these, but after reading this, I know I can't."

Grrrrrr - makes me mad that in this country herbs and supplements are not required by law to put contra-indications on their packaging! It's like St John's Wort - if taken in combination with the contraceptive pill - can make you MORE depressed (and makes your skin more light sensitive!) Many of the supplements for post-menopausal women are actually very dangerous if you are at high-risk of BC... (one was withdrawn last year - think it was Kava kava)

... and you can walk into Boots (or any chemist) and just buy as many as you like off the shelf - worse, the staff appear to have no training in the contra-indications of these products.

With regard to the berries, I think they are probably fine for the majority of people BUT people should be made aware of potential problems ON THE PACKAGING! They are not being too agressively marketed here in the UK (yet!) although I understand they are the 'next big thing' in the US... It's like "brown is the new black." "Goji is the new cranberry!"

[Sorry - I know we've covered this topic before - it's just a pet peeve of mine. Can't think why ;-) ]
 
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