I really didn't believe it when a friend, who is a health food expert, told me about the Wolfberry, otherwise known as the Goji Berry. These berries, I was told, contain 18 kinds of amino acids, 21 trace minerals including zinc, iron, copper, calcium, germanium, selenium and phosphorus, and Vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, and Vitamin E.
These shriveled up little red berries seemed to be more potent than they looked. Upon further research, I learned about several studies where elderly people were given goji berries for 3 weeks, and 95% of them experienced higher energy levels, their T cell transformation functions tripled, their appetite improved and they slept better.
I also learned that goji berries contain essential fatty acids that our bodies require for the proper functioning of the brain and nervous system. That they contain Cyperone and Anthocyanins, which benefits the heart and arteries, alleviate menstrual discomfort and have been used in the successful treatment of cervical cancer. These little miracle berries also contain Physalin, a natural compound that increase natural killer cell activity thus having an anti-cancer effect, and also, Betain, which calms nervousness, enhances memory, and promotes muscle growth.
I looked in my doctor husband's medical journals and discovered that studies of the goji have been shown to increase the body's production of an enzyme that inhibits lipid peroxidation, the cause of myelin loss, and that the goji's flavonoids protect against narrowing of the arteries. And since my grandmother is suffering from dementia this was a doozy of a finding - goji's master molecule polysaccharides and powerful antioxidants fight the free radical damage associated with Alzheimer's.
And if that weren't enough to make you start binging on goji's day in and day out, more than 40 years of research has revealed that goji berries regulate immunity and enhance the activity defense functions and helps the body deal with daily stress by giving you the energy reserves to help you handle just about anything.
It seems the goji's unique polysaccharide complex has an element that stimulates the secretion of rejuvenative human growth hormone, the stuff that we have in droves as children and lose slowly as we age.
This all seems too good to be true, but the goji berries from the Himalayas have been around for millions of years, and the people who have been eating them sometimes live well into their hundreds. So maybe they know something we don't. It has been suggested that about 4 ounces of the mighty goji a day can help fight aging. Anyway, it couldn't hurt.
