I must be bored, because I decided to surf some competitor sites to see what they are up to and BOY did I find some funky stuff. I am not a critical person by nature but I decided to have some fun with this. All of this comes for just one, high Google ranked site.
“I am not knocking goji berries, I love goji berries and my family and I eat them every day. I am just having a little fun at the expense of this website.
First off, “Our Goji berries come from Northern Asia in the Tibetan and Mongolian Himalayas.”
I don’t have a PhD in geography but even a sixth grader knows that the Himalayan mountain range never has and never will extend into Mongolia, and I personally know that goji, even in the smallest quantities are not coming from either Tibet, Mongolia, Tibetan Plateau or the Himalayas. Anyone claiming as much is either uninformed or just out-right lying. I would love to have any company advertising such claims to show me a picture with GPS coordinates as proof.
More gibberish. “Goji berries will grow in almost any climate, but are most prevalent in the Himalayas.”
I forgot, some of the worlds most celebrated botanical gardens are in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan Plateau (which is at a lower elevation then the actual Himalayan mountain range) .
Fact: The Tibetan Plateau, comprising most of Tibet north and east of the Himalayas, lies at more than 3000 m (10,000 ft) in altitude, with poor soil and arid climate conditions unfavorable for fruit crops. Defined by the geography of Tibet, particularly in the western Himalayas, cold nighttime temperatures averaging -4°C year round with six months of continual frost would inhibit plant bud development and prevent fruit formation. Existing in Tibet are minimal subsistence agriculture and impoverished crop management and transportation facilities unsupportive of commercial berry production. Although limited fertile regions suitable for food crops exist in the valleys of Lhasa, Shigatse, Gyantse, and the Brahmaputra River, there are no objective economic, scientific, or government reports on the commercial production of Lycium berry species from these Tibetan regions. (from Wikipedia, also verified via references)
More? “We are the best source for Himalayan Goji Berries because we directly import the authentic Lycium Barbarum, the original and most nutritious known strain of the 41 Asian varieties.”
There is that Himalayan goji berry again. This time it’s the most nutritious of 41 strains. Again, I am not a PhD ethnobotanist but I have done enough goji research over the last 3-4 years to know that there are less than a handful of edible Lycium varieties world-wide; Lycium chinensis and Lycium barbarum being the most famous and well known. They have the best strain of the ’41 Asian varieties’. They better get some anti-virals, it sound like the flu to me.
Again, more non-sense: “500 times more Vitamin C than oranges.”
I want some of this action to help me if I get some of the above. So, if a 6 ounce orange has 50 mg’s of Vitamin C, than 6 ounces of Himalayan Goji berries would have 2.5 grams of Vitamin C. Now I see where their coming from, they have the special strain, Himalayan variety, that’s it. Joking aside, the berries have between 29 mg per 100 grams to as high as 148 mg per 100 grams. Goji is a very good vitamin C source and I do recommend them daily in my practice.
I am starting to feel bad about picking on this site but it’s like slowing when there’s an accident of the side of the road, you just can’t help yourself.
Another doozy! (Any typo or misspelling here comes from their site): “HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE:
Goji berries are known to have a unique polysaccharide that stimulates the pituitary gland in the anterior of the brain to produce more Human Growth Hormone, the master hormone in our bodies.
Growth Hormones are know to slow down, and even reverse some of the effects of aging. For centuries, people in Asia that have customarily eaten Goji berries have been documented to live longer and healthier lives with little or no incidence of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, fibromyalgia, lupus, multiple scirosis, or a host of other “dread” diseases that are afflicting many of the Industrialized Nations of the world.”
We better let every professional sports player in on this one. Just think steroids will be a thing of the past. All you need to do now is eat a hand-full of goji berries and watch time being shaved off your ¼ mile sprint or amaze your friend with your new found muscles and ripped abs, just from eating goji berries.
The best part about the above referenced paragraph, is that if I eat goji berries I won’t get the ‘dread’ disease – multiple scirosis. That sounds like a nasty one!
Marcus Ettinger DC, BSc.
