Goji

The genus name Lycium was assigned by Linnaeus in 1753.{{Cite web|title=Lycium L.|url=https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=30531#null|publisher=Interagency Taxonomic Information System|date=2011|access-date=14 October 2020}} The Latin name lycium is derived from the Greek word λυκιον (lykion), used by Pliny the Elder (23–79) and Pedanius Dioscorides (ca. 40–90) for a plant known as dyer's buckthorn, which was probably a Rhamnus species. The Greek word refers to the ancient region of Lycia (Λυκία) in Anatolia, where that plant grew.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eS7lX_rC3GEC |first=D. F. |last=Austin |title=Florida Ethnobotany |publisher=CRC Press |year=2004 |isbn=9780849323324 |pages=677}}Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan {{ISBN|0-333-47494-5}}.

The common English name, wolfberry,{{cite web |url=http://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=profile&symbol=LYBA4&display=31 |title = Scientific classification for Lycium barbarum L. |author = |work = Natural Resources Conservation Service |publisher = US Department of Agriculture |access-date = 13 April 2013}} has an unknown origin. It may have arisen from the mistaken assumption that the Latin name Lycium was derived from Greek λύκος (lycos), meaning "wolf".{{cite book|last1=Smal|first1=Ernest|title=Top 100 Exotic Food Plants|date=2012|publisher=CRC Press|pages=249|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Au3RBQAAQBAJ&q=lycos+wolfberry&pg=PA249|access-date=12 September 2015|isbn=9781439856888}}

In the English-speaking world, the name goji berry has been used since around 2000. The word goji is an approximation of the pronunciation of gǒuqǐ (pinyin for 枸杞), the name for the berry-producing plant L. chinense in several Chinese dialects. In Japanese, it is known as 枸杞 (kuko), usually written in kana as クコ.{{cn|date=June 2024}}

In technical botanical nomenclature, L. barbarum is called matrimony vine, while L. chinense is Chinese desert-thorn.{{cite web|url=https://plants.usda.gov/java/ClassificationServlet?source=display&classid=LYCIU|title=Classification for Kingdom Plantae Down to Genus Lycium L.|publisher=US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Services|date=2017|access-date=26 January 2017}} In the United States, various common names are used for Lycium species and varieties, such as desert-thorn, boxthorn, matrimony vine, and wolfberry.

Young wolfberry shoots and leaves are harvested commercially as a leaf vegetable.{{cite journal |author1=Isabelle, M. |author2=Lee, B.L. |author3=Lim, M.T. |author4=Koh, W.-P. |author5=Huang, D. |author6=Ong, C.N. |year=2010 |title = Antioxidant activity and profiles of common vegetables in Singapore |journal = Food Chemistry |volume=120 |issue=4 |pages=993–1003 |doi = 10.1016/j.foodchem.2009.11.038}}{{cite journal |author1=Dong, J. |author2=Lu, D. |author3=Wang, Y. |year=2009 |title=Analysis of flavonoids from leaves of cultivated Lycium barbarum L. |journal=Plant Foods for Human Nutrition |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=199–204 |doi=10.1007/s11130-009-0128-x|pmid=19655256 |s2cid=2830104 }} The berries are used in dishes as either a garnish or a source of sweetness.{{cite web |last1=Turrell |first1=Claire |title=The berry that keeps Asia looking young |url=https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200226-the-berry-that-keeps-asia-looking-young |website=www.bbc.com |language=en}}

File:Goji berries.jpg dehydration)]]

File:Lycium chinense MHNT.jpg

File:WolfberrySeedOil.png]]

Since the early 21st century, the dried fruit, occasionally compared to raisins, has been marketed as a health food, with unsupported health claims about its benefits.{{cite web |url=https://www.newhope.com/natural-product-trends/food-and-beverage |title = Goji: what it is... and isn't |author = Gross PM|year=2007|publisher=NewHope Network, Penton Media Inc.}}{{cite web|url=http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/gojiberriesrep.pdf |title=Goji Berries |date=June 2007 |publisher=UK Food Standards Agency, Novel Foods, Additives and Supplements Division |access-date=13 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121120203800/http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/gojiberriesrep.pdf |archive-date=20 November 2012 }} In the wake of those claims, dried and fresh goji berries were included in many snack foods and food supplements, such as granola bars.{{cite web |url=http://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/issues/2010-01/view_features/raising-the-bar-on-chocolate-/ |title = Raising the Bar (on Chocolate)|author = Baltazar A|date = January 2010 |work = Nutraceuticals World |publisher=Rodman Media |access-date = 13 April 2013}} There are products of whole and ground wolfberry seeds and seed oil.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

Exaggerated claims about the health benefits of goji berry and derived products have triggered strong reactions from government regulatory agencies. In 2019–2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) placed two Goji product distributors on notice with warning letters about unproven therapeutic benefits.{{cite web|url=https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/lets-talk-health-inc-576771-08062019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190909072455/https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/lets-talk-health-inc-576771-08062019|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 September 2019|title=FDA warning letter to Let's Talk Health, Inc.|publisher=US Food and Drug Administration, Division of Human and Animal Food Operations|date=6 August 2019|accessdate=9 September 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/happy-hour-vitamins-593770-07232020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925233402/https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/happy-hour-vitamins-593770-07232020|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 September 2020|title=FDA warning letter to Happy Hour Vitamins|publisher=US Food and Drug Administration, Division of Human and Animal Food Operations|date=23 July 2020|accessdate=9 September 2024}} The advertisers' statements were in violation of the United States Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act [21 USC/321 (g)(1)]{{cite web |url=https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?CFRPart=1&showFR=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021115035947/http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?CFRPart=1&showFR=1|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 November 2002|title=Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Food and Drugs|publisher=US Food and Drug Administration|date=22 March 2024|accessdate=9 September 2024}} because they "establish[ed] the product as a drug intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease" when goji ingredients have had no such scientific evaluation. Additionally stated by the FDA, the goji products are "not generally recognized as safe and effective for the referenced conditions" and therefore must be treated as a "new drug" under Section 21(p) of the Act. New drugs may not be legally marketed in the United States without prior approval of the FDA.

In January 2007, marketing statements for a goji juice product were the subject of an investigative report by consumer advocacy program Marketplace produced by Canadian public broadcaster CBC.{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2007/01/goji.html |title = Getting Juiced |date=17 January 2007 |archive-date=2 February 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202031115/http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/2007/01/goji.html |work=CBC News |url-status=dead |access-date=6 February 2015}} In the interview, Earl Mindell (then working for direct-marketing company FreeLife International, Inc.) falsely claimed the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York had completed clinical studies showing that use of wolfberry juice would prevent 75% of human breast cancer cases.

Among the extreme claims used to market goji berries or its juice, often referred to as a "superfruit", is the unsupported story that a Chinese man named Li Qing Yuen, who was said to have consumed wolfberries daily, lived to the age of 256 years (1677–1933). This claim originated in a 2003 booklet by Earl Mindell, who also claimed goji had anti-cancer properties.Earl Mindell and Rick Handel (2003), "Goji: The Himalayan Health Secret". Momentum Media, 58 pages. {{ISBN|978-0967285528}} The booklet contained false and unverified claims.

On 29 May 2009, a class action lawsuit was filed against FreeLife in the United States District Court of Arizona. This lawsuit alleged false claims, misrepresentations, false and deceptive advertising, and other issues regarding FreeLife's Himalayan Goji Juice, GoChi, and TaiSlim products. This lawsuit sought remedies for consumers who had purchased the products over the years.{{cite web|title=Class action lawsuit against FreeLife International, Inc. |author=United States District Court for the District of Arizona |date=29 May 2009 |url=http://www.gojitrees.com/FreeLifeClassActionLawsuit%5B1%5D.pdf |access-date=31 October 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100801124833/http://www.gojitrees.com/FreeLifeClassActionLawsuit%5B1%5D.pdf |archive-date=1 August 2010 }}{{cite web|publisher=Quackwatch|url=https://quackwatch.org/mlm/c/Freelife/suit/|title= Class-Action Suit Filed against FreeLife and Earl Mindell|date=10 September 2009|accessdate=9 September 2024 }} A settlement agreement was reached on 28 April 2010, where FreeLife took steps to ensure that its goji products were not marketed as "unheated" or "raw", and made a contribution to an educational organization.{{cite web|url=https://casetext.com/case/freelife-international-v-american-educ-mus-publ|title=Freelife International v. American Educational Music Publications, Inc.|publisher=CaseText for United States District Court, D. Arizona|date=1 October 2009|accessdate=9 September 2024}}

As with many other novel "health" foods and supplements, the lack of clinical evidence and poor quality control in the manufacture of consumer products prevent goji from being clinically recommended or applied.

Because of the numerous effects claimed by traditional medicine, there has been considerable basic research to investigate the biological properties of the fruit phytochemicals. The composition of the fruits, seeds, roots, and other constituents, such as polysaccharides, has been analyzed, and extracts are under study.{{cite journal|pmid=19844860|year=2010|last1=Potterat|first1=O|title=Goji (Lycium barbarum and L. chinense): Phytochemistry, pharmacology, and safety in the perspective of traditional uses and recent popularity|journal=Planta Medica|volume=76|issue=1|pages=7–19|doi=10.1055/s-0029-1186218|doi-access=free}} However, no biological effects or clinical effectiveness of consuming the fruit itself, its juice, or extracts have been confirmed, {{as of|2021|lc=yes}}.

In vitro testing suggests that unidentified wolfberry phytochemicals in goji tea may inhibit metabolism of medications, such as those processed by the cytochrome P450 liver enzymes. Such drugs include warfarin and drugs for diabetes, tachycardia or hypertension.

Organochlorine pesticides are conventionally used in commercial wolfberry cultivation to mitigate infestation by insects. China's Green Food Standard, administered by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture's China Green Food Development Center, permits some pesticide and herbicide use.[http://www.worldwatch.org/node/3887 Pathbreaking Newsletter Promotes Development of Organic Sector in China] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231112217/http://www.worldwatch.org/node/3887 |date=31 December 2006 }} Lila Buckley. Worldwatch Institute. 28 February 2006.[http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200112/135682948.pdf GAIN Report #CH1072. Dueling Standards for Organic Foods 2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020044953/http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200112/135682948.pdf |date=20 October 2012 }} Ralph Bean and Xiang Qing. USDA Global Agriculture Information Network Foreign Agricultural Service. 12 December 2001.[http://www.itmonline.org/arts/organics.htm The Movement Toward Organic Herb Cultivation in China] Subhuti Dharmananda. Institute for Traditional Medicine. January 2004. Agriculture in the Tibetan plateau (where many "Himalayan" or "Tibetan"-branded berries supposedly originate) conventionally uses fertilizers and pesticides, making organic claims for berries originating there dubious.{{cite web|url=http://www.tibetinfonet.net/content/update/124 |title=TibetInfoNet - Update |access-date=1 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019183130/http://www.tibetinfonet.net/content/update/124 |archive-date=19 October 2012 }} Staff Reporter. The commercial legend of goji. Selling a Chinese crop under the Tibetan flag. TibetInfoNet, 29 July 2007.

Since the early 21st century, high levels of insecticide residues (including fenvalerate, cypermethrin, and acetamiprid) and fungicide residues (such as triadimenol and isoprothiolane), have been detected by the United States Food and Drug Administration in some imported wolfberries and wolfberry products of Chinese origin, leading to the seizure of these products.{{cite web|url=https://www.fda.gov/ora/fiars/ora_import_ia9908.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080106154905/https://www.fda.gov/ora/fiars/ora_import_ia9908.html|title=IMPORT ALERT IA9908|archive-date=6 January 2008|work=fda.gov}}

File:Goji dried berries.jpg

File:Goji Berries.jpg

Wolfberries are most often sold in dried form.

When ripe, the oblong, red berries are tender and must be picked or shaken from the vine into trays to avoid spoiling. The fruits are preserved by drying them in full sun on open trays or by mechanical dehydration, employing a progressively increasing series of heat exposure over 48 hours.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

China is the main supplier of wolfberry products globally, with total exports generating US$120 million in 2004. This production derived from {{convert|82,000|ha}} farmed nationwide, yielding 95,000 tons of wolfberries.

The majority of commercially produced wolfberry (50,000 tons in 2013, accounting for 45% of China's total yield) comes from L. barbarum plantations in the Ningxia and Xinjiang in Northwestern China. The cultivation is centered in Zhongning County, Ningxia, where wolfberry plantations typically range between 40 and 400 hectares (100–1000 acres or 500–6000 mu) in area.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Ningxia goji has been cultivated along the fertile floodplains of the Yellow River for more than 700 years. They are sometimes described commercially as "red diamonds".{{cite news |url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/chinagate/doc/2004-07/19/content_349679.htm |title = Wolfberry festival to be held in Ningxia |website=China Daily |date = 19 July 2004 |access-date = 5 February 2015}}{{Better source needed|date=December 2021}} The region has developed an industrial association of growers, processors, marketers, and scholars of wolfberry cultivation to promote the berry's commercial and export potential.{{cite web|url=http://en.people.cn/english/200108/19/eng20010819_77685.html|title=China's First Provincial-level Wolfberry Association Established |publisher = People's Daily – English |date=19 August 2001 |access-date=2 March 2015}} Ningxia goji is the variety used by practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine.

Wolfberries are celebrated each August in Ningxia with an annual festival coinciding with the berry harvest.[https://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nx.xinhuanet.com%2F20050713%2Fgq.htm&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=zh-CN&tl=en] Xinhua News Agency, Opening ceremonies of Ningxia wolfberry festival, 3 August 2005. Originally held in Ningxia's capital, Yinchuan, the festival has been based since 2000 in Zhongning County.

Besides Ningxia, commercial volumes of wolfberries grow in the Chinese regions of Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Lycium barbarum had been introduced in the United Kingdom in the 1730s by The Duke of Argyll, but the plant was mostly used for hedges and decorative gardening.{{GRIN |url=https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=22939}}

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) had initially placed goji berry in the Novel Foods list.[http://www.opsi.gov.uk/SI/si1997/19971335.htm The Novel Foods and Novel Food Ingredients Regulations 1997] That classification would have required authorisation from the European Council and Parliament for marketing.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} However, on 18 June 2007, the FSA concluded that there was a significant history of consumption of the fruit before 1997, indicating its safety, and thus removed it from the list.{{Cite web |url=http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2007/jun/goji |title=Responses on goji berries reviewed, UK Food Standards Agency, June 2007 |access-date=18 June 2007 |archive-date=12 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412135908/http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2007/jun/goji |url-status=dead }}

In the first decade of the 21st century, farmers in Canada and the United States began cultivating goji on a commercial scale to meet potential markets for fresh berries, juice, and processed products.{{cite web |url=http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2008/07/30/fairground-family-first-to-gamble-on-gojis |title=Fairground family first to gamble on gojis |last1=Boutin |first1=N |date=30 July 2008 |work=Woodstock Sentinel Review |publisher=Sun Media |access-date=14 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304023432/http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2008/07/30/fairground-family-first-to-gamble-on-gojis |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-goji5-2009aug05,0,1276183.story |title=Goji taunts North American farmers |last1=Karp |first1=D |date=5 August 2009 |work=Los Angeles Times – Food |access-date=14 April 2013}}

Australia imports most of its goji berries from China, due to how expensive the Australian labour force is in comparison with the countries that have the largest share of the current market.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2015-09-30/rural-nsw-goji/6814060|title=Hundreds of Australian farmers growing goji berries, but none selling yet|last=Wainwright|first=Sofie|date=30 September 2015|website=ABC Rural|language=en-AU|access-date=27 August 2019}}

{{Portal|Food}}

• Gouqi jiu

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Wiktionary|wolfberry|枸杞子}}

{{Commons category|Goji berries}}

• [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020536 Flora of China citation for L. barbarum]
• [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020538 Flora of China citation for L. chinense]
• [http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=LYBA4 United States Department of Agriculture]
• [http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Lycium+barbarum Plants For A Future database]
• [http://montana.plant-life.org/species/lyci_barba.htm Montana plant life.org]

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Category:Berries

Category:Dried fruit

Category:Edible Solanaceae

Category:Dietary supplements

Category:Herbs

Category:Leaf vegetables

Category:Lycium

Category:Medicinal plants of East Asia

Category:Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine

Category:Traditional Japanese medicine

Category:Traditional Korean medicine