Saturday, May 12, 2007

34 Reasons To Drink Goji - Fact or Fiction?

If you want to know whether "34 Reasons To Drink Goji Juice Everyday" are supported by any scientific studies, then this may be the *most important* website you'll ever read.

Goji: The Himalayan Health Secrets

This book, "Goji: The Himalayan Health Secret" by Dr Earl Mindell, was first published in late 2003.

It was in this book that Dr Earl Mindell revealed to the world "34 Reasons To Drink Goji Juice Everday".

Prior to the publication of this book and the launching of Himalayan Goji Juice by FreeLife International in October 2003, Goji was practically unknown to most parts of the world.

In order to appreciate the revelation in this book, it's important to know the background of the author, his credentials, credibility and standing in the world of nutrition.

Who is Dr Earl Mindell?

Dr Mindell is a registered pharmacist, master herbalist and holds a PhD in nutrition.

A world-renowned nutritionist, he is the author of 50 bestselling nutritional books.

One of his books, "The Vitamin Bible" was sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, in 32 languages and 54 countries.

In April 2005, Dr Mindell was invited to speak on the subject of anti-aging at the United Nations.

Breakthroughs In Health MagazineIn the August 2006 issue of "Breakthroughs In Health", it was reported that after countless hours of research, Dr Earl Mindell had discovered...

34 and more... reasons to drink Goji Juice everyday

Here are the reasons...

1. Extend Your Life
Your body’s 10 trillion cells are under constant attack by free radicals. These harmful environmental agents can accelerate aging by destroying vital body cells faster than they can be replaced. Goji is known as the “longevity fruit”. Its unique master molecule polysaccharides and powerful antioxidants defend against premature aging, fighting free radical damage throughout the body.


2. Increase Your Energy and Strength
Ranked as one of Asia’s premier adaptogens, goji increases exercise tolerance, stamina and endurance. It helps to eliminate fatigue, especially when recovering from illness.

3. Look and Feel Younger
Goji stimulates the secretion by the pituitary gland of hGH (human growth hormones), the youth hormones. The benefits of hGH are extensive and include reduction of body fat, better sleep, improved memory, accelerated healing, restored libido and a more youthful appearance.

4. Alleviate Anxiety and Stress
As an adaptogen, goji helps the body adapt and cope with stress. It provides the energy reserves to help you handle just about any difficulty.

5. Maintain Healthy Cholesterol Levels
Goji’s antioxidants keep cholesterol from oxidizing and forming arterial plaques. The flavonoids in goji help to keep your arteries open and functioning smoothly.

6. Maintain Healthy Blood Pressure
Nearly one in four US adult has high blood pressure (hypertension). Uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to stroke, heart attack or kidney failure. This is why high blood pressure is often called the “silent killer”. A 1998 research study showed that increased blood pressure could be prevented significantly by goji’s master molecule polysaccharides.

7. Prevent Cancer
Goji’s antioxidants and unique polysaccharides can halt the genetic mutations that can lead to cancer. Some scientists believe that goji may be an especially good supplement to prevent liver cancer, because it exerts liver protection and anti-cancer effects at the same time. This is important, as the liver is the body’s primary detoxifying organ.

8. Promote Normal Blood Sugar and Manage Diabetes
Goji has been used in China for the treatment of adult-onset diabetes for many years and its polysaccharides have been shown to help balance blood sugar and insulin response.

9. Enhance Sexual Function
Modern scientific studies have shown that goji markedly increases testosterone in the blood, thereby increasing libido in both men and women.

10. Help You Lose Weight
In an Asian obesity study, patients were given goji each morning and each afternoon, Results were excellent, with most patients losing significant weight. In another study, goji polysaccharides were shown to reduce body weight by enhancing the conversion of food into energy instead of fat. Goji is also thought to speed up fat burning, discourage fat storage and reduce food cravings.

11. Relieve Headaches and Dizziness
In traditional Chinese medicine, headaches and dizziness are often said to be caused by deficiencies in kidney yin (vital essence substance) and yang (function). Goji is among the most frequently used herbs for restoring yin/yang balance.

12. Improve Quality of Sleep
Goji has enjoyed long use throughout Asia in the natural treatment for insomnia. In several medical study groups with elderly people, nearly all patients taking goji reported better quality of sleep.

13. Improve Your Vision
Modern Chinese scientists found that goji is able to reduce the time it takes for vision to adapt to darkness. It also improves vision under subdued light. Blind spots were reduced in patients taking goji. Its powerful antioxidant carotenoids may also protect against degeneration and cataracts.

14. Strengthen Your Heart
Goji contains cyperone, a sesquiterpene that benefits the heart and blood pressure. Its anthocyanins help maintain the strength and integrity of coronary arteries.

15. Inhibit Lipid Preoxidation
Accumulation of sticky lipid peroxides in the blood can lead to cardiovascular disease, heart attack, atherosclerosis and stroke. Goji increases levels of an important blood enzyme that inhibits their formation.

16. Help Chronic Dry Cough
Goji is used by Chinese herbalist, either alone or combination with other herbs, for relieving cough or wheezing

17. Improve Disease Resistance
The free radical superoxide has been implicated as having as important role in the onset and progression of human disease. Superoxide is neutralized in the body by the enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) but you produce less SOD as you age. At any age, the stresses of everyday life can overwhelm your body’s ability to produce sufficient SOD to ward off illness. Taking goji has been shown to result in a remarkable 40 percent increase of the important SOD enzyme.

18. Improve Immune Response
The immune system is our body’s armed forces. More than 40 years of research have revealed goji’s ability to regulate immunity by commanding and controlling many of the body’s important defense functions. Goji polysaccharides enhance and balance the activity of all classes of immune cells, including T-cells, cytotoxic T-cells, NK cells, lysozyme, tumor necrosis factor alpha and the immunoglobulins lgC and IgA and interleukin-2 (IL-2)

19. Manage and Fight Cancer
Patients receiving a cancer drug together with goji exhibited response rates up to 250 percent better than those obtained by the drug alone. These advanced cancer patients experienced amazing regressions of malignant melanoma, renal cell carcinoma, colorectal carcinoma, lung cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and malignant hydrothorax. Remission of cancers in patients treated with goji lasted significantly longer than those treated without goji.

20. Treat Menopause Symptoms
In traditional medicine, many menopause symptoms are ascribed to a deficiency of kidney yin. For ages, goji has been the yin tonic of choice to restore hormone imbalance.

21. Reduce the Toxic Effects of Chemotherapy and Radiation

In one study, goji was shown to enhance the effects of radiation in combating lung cancer, allowing a lower dose to be used. Other research indicates that goji can protect against some of the noxious side effects of chemotherapy and radiation.

22. Improve Fertility
Goji has long been used by Asian physicians for the treatment of infertility in both men and women. In women, goji is said to have an unmatched ability to restore jing (reproductive essence). In men, goji polysaccharides haven been found to extend the life of sperm cells, and also were shown to be potent inhibitors of stress-induced structural degradation and testicular cell death.

23. Support Healthy Liver Function
Goji contains a novel cerebroside that was shown to protect liver cells, even from highly toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons.

24. Build Strong Blood
Goji is a renowned blood builder and rejuvenator. In one study, the berry caused the blood of older people to revert to a markedly younger state. Goji has also been used in a number of recent clinical trials for treatment of bone marrow deficiency conditions (low production of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets)

25. Inhibit Tumor Growth
Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is a crucial cytokine (cell protein) that induces potent anti-tumor responses in a variety of cancers. Goji polysaccharides have been shown in Chinese studies to enhance the production of IL-2. In the United States, IL-2 has been under study as an immune promoting factor since 1983 and has been used for some cancers and HIV infection. Goji also has the ability to cause the death of tumor cells by inducing apoptosis, a process in which cancer cells are broken down and recycled.

26. Fight Inflammation and Arthritis
Extensive scientific research over the past 20 years has been shown that in acute and chronic inflammation, the free radical superoxide is produced at a rate that overwhelms the capacity of the body’s SOD enzyme defense system to remove it. This imbalance results in pain and damage to joints and tissues. Goji can restore the balance of the important anti-inflammatory SOD enzymes.

27. Protect Your Precious DNA
DNA is the most important chemical in your body, ensuring that – as they need replacement – your 10 trillion cells are faithfully reproduced as healthy, exact duplicates. Exposure to chemicals, pollutants and free radicals can cause DNA damage and breakage, leading to genetic mutations, cancer and even death. Goji’s betaine and master molecule polysaccharides can restore and repair damaged DNA.

28. Improve Lymphocyte Count
A lymphocyte is any of a group of white blood cells important to the adaptive part of the body’s immune system. The adaptive portion of the immune system mounts a tailor-made defense when dangerous invading organisms penetrate the body’s general defenses. Goji increases lymphocyte count and helps to activate them when the body is under attack.

29. Prevent Morning Sickness
In China, goji in the form of hot tea is commonly used by first-trimester mothers to prevent morning sickness. Drinking this tea is a quick and effective remedy. It can be duplicated by combining 2 ounces of high-quality goji juice with hot water.

30. Improve Your Memory
Goji is the premier “brain tonic” in Asia. It contains betaine, which is converted in the body into choline, a substance that enhances memory and recall ability.

31. Strengthen Your Muscles and Bones
Goji facilitates the secretion and release of hGH, which is responsible for many of the body’s important maintenance, repair and development functions. These include the production of lean muscle and the incorporation of calcium into the bones and teeth.

32. Support Normal Kidney Function
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the kidneys are the most important of all the vital organs, and they are believed to control the brain and other organs. Proper kidney function is considered to be essential to survival. Goji has been a well-deserved reputation as a kidney supertonic, influencing both yin and yang.

33. Brighten Your Spirit
It is said that constant consumption of goji brings a cheerful attitude. In Asia, it is known as the “happy berry”. It has been noted that the only known side effect of goji is that it may make it impossible for you to stop smiling.

34. Improve Digestion
Goji has long been used in the treatment of atrophic gastritis, a weakening of digestion caused by reduced activity of stomach cells. Goji itself is easily digested, especially when taken in its highly bio-available juice form.

35. Fight Fibromyalgia
Since goji is known to fight fatigue and boost stamina while increasing exercise tolerance and improving sleep, it may relieve many of the symptoms of fibromyalgia.

36. Maintain Healthy Gums
The main goal of periodontal disease treatment is to control the infection. This is best accomplished when leukocyte function is at its peak. Goji can increase the number and activity of all type of leukocytes, and it can help gum disease by promoting the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines. A 1992 study also showed that goji’s polysaccharides could improve the attachment and growth of periodontal tissues.

37. Protect Children’s Health
One of the most beneficial uses of goji is its ability to strengthen the immune system to protect your child against disease. As an adaptogen, goji has the rare ability to help your child adapt to adverse conditions, as dozen of laboratory and clinical studies have shown.

38. Prevent Allergies
A 1992 study noted that goji reduced antibodies associated with allergic-type reactions, presumably through the mechanisms of promoting CD8(+) T-cells and regulating cytokines. Goji’s master molecule polysaccharides also enhance cell-mediated and humoral immune responses, increasing normal activity of T-cells, cytotoxic T-cells and natural killer cells.

What is Goji?

Goji berries

Goji is a tiny red berry. Its Latin botanical name is Lycium Barbarum.

Not all Goji is the same. 41 species are found growing in Tibet alone. There are great variations in levels of bioactive polysaccharides among the berries from different regions.

Berries low in bioactive polysaccharides and weak nutrient profile would be of little biological value.

Are the reasons/benefits of
drinking Goji Juice scientifically validated?

At the time of writing this review, 86 research papers done by various universities published in PubMed had confirmed the amazing health benefits of goji’s unique bioactive polysaccharides (LBP), from heart disease, cancer, diabetes, modulating immune system, anti-aging to weight lost.

PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health. To read these 86 research papers, go to www.PubMed.com and do a search on Lycium Barbarum, the Latin botanical name for Goji.



However, the desired health benefits and efficacies of goji are *CONDITIONAL*.

No comments: