Goji berries for weight loss: how to use and reviews

Why suddenly it became fashionable to use dry goji berries for weight loss? Or to swallow capsules goji berries for weight loss? And where did the diet for weight loss with goji berries come from?

After all, the expected reduction in body weight should be facilitated only by their low caloric content and sufficient content of vitamins and minerals ...

By the way, goji berries, which the Chinese call red raisins, were used in traditional Chinese medicine during the Ming Dynasty (from the middle of the 14th century). Fresh and dried berries were considered useful for "strengthening yin", for improving liver function, for male infertility and impaired vision in old age. Decoction of the roots of the plant Lycium chinense served as a cough remedy for pulmonary tuberculosis and for normalization of blood sugar level.

Benefits of Goji berries

Berries goji or wolfberry - in the English-speaking countries it is a wolfberry (wolfberry) - the fruits of a solanaceous bushes of the daisy or Lycium Barbarum. In China, where do these fruits come from, one of its species grows everywhere: Lycium chinense (Chinese daisy). There, from the young leaves of the tree, a salad is prepared (they contain up to 3.9% protein), dried and brewed instead of tea, and the fried seeds replace coffee. The name "goji" (gojizi) appeared in the mid-1970s on packs of tonic herbal teas with berries of the tree. Nobody used goji berries for weight loss.

According to Chinese Materia Medica, goji berries - like many fruits - have enough vitamins (especially ascorbic acid, thiamine and riboflavin); contain two dozen microelements (iron, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, etc.); more than 40 types of flavonoids (quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, etc.).  

In the composition of the fruits of the Chinese tree there is a protein, which consists of 18 amino acids, including 8 irreplaceable. Berries contain phytosterols, monoterpene and steroid glycosides, organic acids, lipids and even essential fatty acids.

The greater benefit of goji berries is in carotenoids, of which 45% on average account for the yellow pigment zeaxanthine dipalmitate (fizalin), and also for the red pigment lycopene - the main antioxidants of these fruits. The analysis showed that the content of these beta-carotene derivatives is 0.3-0.5%. By the way, zeaxanthin contains green, yellow and orange vegetables and fruits: spinach, cabbage, broccoli, zucchini, leaf salads, orange sweet pepper, oranges, tangerines, persimmons, sea buckthorn. Lycopene is abundant in tomatoes. Zeaxanthin is the most important for vision, as it absorbs ultraviolet and protects the retina and the eye's macula from degeneration.

Chinese "red raisins" also contains amylose - a polysaccharide, useful for immunity and digestion. In particular, polysaccharides are a source of probiotic fibers, and fiber, as is known, contributes to absorption of nutrients in the small intestine and a decrease in the level of cholesterol in the blood.

However, the clinical effects of chemical compounds of these fruits - including, and the benefit of goji berries for weight loss - is difficult to determine due to the lack of standardized testing methods. Moreover, the leading British dieticians from the British Dietetic Association consider the arguments about the medicinal properties of goji berries unconvincing and say that the evidence of their health benefits is based on studies using purified fruit extracts - much more concentrated than the berries themselves, which are offered to consumers.

And now it is worth to say a few words about the benefits of goji berries for those who grow them, collect, dry and sell them. Deciding to make these common berries for the local population exported product, in China, under cultivation of unpretentious to the soil and frost-resistant shrub took more than 82 thousand hectares (mainly in the northern and western provinces of the country). The associations of producers and processors were established, and marketing and biochemistry specialists were involved. The researchers found useful substances in goji berries, and marketers "turned" them into Superfruit - a popular commercial naturprodukt. As a result, the annual collection of wolfberry is 50 thousand tons, and the export of this dried fruit brings China up to $ 140 million per year.

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Damage to goji berries

Perhaps the sellers of this Superfruit do not know that it is not useful to everyone. Studies have determined what the harm of goji berries is.

In vitro testing has shown that tea inhibits the metabolism of ingested antagonists of vitamin K, in particular, warfarin. Potentially harmful interactions can occur if these berries are consumed simultaneously with drugs for the treatment of diabetes and hypertension, which undergo transformation in the body with the help of the cytochrome liver enzyme.

Contraindicated dry goji berries for weight loss, as well as decoctions of them with low blood pressure, stomach diseases. You can eat them only during the day, as they can provoke insomnia.

Goji berries contain atropine, and their excessive intake can cause dizziness, decreased vision and even a state of hallucination.

Due to the significant content of selenium, the use of goji berries for weight loss during pregnancy and during lactation is not recommended.

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Method of using goji berries for weight loss

According to foreign dieticians, one ounce (28.4 g) of goji berries gives 91 calories and contains: protein - 4 g, carbohydrates - 24 g, fats - 3.7 g, dietary fiber - 4 g.

They can be eaten raw, put in dishes (in China they are used in the preparation of soups and stews). Tea with goji berries is advertised for weight loss, as well as juice (with preservatives and sugar). Those who do business with bioadditives are offered not only dry goji berries for weight loss, but also capsules filled with what they claim to be a powder of dried berries.

If you know how to make an infusion of wild rose berries, then how to brew goji berries for weight loss, it is easy to guess - 10 g of dry raw materials for 200-250 ml of boiling water.

Also advise how to drink goji berries for weight loss: a glass immediately before the main meals. This gives a saturation effect, and the amount of food can be reduced.

But with the same success, you can drink a glass of ordinary water, because these fruits do not affect the appetite and will not help you lose weight quickly if you do not limit yourself to high-calorie food and do not increase physical activity with the help of training.

But cocktails with goji berries for weight loss will require the presence of fresh berries, which are mixed in a mixer with any fruit.

Recipes for weight loss with goji berries are mainly related to adding them to muesli or porridge.

Some advertising texts say that with the regular use of goji berries, the process of losing weight is achieved due to their unique properties. First of all, the emphasis is on improving metabolism and circulation, reducing harmful cholesterol and regulating blood sugar levels.

What do goji berries are better than other types of berries?

Most fruits contain both vitamins, and antioxidants, and fiber (that is, dietary fiber). For example, the recommended daily rate of fiber is 25 grams, and 4 g of goji berries are clearly below the norm. And here, preference should be given to raspberries, plums (2 grams of fiber in each sink, and twice as much in prunes), pear (in a medium-sized fruit contains 5 g of fibers), apples.

So many nutritionists who do not pay attention to advertising, it is not yet clear what the goji berries are better than other types of berries. Moreover, "real feedback" and the results of those who lose weight can not be verified, and there are no seriously substantiated and clinically grounded medical reports on the effectiveness of Chinese fruit to reduce body weight or treat obesity.

But there is information on these antioxidant properties of products - Oxygen Radical Antioxidant Capacity (ORAC), which in 2004-2008. Purposefully studied by the Laboratory of Food Products (NDL) of the Ministry of Agriculture (USDA). And since clinical trials of the benefits of food antioxidants have shown conflicting results, experts concluded that ORAC data can not be extrapolated to "the natural exposure to these products per person". So, back in 2012, ORAC data, to which many of those who through the Internet are selling goji berries for weight loss, have been removed from the official website of the American Agrarian Department.