World's super fruit - Goji berries
Goji berries have become popular in western countries such as US, Japan, Canada and Europe. Scientific experiments have discovered many benefis of goji berrie: weight loss, anti-cancer, enhancing libido, improving fertility, boosting immune system, and anti-aging etc. This article covers the author’s research results about goji berries, and explains why this fruit is so popular.
The academic name of Goji berries is Lycium barbarum. They are also known as wolfberries. Well, some people even mis-spell it as gogi berry. It has been grown in northwest China, and has been consumed in China for thousand years. It is a dark-red coloured sweet-taste dried fruit. First of all Traditional Chinese Medicine thinks it mainly works on kidney and liver, therefore they are usually used to treat liver, kidney disease. The reason that it is also used to treat eye diseases is because Chinese Medicine believes eyesight is governed by liver and kidney. Secondly Chinese eat goji berries in day-to-day lives, as they think this it can keep them healthy.
Goji berries contains my nutrients:
· Much more antioxidants than any other fruit
· About 18 amino acids
· Vitamins B1, B2, B6 and Vitamin E
· Much more vitamin C than kiwi
· 21 trace minerals
· Much more beta carotene than carrots
· Much More iron than spinach
By comparison, natural raw goji berries contain more nutrients than the processed goji products, for example, goji berry extract, goji juice, goji tablets, etc. This is because processed goji berries lose a large amount of their nutritional properties due to the oxidation process during processing.
Anti-cancer: The goji berry contains the natural complex carbohydrates – polysaccharides, which demonstrates the anti-cancer capabiolity. Scientifici studies showed that polysaccharides from goji can restrain the growth of leukemia cells. Another study indicated that polysaccharides along with a cancer drug LAK/IL-2, was much more effective at reducing tumors than using the standard cancer drug by itself.
Anti-aging: Packer (1999) mentioned that the primary cause of aging is the free radical attack. Free radicals are unstable oxygen molecules derived from pollutants, smoking etc. Free radicals (oxidants) The attack on healthy cells by free radicals can result in premature aging, hardening of arteries, heart diseases, cancer, stroke so forth so on.
The essence of free radical attack is oxidation. It causes our bodies to age over time and become prone to many age-related diseases. Then how can we stop the destruction from free radicals and slow down the aging process? The secret here is antioxidants, which are needed by our bodies to neutralise and destroy free radicals (oxidants). In doing so, they significantly slow the aging process and provide a protective barrier for our bodies. Antioxidants help protect our skin, hair, organs, muscles, blood, and arteries from aging.
It has been discovered that goji berry contain more antioxidants than any other food. Therefore goji berries have great potentials and power to fight aging problems caused by free radicals.
Weight Loss: The metabolic rate plays an important role in controlling our body weight. The fact that many teenagers can eat like a horse but still don’t gain much weight is because they are energetic, and their metabolic rate is much faster than adult, therefore their metabolism burns a lot of fat than adult. Faster metabolic rates burn calories more efficiently and store less as fat, while slower metabolic rates burn less calories, and readily store unused energy as fat.
Various biochemical reactions inside our bodies play pivotal roles in our metabolism. Our body needs a constant supply of trace minerals and vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 & vitamin C to make the metabolism working efficiently and properly. Without these vitamins and minerals, metabolism becomes inefficient and sluggish.
Goji has 21 trace minerals and are high in the above vitamins. By providing a ready supply of minerals and vitamins, goji berries help keep our metabolic rate in good working order.
What is more, the polysaccharides in goji berries can also increase metabolic rate, resulting in reduced body weight. These same polysaccharides were trialed in an Asian anti-obesity study, in which patients were given goji berries each morning and afternoon. There were promising results with most patients losing significant weight.
Goji and Sex: Traditional Chinese doctors commonly prescribe goji berries to treat sexual problem. Scientific research indicates that goji berry increases androgen levels in the blood, which is the key of sexual activities. In addition, Chinese doctors also uses goji to treat infertility. Researches showed that polysaccharides from wolfberries could prevent structural damage and cell death to testicular cells. This research results support the use of goji berries to assist treating infertility.
Enhancing Immune System: Various essential elements such as vitamins and polysaccharides inside goji berries supply important elements to our immune system to enable it to function properly and efficiently. Many researches have discovered that goji berries can increase white 'killer' T-cells in our body, thus demonstrating anti-tumor capabilities.
Summary & Recommendations: For all of these benefits, goji has become a well-known super fruit in the world. Nowadays it is mostly found in the market as Tibetan or Himalaya goji. You can buy it from supermarkets, healthy food stores, online retailers, or even in eBay. The author recommends a good online retailer: www.gojiking.co.uk. In addition, it is recommended to buy small packs of goji berries, because it is easier to keep the freshness, as once opened, it will suck the moisture, and become soft. A daily intake of 30 grams is recommended, though it doesn’t do harm if you want to eat more because essentially it is fruit. So enjoy your goji berries. |