Goji juice: What's with all the hype?

Martha,

I applaud you for digging deeper before making a Goji move, but I want to encourage you to go a little farther. Your comments show that you've only gone far enough to see through the popular marketing hype, but you haven't actually scratched the surface with regard to the science.

BERRY FACTS:

1. Himalayan or Tibetan goji berries DO NOT EXIST. They are a complete myth created by marketing experts who realized that North Americans have warm and fuzzy feelings about the purity of these areas. On the other hand, few North Americans know how to pronounce "Ningxia," much less have an emotional connection to the place. While bushes may be scattered around Tibet or the Himalayas, they don't produce berries because the elevations are much too high. If you look closely at the bottles and literature of the companies promoting this myth, they never actually SAY the berries are from the Himalayas or Tibet. They tell cool stories. They name their products after these places. They even claim to have special certification from Tibetan colleges. But that doesn't mean their berries come from those places.

2. The word "goji" was CREATED OUT OF THIN AIR. "Gǒuqǐzi" is the real Chinese term, which means "wolfberry" in English. The word "goji" is a shoehorned creation that sounds somewhat like the way the Chinese word sounds when spoken.

3. While there are dozens of varieties of wolfberries, the only one with the profound nutritional profiles and health benefits being touted comes from the Ningxia province, an area that China has certified as "green"--the equivalent of US organic standards.

These three points above can be confirmed at the wonderful Wikipedia entry on wolfberry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfberry
Knowing these basics will clear much confusion from the issue. It seems a bit "low energy" for companies to push non-existent, misnamed, or misleadingly-named products.

JUICE FACTS:

Here are some quick and easy to things to look for in a juice that will provide a good indication of its health value...or at least that the company behind it is taking legitimate steps to ensure the quality of its product:

1. Glass bottle. More expensive but ensures that hormonally active toxins don't leach into the juice from plastic containers.

2. No pear, apple, or white grape juice in the ingredients. These are known in the industry as "junk juices" and are used because they are cheap and they taste good. The problem is that they have no nutritional value. In fact, they spike blood sugar levels, leading to long-term problems.

3. Whole fruit ingredients. Juice companies typically point to exciting research done on a specific fruit in their juice. But a close look reveals that they only use the juice of the fruit, not the whole fruit. This in itself destroys the link they try to make to the whole fruit research. But then they add the junk juices (see point #2) and further dilute the relationship. By the way, "whole wolfberry juice" or "juice from whole wolfberries" is still just juice. Where does orange juice come from if not from whole oranges and whole trees on whole farms? Look instead for "whole wolfberry puree" which will includes skin, pulp, seeds and all. This can legitimately be tied to the whole berry research.

4. Post-juice studies. As shown in the previous point, whole fruit studies don't necessarily have anything to do with juice from a bottle. The relationship is further nullified if all life is cooked out the juice during its processing. Look for studies on the actual juice. S-ORAC scores and glycemic reactions are examples of studies that can be easily done by any company that truly cares about the health effect of its product. Note: While the original ORAC score is valid for whole food, it has become useless in determining the health value of juices because companies have learned to fake it. The newer S-ORAC test is much more difficult to cheat and it tests a wider, more important, range of antioxidant activity.

I am an independent distributor for the company that first imported the Ningxia wolfberry in bulk to the U.S. in 1996, long before all the Johnny-come-latelies jumped on the bandwagon with their questionable products. The company I represent does a chemical analysis on every new batch to ensure the berries are indeed from Ningxia. For example, the Ningxia wolfberry is the only one without mercury in its chemical fingerprint.

Please don't toss the wolfberries out with the goji water!!!

Caleb Eaton
http://www.wolfberryjuice.com

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