The Truth About The Goji Berry And Weight Loss

The Goji berry is being called the miracle berry because of its nutritional benefits as well as a great tool for losing weight. Its leaves may be used to make tea for traditional Chinese medicine treatment of inflammatory and some types of skin diseases. But what exactly is the Goji Berry and what is the truth about its medicinal aspects?

The Goji Berry, also known as the Wolfberry, is a fruit that has been used medicinally in China for thousands of years. Although its original habitat is obscure, the wolfberry (goji) species currently grow in many world regions. Only in China, however, is there significant commercial cultivation.

This fruit goes by many other names including Chinese wolfberry, goji berry, barbary matrimony vine, bocksdorn, Duke of Argyll's tea tree, murali (in India), red medlar or matrimony vine. You will also find it in health food stores under the names Tibetan goji and Himalayan goji.

Goji berries are incredibly nutritious. For their weight -- a daily serving is only 10 to 30 grams -- goji berries have more vitamin C than oranges, more beta carotene than carrots and more iron than steak. Beta carotene is believed to help fight heart disease and also protects the skin from sun damage. Goji berries are also a good source of B vitamins and antioxidants, which protect against harmful free radicals that damage cells in your body. They’re also rich in polysaccharides, which aid the immune system, have 18 kinds of amino acids, and are a rich source of potassium. And, as if protecting your heart, skin and immune system weren’t enough, beta carotene and antioxidants are thought to help fight cancer.

In fact, the claim that goji berry producers frequently refer to is the fruit’s supposed cancer-fighting power. This ability, they say, stems from goji berries’ high antioxidant content. Antioxidants are actually a class of vitamins that includes beta carotene and vitamins E and C. Goji berries rate highly in terms of Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC), a test developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Here are ORAC values (in units per 100 grams) for some foods with high amounts of antioxidants:

Prunes – 5,770
Raisins – 2,830
Blueberries – 2,400
Kale – 1,770
Strawberries – 1,540
Spinach – 1,260
Brussels sprouts – 980
Plums – 949
Oranges – 750

A May 2008 clinical study published by the peer-reviewed Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine indicated that parametric data, including body weight, did not show significant differences between subjects receiving Goji berry juice and subjects receiving the placebo. The study concluded that subjective measures of health were improved and suggested further research in humans was necessary.

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

Two published case reports described elderly women who experienced increased bleeding after drinking wolfberry tea.

Goji berries contain many nutrients and phytochemicals, including:

11 essential and 22 trace dietary minerals
18 amino acids
6 essential vitamins
8 polysaccharides and 6 monosaccharides
5 unsaturated fatty acids, including the essential fatty acids, linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid
beta-sitosterol and other phytosterols
5 carotenoids, including beta-carotene and zeaxanthin (below), lutein, lycopene and cryptoxanthin, a xanthophyll
numerous phenolic pigments (phenols) associated with antioxidant properties

Calcium - contain 112 mg per 100 gram serving, providing about 8-10% of the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI).
Potassium - contain 1,132 mg per 100 grams dried fruit, giving about 24% of the DRI.
Iron - have 9 mg iron per 100 grams (100% DRI).
Zinc - 2 mg per 100 grams dried fruit (18% DRI).
Selenium - 100 grams of dried wolfberries contain 50 micrograms (91% DRI)
Riboflavin (vitamin B2) - At 1.3 mg, 100 grams of dried wolfberries provide 100% of DRI.
Vitamin C - In dried form Goji berries have a wide range (from different sources) from 29 mg per 100 grams to as high as 148 mg per 100 grams (respectively, 32% and 163% DRI).

How Goji Berries Help You Lose Weight?
If you're like millions of other people who have difficulty losing weight, you probably engage in two common behaviors: You can't control your appetite -- especially your cravings for sugary, starchy foods -- and you don't have enough energy to exercise regularly. Nutrient-rich goji berries directly target these two weight-losing obstacles.

The Vicious Cycle of Cravings
High-calorie sugary and starchy foods tend to have little nutritional value. Instead, they trigger a hormonal reaction that leads to uncontrollable cravings. The process works like this:

You eat a sugary, starchy food and your body quickly converts it to blood sugar.
Your levels of blood sugar spike upward.
In response, your pancreas produces a high level of insulin.
Your blood sugar levels crash.
The roller-coaster effect causes cravings for more sugary, starchy foods.
The cycle repeats.
The speed at which a food converts to blood sugar (glucose) is measured on a numerical scale known as the glycemic index (GI). The lower the GI of a food, the more slowly it converts to blood sugar and the less likely it is to stimulate uncontrollable urges to eat empty calories.

The Low Glycemic Index of Goji Berries
On the glycemic index, a value of 100 is assigned to pure glucose. Foods rated at 70 or higher are considered high-GI, while foods rated below 55 are considered low GI and are more likely to satisfy rather than increase the appetite. Here's how the GI of goji berries compare with some other fruits:

Goji berry - 29
Apple - 38
Orange - 42
Banana - 25
Cantaloupe - 65
Raisins - 64
Watermelon - 72

More Ways of Controlling Appetite
Goji berries have additional characteristics that help control blood sugar and appetite. They contain 21 percent fiber by weight. High fiber foods are filling and moderate blood sugar levels. The berries are also a good source of chromium, a mineral that aids in blood sugar control. Chromium may also help to preserve lean muscle mass during weight loss. Muscle burns more calories than fat, promoting a more efficient metabolism, which makes it easier to prevent weight gain.

Burning Food for Energy
Goji berries are rich in several nutrients that help to convert food into energy rather than storing it as fat:

B1 (thiamin): The vitamin is essential for converting carbohydrates into energy and for healthy thyroid function. A sluggish thyroid gland promotes weight gain.
Calcium: In addition to supporting healthy bones, adequate calcium has been linked to lower levels of body fat.
Other minerals: A balanced combination of essential minerals is necessary for efficient protein metabolism. In addition to calcium and chromium, goji berries contain copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, sodium and zinc.

Promoting Lean Muscle
A lean body burns food as fuel rather than storing calories as fat. When we are young, abundant levels of human growth hormone help to keep our bodies lean. As we age, declining growth hormone supplies are a key factor that contributes to less muscle mass and greater fat storage.

Supporting Regular Exercise
Successful and permanent weight loss requires regular physical activity. A few years ago, a study of 4,000 people in the National Weight Loss Registry found that they had lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off for more than 5 years. Nine out of ten successful losers spent between an hour and 90 minutes daily doing moderate-to-intense exercise. Goji berries help to provide energy for sufficient daily physical activity to lose weight and keep it off.

Many experts believe that adding the Goji berry with a Mediterranean Diet is a very effective method to lose weight.