Goji berries for weight loss: how to use and reviews

Why is it suddenly fashionable to eat dried goji berries for weight loss? Or swallow goji berry capsules for weight loss? And where did the goji berry weight loss diet come from?

After all, the expected weight loss should be facilitated only by their low calorie content and sufficient content of vitamins and minerals...

By the way, goji berries, which the Chinese call red raisins, began to be used in traditional Chinese medicine during the Ming Dynasty (since the mid-14th century). Fresh and dried berries were considered useful for "strengthening yin", improving liver function, male infertility and deteriorating vision in old age. A decoction of the roots of the Lycium chinense plant served as a cough remedy for pulmonary tuberculosis and for normalizing blood sugar levels.

Benefits of Goji Berries

Goji berries or wolfberries – in English-speaking countries, they are the fruit of the nightshade shrub Lycium barbarum. In China, where these fruits are brought from, one of its species, Lycium chinense (Chinese wolfberry), grows everywhere. There, young wolfberry leaves are used to make a salad (they contain up to 3.9% protein), dried and brewed instead of tea, and roasted seeds are used as a substitute for coffee. The name “goji” appeared in the mid-1970s on packages of tonic herbal teas with wolfberry. No one 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.).

The fruit of the Chinese wolfberry contains protein, which consists of 18 amino acids, including 8 essential ones. The berries contain phytosterols, monoterpene and steroid glycosides, organic acids, lipids and even essential fatty acids.

The great benefit of goji berries is in carotenoids, of which an average of 45% is accounted for by the yellow pigment zeaxanthin dipalmitate (physalin), as well as the red pigment lycopene - the main antioxidants of these fruits. Analysis showed that the content of these derivatives of beta-carotene is 0.3-0.5%. By the way, zeaxanthin is contained in green, yellow and orange vegetables and fruits: spinach, cabbage, broccoli, zucchini, leafy salads, orange sweet peppers, oranges, tangerines, persimmons, sea buckthorn. And there is plenty of lycopene in tomatoes. Zeaxanthin is most important for vision, as it absorbs ultraviolet light and protects the retina and macula of the eye from degeneration.

Chinese red raisins also contain amylose, a polysaccharide that is beneficial for immunity and digestion. In particular, polysaccharides are a source of probiotic fiber, and fiber is known to promote nutrient absorption in the small intestine and reduce blood cholesterol levels.

However, the clinical effects of the fruit's chemical compounds - including whether goji berries can help you lose weight - are difficult to determine due to a lack of standardised testing methods. In fact, leading UK dieticians from the British Dietetic Association find the claims for goji berries' medicinal properties unconvincing, saying the evidence for their health benefits is based on studies using purified extracts of the fruit - much more concentrated than the actual berries sold to consumers.

Now it is worth saying a few words about the benefits of goji berries for those who grow, collect, dry and sell them. Having decided to make these berries, common to the local population, an export product, in China more than 82 thousand hectares were allocated for the cultivation of the undemanding to the soil and frost-resistant bush (mainly in the northern and western provinces of the country). Associations of producers and processors were created, and marketing specialists and biochemists were involved. Researchers discovered useful substances in goji berries, and marketers "turned" them into Superfruit - a sought-after commercial natural product. As a result, the annual harvest 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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Harmful effects of goji berries

Perhaps the sellers of this Superfruit do not know that it is not useful for everyone. Research has determined what is harmful about goji berries.

In vitro testing has shown that the tea inhibits the metabolism of orally administered vitamin K antagonists, particularly warfarin. Potentially harmful interactions may occur if these berries are consumed concurrently with diabetes and hypertension medications that are metabolized in the body by a liver cytochrome enzyme.

Dry goji berries are contraindicated for weight loss, as well as decoctions from them for low blood pressure, stomach diseases. They can only be consumed during the day, as they can provoke insomnia.

Goji berries contain atropine, and excessive consumption can cause dizziness, blurred vision, and even hallucinations.

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

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How to use goji berries for weight loss

According to foreign nutritionists, one ounce (28.4 g) of goji berries provides 91 kcal and contains: protein - 4 g, carbohydrates - 24 g, fat - 3.7 g, dietary fiber - 4 g.

They can be eaten raw, added to dishes (in China they are used in soups and stews). Goji berry tea for weight loss is advertised, as well as juice (with preservatives and sugar). Those who are engaged in the business of dietary supplements offer not only dried goji berries for weight loss, but also capsules filled, as they assure, with powder from dried berries.

If you know how to make an infusion from rose hips, then it is not difficult to guess how to brew goji berries for weight loss - 10 g of dry raw materials per 200-250 ml of boiling water.

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

But you can just as easily drink a glass of plain water, since these fruits do not affect your appetite in any way and will not help you lose weight quickly unless you limit yourself to high-calorie foods and increase your physical activity through exercise.

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

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

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

Why are goji berries better than other types of berries?

Most fruits contain vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber (i.e. dietary fiber). For example, the recommended daily intake of fiber is 25 g, and 4 g from goji berries is clearly not enough. And here preference should be given to raspberries, plums (each plum contains 2 g of fiber, and prunes - twice as much), pears (a medium-sized fruit contains 5 g of fiber), apples.

So many nutritionists who don't pay attention to advertising still don't understand why goji berries are better than other types of berries. Especially since "real reviews" and the results of those who have lost weight cannot be verified, and there are no seriously reasoned and clinically substantiated reviews from doctors about the effectiveness of wolfberry for weight loss or obesity treatment.

However, there is information regarding the antioxidant properties of products – Oxygen Radical Antioxidant Capacity (ORAC), which were specifically studied by the National Laboratory of Foods (NDL) of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2004-2008. And since clinical trials of the benefits of food antioxidants showed contradictory results, experts came to the conclusion that ORAC data cannot be extrapolated to “natural conditions of exposure of these products to humans.” So, back in 2012, ORAC data, which are still referred to by many of those who sell goji berries for weight loss on the Internet, were removed from the official website of the US Department of Agriculture.