Goji berry supplement with antioxidant vitamins

Goji Berry Extract is a supplement containing goji berries (Lycium barbarum), a fruit with a long history of use in traditional Taoist medicine, which is attracting unprecedented scientific interest. For maximum efficacy, it is standardised to 40% polysaccharide glycoconjugates, the berry’s most active ingredients, but also contains all the other phytonutrients for a guaranteed synergistic action.

What explains the benefits of goji berries?

Goji berries (or common lyciet or wolfberries) are fleshy, globular fruit, orangey-red in colour, borne by the shrub Lycium barbarum. Originating in China, where they have long been used as medicinal foods (probably for thousands of years (1)), goji berries have been heralded as ‘superfoods’ across the world since the 1990s.

Since then, a growing number of scientific studies have been conducted on goji berries to try and confirm their therapeutic potential. Most conclude that it is their diverse chemical compounds, and specifically, their polysaccharide glyconjugates, which are responsible for their benefits. That’s why our supplement is composed of at least 40% of these specific polysaccharides, which cannot be found anywhere else.

Several studies (2) have shown this berry, particularly the seed heads, to also contain:

• Essential fatty acids, especially linoleic acid.
• 19 amino acids, including the 8 essential ones.
• Beneficial substances such as p-coumaric acid, betaine, quercetin, rutin, myricetin, caffeic acid and cerebroside. All of them valuable phytonutrients, much sought-after by those looking for natural antioxidants.
• Vitamin C. Concentration in this vitamin ranges from 129mg to 149mg per 100g of dried berries, three time more than in oranges.
• Vitamin A, one of the most versatile vitamins for health which helps maintain healthy skin in particular.
• Carotenoids, particularly beta-carotene (which gives the berry its colour), zeaxanthin dipalmitate and beta-cryptoxanthin.

Numerous studies (3) are being conducted to demonstrate the benefits of goji berry consumption, especially for general well-being, (perceived energy levels and sleep quality, mood … ) and for fighting oxidative stress.

Five reasons to supplement with Goji Berry Extract

1. Out of 6, highly-antioxidant superfruits (goji, acai, pomegranate, cranberry, bilberry and blackcurrant), goji berry may have the highest ORAC value (4) (329 µmolTE/g compared with 105 for pomegranate and 185 for acai) (5).
2. In Europe and the US, goji berry is only available in the form of dried fruit, juice or supplements, as the sale of fresh berries outside the area of production is currently not permitted. The dried berries and juice are unfortunately very high in calories and sugar.
3. One study showed the mineral and phytonutrient content to be lower in juice and dried berries than in supplement capsules (6), an important point given that fresh berries are not available …
4. Oxidative stress is the result of an imbalance in the body in favour of free radicals over antioxidants (endogenous and exogenous). It is thought to contribute to the onset and deterioration of chronic diseases and appears to be one of the factors responsible for premature ageing. Consuming more exogenous antioxidants (present in food) may be one of the most appropriate responses to such an imbalance.
5. The brain is more vulnerable to oxidative stress, not only because it contains a large amount of unsaturated fatty acids which are highly oxidisable and potentially very harmful to surrounding cells, but also because it consumes a lot of oxygen and there are fewer endogenous antioxidants in the brain than there are in other organs.