21 Most Beneficial Polyphenols & What Foods Have Them

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We often write about polyphenols here at 10almonds; sometimes mentioning that a certain food is good because it has them, or else occasionally an entire article about a particular polyphenol. But what about a birds-eye view of polyphenols as a whole?

Well, there are many, but we’ve picked 21 particularly beneficial for human health, and what foods contain them.

We’ll be working from this fantastic database, by the way:

❝Phenol-Explorer is the first comprehensive database on polyphenol content in foods. The database contains more than 35,000 content values for 500 different polyphenols in over 400 foods. These data are derived from the systematic collection of more than 60,000 original content values found in more than 1,300 scientific publications. Each of these publications has been critically evaluated before inclusion in the database. The whole data on the polyphenol composition of foods is available for download.❞

Source: Phenol-Explorer.EU | Database on polyphenol content in foods

We use this database at least several times per week while writing 10almonds; it’s a truly invaluable resource!

However, 500 is a lot, so here’s a rundown of 21 especially impactful ones; we’ve sorted them per the categories used in the explorer, and in some cases we’ve aggregated several very similar polyphenols typically found together in the same foods, into one item (so for example we just list “quercetin” instead of quercetin 3-O-rutinoside + quercetin 4′-O-glucoside + quercetin 3,4′-O-diglucoside, etc etc). We’ve also broadly grouped some particularly populous ones such as “anthocyanins”, “catechins”, and so forth.

Without further ado, here’s what you ideally want to be getting plenty of in your diet:

Flavonoids

  1. Quercetin
  2. Kaempferol
    • Foods: spinach, kale, tea (green and black), capers, brussels sprouts.
    • Benefits: antioxidant, may reduce the risk of cancer, supports cardiovascular health, and has anti-inflammatory properties.
  3. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)
    • Foods: green tea, matcha.
    • Benefits: potent antioxidant, promotes weight loss, supports brain health, and may reduce the risk of heart disease.
  4. Anthocyanins
    • Foods: blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, red cabbage, cherries.
    • Benefits: improve brain health, support eye health, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
  5. Apigenin
    • Foods: parsley, celery, chamomile tea.
    • Benefits: anti-inflammatory, reduces anxiety, and supports brain and immune system health.
  6. Luteolin
    • Foods: peppers, thyme, celery, carrots.
    • Benefits: anti-inflammatory, supports brain health, and may help reduce the growth of cancer cells.
  7. Catechins (aside from EGCG)
    • Foods: green tea, dark chocolate, apples
    • Benefits: boosts metabolism, supports cardiovascular health, and reduces oxidative stress.
  8. Hesperidin
    • Foods: oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits.
    • Benefits: supports vascular health, reduces inflammation, and may help manage diabetes.
  9. Naringenin
    • Foods: oranges, grapefruits, tomatoes.
    • Benefits: antioxidant, supports liver health, and may improve cholesterol levels.

For more on epigallocatechin gallate and other catechins, see: Which Tea Is Best, By Science?

Phenolic Acids

  1. Chlorogenic acid
  2. Caffeic acid
  3. Ferulic acid
    • Foods: whole grains, rice bran, oats, flaxseeds, spinach.
    • Benefits: protects skin from UV damage, reduces inflammation, and supports cardiovascular health.
  4. Gallic acid
    • Foods: green tea, berries, walnuts.
    • Benefits: antioxidant, may reduce the risk of cancer, and supports brain health.

Stilbenes

  1. Resveratrol
    • Foods: red currants, blueberries, peanuts.
    • Benefits: anti-aging properties, supports heart health, and reduces inflammation.
    • See also: Resveratrol & Healthy Aging ← and no, you can’t usefully get it from red wine; here’s why!

Lignans

  1. Secoisolariciresinol
    • Foods: flaxseeds, sesame seeds, whole grains.
    • Benefits: supports hormone balance, reduces the risk of hormone-related cancers, and promotes gut health.
  2. Matairesinol
    • Foods: rye, oats, barley, sesame seeds.
    • Benefits: hormonal support, antioxidant, and may reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

See also: Sprout Your Seeds, Grains, Beans, Etc ← for maximum nutritional availability!

Tannins

  1. Ellagic acid
    • Foods: pomegranates, raspberries, walnuts.
    • Benefits: anti-cancer properties, supports skin health, and reduces inflammation.
  2. Proanthocyanidins
    • Foods: cranberries, apples, grapes, dark chocolate.
    • Benefits: supports urinary tract health, reduces inflammation, and improves blood vessel health.

See also: Enjoy Bitter Foods For Your Heart & Brain

Curcuminoids

  1. Curcumin

Isoflavones

  1. Genistein
    • Foods: soybeans, chickpeas.
    • Benefits: supports bone health, reduces the risk of hormone-related cancers, and promotes heart health.
  2. Daidzein
    • Foods: soybeans, legumes.
    • Benefits: hormonal balance, supports bone health, and may help alleviate menopausal symptoms.

See also: What Does “Balance Your Hormones” Even Mean?

Well, that’s a lot of things to remember!

If you want to make it easier for yourself, you can simply make sure to get at least 30 different kinds of plant into your diet per week, and by doing so, statistically, you should cover most of these!

Read more: What’s Your Plant Diversity Score?

Alternatively, for a middle-ground approach of targetting 16 most polyphenol delivering foods, check out this super-dense arrangement:

Mediterranean Diet… In A Pill? ← it’s about plant extracts from 16 specific foods, and the polyphenols they deliver

Enjoy!

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  • Sunflower Corn Burger

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Burgers are rarely a health food, but in this case, everything in the patty is healthy, and it’s packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fats.

    You will need

    • 1 can chickpeas
    • ¾ cup frozen corn
    • ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
    • ⅓ cup sunflower seeds
    • ⅓ cup cornichon pickles
    • ⅓ cup wholegrain bread crumbs (gluten-free, if desired/required)
    • ¼ bulb garlic (or more if you want a stronger flavor)
    • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus more for frying
    • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (or 1 tsp yeast extract)
    • 2 tsp ground cumin
    • 2 tsp red pepper flakes
    • 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
    • To serve: 4 burger buns; these are not usually healthy, so making your own is best, but if you don’t have the means/time, then getting similarly shaped wholegrain bread buns works just fine.
    • Optional: your preferred burger toppings, e.g. greenery, red onion, tomato slices, avocado, jalapeños, whatever does it for you

    Note: there is no need to add salt; there is enough already in the pickles.

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Combine all the ingredients except the buns (and any optional toppings) in a food processor, pulsing a few times for a coarse texture (not a purée).

    2) Shape the mixture into 4 burger patties, and let them chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

    3) Heat a skillet over a medium-high heat with some olive oil, and fry the burgers on both sides until they develop a nice golden crust; this will probably take about 4 minutes per side.

    4) Assemble in the buns with any toppings you want, and serve:

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • Microplastics found in artery plaque linked with higher risk of heart attack, stroke and death

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    Microplastics and nanoplastics are everywhere in our environment – including in our oceans and lakes, farmland, and even Arctic ice algae.

    Microplastics have also been found inside of us – with studies detecting them in various tissues including in the lungs, blood, heart and placenta. Understandably, concern is rising about the potential risks of microplastics on our health.

    However, while a growing body of research has focused on microplastics and nanoplastics, there’s still a lack of direct evidence that their presence in human tissues is harmful to our health – and it’s uncertain if they are related to particular diseases.

    A new study has uncovered a correlation between microplastics and heart health, though. The researchers found that people who had detectable microplastics and nanoplastics in the plaque in their arteries had a higher risk of heart attack, stroke and death.

    Heart health

    The researchers looked at 257 people altogether. All of the patients were already undergoing preventative surgery to remove plaque from their carotid arteries (the main arteries that supply the brain with blood). This allowed the researchers to collect plaque samples and perform a chemical analysis. They then followed up with participants 34 months later.

    Of the 257 participants, 150 were found to have the presence of microplastics and nanoplastics in their arterial plaque – mainly fragments of two of the most commonly used plastics in the world, polyethylene (used in grocery bags, bottles and food packaging) and polyvinyl chloride (used in flooring, cladding and pipes).

    A statistical analysis of this data found that patients with microplastics and nanoplastics in their plaque had a higher risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke or death from any cause, compared with those who had no microplastics or nanoplastics in their plaque.

    The researchers also analysed the macrophages (a type of immune cell that helps remove pathogens from the body) in the patients’ arteries. They found that participants who’d had microplastics and nanoplastics in their plaque also had evidence of plastic fragments in their macrophages.

    They also looked at whether certain genes associated with inflammation (which can be a sign of disease) were switched on in the participants. They found that the participants who’d had microplastics and nanoplastics in their plaque also had signs of inflammation in their genes.

    A digital drawing of plaque in an artery.
    The microplastics were found in samples of plaque extracted from the carotid artery. Rocos/ Shutterstock

    These results may suggest an accumulation of nanoplastics and microplastics in carotid plaque could partly trigger inflammation. This inflammation may subsequently change the way plaque behaves in the body, making it less stable and triggering it to form a blood clot – which can eventually block blood flow, leading to heart attacks and strokes.

    Interestingly, the researchers also found the presence of nanoplastics and microplastics was more common in participants who had diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This raises a lot of questions which have yet to be answered – such as why microplastics were more common in these participants, and if there may be a correlation between other diseases and the presence of microplastics in the body.

    Other health risks

    This study only focused on patients who had carotid artery disease and were already having surgery to remove the build-up of plaque. As such, it’s unclear whether the findings of this study can be applied to a larger population of people.

    However, it isn’t the first study to show a link between microplastics and nanoplastics with poor health. Research suggests some of this harm may be due to the way microplastics and nanoplastics interact with proteins in the body.

    For example, some human proteins adhere to the surface of polystyrene nanoplastics, forming a layer surrounding the nanoparticle. The formation of this layer may influence the activity and transfer of nanoplastics in human organs.

    Another study suggested that nanoplastics can interact with a protein called alpha-synuclein, which in mouse studies has been shown to play a crucial role in facilitating communication between nerve cells. These clumps of nanoplastics and protein may increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease.

    My published PhD research in chicken embryos found that nanoplastics may cause congenital malformations due to the way they interact with a protein called cadherin6B. Based on the interactions myself and fellow researchers saw, these malformations may affect the embryo’s eyes and neural tube, as well as the heart’s development and function.

    Given the fact that nanoplastics and microplastics are found in carotid plaque, we now need to investigate how these plastics got into such tissues.

    In mice, it has been demonstrated that gut macrophages (a type of white blood cell) can absorb microplastics and nanoplastics into their cell membrane. Perhaps a similar mechanism is taking place in the arteries, since nanoplastics have been identified in samples of carotid plaque macrophages.

    The findings from this latest study add to a growing body of evidence showing a link between plastic products and our health. It is important now for researchers to investigate the specific mechanisms by which microplastics and nanoplastics cause harm in the body.

    Meiru Wang, Postdoctoral Researcher, Molecular Biology and Nanotoxicology, Leiden University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    The Conversation

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  • Safe Effective Sleep Aids For Seniors

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    Safe Efective Sleep Aids For Seniors

    Choosing a safe, effective sleep aid can be difficult, especially as we get older. Take for example this research review, which practically says, when it comes to drugs, “Nope nope nope nope nope, definitely not, we don’t know, wow no, useful in one (1) circumstance only, definitely not, fine if you must”:

    Review of Safety and Efficacy of Sleep Medicines in Older Adults

    Let’s break it down…

    What’s not so great

    Tranquilizers aren’t very healthy ways to get to sleep, and are generally only well-used as a last resort. The most common of these are benzodiazepines, which is the general family of drugs with names usually ending in –azepam and –azolam.

    Their downsides are many, but perhaps their biggest is their tendency to induce tolerance, dependence, and addiction.

    Non-benzo hypnotics aren’t fabulous either. Z-drugs such as zolpidem tartrate (popularly known by the brand name Ambien, amongst others), comes with warnings that it shouldn’t be prescribed if you have sleep apnea (i.e., one of the most common causes of insomnia), and should be used only with caution in patients who have depression or are elderly, as it may cause protracted daytime sedation and/or ataxia.

    See also: Benzodiazepine and z-drug withdrawal

    (and here’s a user-friendly US-based resource for benzodiazepine addiction specifically)

    Antihistamines are commonly sold as over-the-counter sleep aids, because they can cause drowsiness, but a) they often don’t b) they may reduce your immune response that you may actually need for something. They’re still a lot safer than tranquilizers, though.

    What about cannabis products?

    We wrote about some of the myths and realities of cannabis use yesterday, but it does have some medical uses beyond pain relief, and use as a sleep aid is one of them—but there’s another caveat.

    How it works: CBD, and especially THC, reduces REM sleep, causing you to spend longer in deep sleep. Deep sleep is more restorative and restful. And, if part of your sleep problem was nightmares, they can only occur during REM sleep, so you’ll be skipping those, too. However, REM sleep is also necessary for good brain health, and missing too much of it will result in cognitive impairment.

    Opting for a CBD product that doesn’t contain THC may improve sleep with less (in fact, no known) risk of long-term impairment.

    See: Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Sleep: a Review of the Literature

    Melatonin: a powerful helper with a good safety profile

    We did a main feature on this recently, so we won’t take up too much space here, but suffice it to say: melatonin is our body’s own natural sleep hormone, and our body is good at scrubbing it when we see white/blue light (so, look at such if you feel groggy upon awakening, and it should clear up quickly), so that and its very short elimination half-life again make it quite safe.

    Unlike tranquilizers, we don’t develop a tolerance to it, let alone dependence or addiction, and unlike cannabis, it doesn’t produce long-term adverse effects (after all, our brains are supposed to have melatonin in them every night). You can read our previous main feature (including a link to get melatonin, if you want) here:

    Melatonin: A Safe Natural Sleep Supplement

    Herbal options: which really work?

    Valerian? Probably not, but it seems safe to try. Data on this is very inconsistent, and many studies supporting it had poor methodology. Shinjyo et al. also hypothesized that the inconsistency may be due to the highly variable quality of the supplements, and lack of regulation, as they are provided “based on traditional use only”.

    See: Valerian Root in Treating Sleep Problems and Associated Disorders-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

    Chamomile? Given the fame of chamomile tea as a soothing, relaxing bedtime drink, there’s surprisingly little research out there for this specifically (as opposed to other medicinal features of chamomile, of which there are plenty).

    But here’s one study that found it helped significantly:

    The effects of chamomile extract on sleep quality among elderly people: A clinical trial

    Unlike valerian, which is often sold as tablets, chamomile is most often sold as a herbal preparation for making chamomile tea, so the quality is probably quite consistent. You can also easily grow your own in most places!

    Technological interventions

    We may not have sci-fi style regeneration alcoves just yet, but white noise machines, or better yet, pink noise machines, help:

    White Noise Is Good; Pink Noise Is Better

    Note: the noise machine can be a literal physical device purchased to do that (most often sold as for babies, but babies aren’t the only ones who need to sleep!), but it can also just be your phone playing an appropriate audio file (there are apps available) or YouTube video.

    We reviewed some sleep apps; you might like those too:

    The Head-To-Head Of Google and Apple’s Top Apps For Getting Your Head Down

    Enjoy, and rest well!

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  • Montana Eyes $30M Revamp of Mental Health, Developmental Disability Facilities

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    HELENA, Mont. — As part of a proposed revamping of the state’s behavioral health system, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration is looking into moving a facility for people with developmental disabilities, beefing up renovations at the Montana State Hospital, and creating a Helena unit of that psychiatric hospital.

    The changes, backers say, would fill gaps in services and help people better prepare for life outside of the locked, secure setting of the two state facilities before they reenter their own communities.

    “I think part of the theme is responsibly moving people in and out of the state facilities so that we create capacity and have people in the appropriate places,” state Sen. Dave Fern (D-Whitefish) said of the proposed capital projects during a recent interview.

    Fern served on the Behavioral Health System for Future Generations Commission, a panel created by a 2023 law to suggest how to spend $300 million to revamp the system. The law set aside the $300 million for improving state services for people with mental illness, substance abuse disorders, and developmental disabilities.

    Gianforte’s proposed budget for the next two years would spend about $100 million of that fund on 10 other recommendations from the commission. The capital projects are separate ideas for using up to $32.5 million of the $75 million earmarked within the $300 million pool of funds for building new infrastructure or remodeling existing buildings.

    The state Department of Public Health and Human Services and consultants for the behavioral health commission presented commission members with areas for capital investments in October. In December, the commission authorized state health department director Charlie Brereton to recommend the following projects to Gianforte:

    • Move the 12-bed Intensive Behavior Center for people with developmental disabilities out of Boulder, possibly to either Helena or Butte, at an estimated cost of up to $13.3 million.
    • Establish a “step-down” facility of about 16 beds, possibly on the campus of Shodair Children’s Hospital in Helena, to serve adults who have been committed to the Montana State Hospital but no longer need the hospital’s intensive psychiatric services.
    • Invest $19.2 million to upgrade the Montana State Hospital’s infrastructure and buildings at Warm Springs, on top of nearly $16 million appropriated in 2023 for renovations already underway there in an effort to regain federal certification of the facility.

    The state Architecture & Engineering Division is reviewing the health department’s cost estimates and developing a timeline for the projects so the information can be sent to the governor. Gianforte ultimately must approve the projects.

    Health department officials have said they plan to take the proposals to legislative committees as needed. “With Commission recommendation and approval from the governor, the Department believes that it has the authority to proceed with capital project expenditures but must secure additional authority from the Legislature to fund operations into future biennia,” said department spokesperson Jon Ebelt.

    The department outlined its facility plans to the legislature’s health and human services budget subcommittee on Jan. 22 as part of a larger presentation on the commission’s work and the 10 noncapital proposals in the governor’s budget. Time limits prevented in-depth discussion and public comment on the facility-related ideas.

    One change the commission didn’t consider: moving the Montana State Hospital to a more populated area from its rural and relatively remote location near Anaconda, in southwestern Montana, in an attempt to alleviate staffing shortages.

    “The administration is committed to continuing to invest in MSH as it exists today,” Brereton told the commission in October, referring to the Montana State Hospital.

    The hospital provides treatment to people with mental illness who have been committed to the state’s custody through a civil or criminal proceeding. It’s been beset by problems, including the loss of federal Medicaid and Medicare funding due to decertification by the federal government in April 2022, staffing issues that have led to high use of expensive traveling health care providers, and turnover in leadership.

    State Sen. Chris Pope (D-Bozeman) was vice chair of a separate committee that met between the 2023 and 2025 legislative sessions and monitored progress toward a 2023 legislative mandate to transition patients with dementia out of the state hospital. He agreed in a recent interview that improving — not moving — MSH is a top priority for the system right now.

    “Right now, we have an institution that is failing and needs to be brought back into the modern age, where it is located right now,” he said after ticking off a list of challenges facing the hospital.

    State Sen. John Esp (R-Big Timber) also noted at the October commission meeting that moving the hospital was likely to run into resistance in any community considered for a new facility.

    Fern, the Whitefish senator, questioned in October whether similar concerns might exist for moving the Intensive Behavior Center out of Boulder. For more than 130 years, the town 30 miles south of Helena has been home, in one form or another, to a state facility for people with developmental disabilities. But Brereton said he believes relocation could succeed with community and stakeholder involvement.

    The 12-bed center in Boulder serves people who have been committed by a court because their behaviors pose an immediate risk of serious harm to themselves or others. It’s the last residential building for people with developmental disabilities on the campus of the former Montana Developmental Center, which the legislature voted in 2015 to close.

    Drew Smith, a consultant with the firm Alvarez & Marsal, told the commission in October that moving the facility from the town of 1,300 to a bigger city such as Helena or Butte would provide access to a larger labor pool, possibly allow a more homelike setting for residents, and open more opportunities for residents to interact with the community and develop skills for returning to their own communities.

    Ideally, Brereton said, the center would be colocated with a new facility included in the governor’s proposed budget, for crisis stabilization services to people with developmental disabilities who are experiencing significant behavioral health issues.

    Meanwhile, the proposed subacute facility with up to 16 beds for state hospital patients would provide a still secure but less structured setting for people who no longer need intensive treatment at Warm Springs but aren’t yet ready to be discharged from the hospital’s care. Brereton told the commission in October the facility would essentially serve as a less restrictive “extension” of the state hospital. He also said the agency would like to contract with a company to staff the subacute facility.

    Health department officials don’t expect the new facility to involve any construction costs. Brereton has said the agency believes an existing building on the Shodair campus would be a good spot for it.

    The state began leasing the building Nov. 1 for use by about 20 state hospital patients displaced by the current remodeling at Warm Springs — a different purpose than the proposed subacute facility.

    Shodair CEO Craig Aasved said Shodair hasn’t committed to having the state permanently use the building as the step-down facility envisioned by the agency and the commission.

    But Brereton said the option is attractive to the health department now that the building has been set up and licensed to serve adults.

    “It seems like a natural place to start,” he told the commission in December, “and we don’t mind that it’s in our backyard here in Helena.”

    Republish This Story

    KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

    Subscribe to KFF Health News’ free Morning Briefing.

    This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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  • Outsmart Your Pain – by Dr. Christiane Wolf

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    Dr. Wolf is a physician turned mindfulness teacher. As such, and holding an MD as well as a PhD in psychosomatic medicine, she knows her stuff.

    A lot of what she teaches is mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), but this book is much more specific than that. It doesn’t promise you won’t continue to experience pain—in all likelihood you will—but it does change the relationship with pain, and this greatly lessens the suffering and misery that comes with it.

    For many, the most distressing thing about pain is not the sensation itself, but how crippling it can be—getting in the way of life, preventing enjoyment of other things, and making every day a constant ongoing exhausting battle… And every night, a “how much rest am I actually going to be able to get, and in what condition will I wake up, and how will I get through tomorrow?” stress-fest.

    Dr. Wolf helps the reader to navigate through all these challenges and more; minimize the stress, maximize the moments of respite, and keep pain’s interference with life to a minimum. Each chapter addresses different psychological aspects of chronic pain management, and each comes with specific mindfulness meditations to explore the new ideas learned.

    The style is personal and profound, while coming from a place of deep professional understanding as well as compassion.

    Bottom line: if you’ve been looking for a life-ring to help you reclaim your life, this one could be it; we wholeheartedly recommend it.

    Click here to check out Outsmart Your Pain, and recover the beauty and joy of life!

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  • Goji Berries: Which Benefits Do They Really Have?

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    Are Goji Berries Really A Superfood?

    Goji berries are popularly considered a superfood, and sold for everything from anti-aging effects, to exciting benefits* that would get this email directed to your spam folder if we described them.

    *We searched so you don’t have to: there doesn’t seem to be much research to back [that claim that we can’t mention], but we did find one paper on its “invigorating” benefits for elderly male rats. We prefer to stick to human studies where we can!

    So how does the science stack up for the more mainstream claims?

    Antioxidant effects

    First and most obvious for this fruit that’s full of helpful polysaccharides, carotenoids, phenolic acids, and flavonoids, yes, they really do have strong antioxidant properties:

    Goji Berries as a Potential Natural Antioxidant Medicine: An Insight into Their Molecular Mechanisms of Action

    Immune benefits

    Things that are antioxidant are generally also anti-inflammatory, and often have knock-on benefits for the immune system. That appears to be the case here.

    For example, in this small-but-statistically-significant study (n=60) in healthy adults (aged 55–72 years)

    ❝The GoChi group showed a statistically significant increase in the number of lymphocytes and levels of interleukin-2 and immunoglobulin G compared to pre-intervention and the placebo group, whereas the number of CD4, CD8, and natural killer cells or levels of interleukin-4 and immunoglobulin A were not significantly altered. The placebo group showed no significant changes in any immune measures.

    Whereas the GoChi group showed a significant increase in general feelings of well-being, such as fatigue and sleep, and showed a tendency for increased short-term memory and focus between pre- and post-intervention, the placebo group showed no significant positive changes in these measures.❞

    “GoChi” here is a brand name for goji berries, and it’s not clear from the abstract whether the company funded the study:

    Source: Immunomodulatory effects of a standardized Lycium barbarum fruit juice in Chinese older healthy human subjects

    Here’s another study, this time n=150, and ages 65–70 years old. This time it’s with a different brand (“Lacto-Wolfberry”, a milk-with-goji supplement drink) and it’s also unclear whether the company funded the study. However, taking the data at face value:

    ❝In conclusion, long-term dietary supplementation with Lacto-Wolfberry in elderly subjects enhances their capacity to respond to antigenic challenge without overaffecting their immune system, supporting a contribution to reinforcing immune defense in this population. ❞

    In other words: it allowed those who took it to get measurably more benefit from the flu vaccinations that they received, without any ill effects.

    Source: Immunomodulatory effects of dietary supplementation with a milk-based wolfberry formulation in healthy elderly: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

    Anticancer potential

    This one’s less contentious (the immune benefits seemed very credible; we’d just like to see more transparent research to say for sure), so in the more clearly-evidenced case against cancer we’ll just drop a few quick studies, clipped for brevity:

    You get the idea: it helps!

    Bonus benefit for the eyes

    Goji berries also help against age-related macular degeneration. The research for this is in large part secondary, i.e. goji berries contain things x, y, and z, and then separate studies say that those things help against age-related macular degeneration.

    We did find some goji-specific studies though! One of them was for our old friends the “Lacto-Wolfberry” people and again, wasn’t very transparent, so we’ll not take up extra time/space with that one here.

    Instead, here’s a much clearer, transparent, and well-referenced study with no conflicts of interest, that found:

    ❝Overall, daily supplementation with Goji berry for 90d improves MPOD by increasing serum Z levels rather than serum L levels in early AMD patients. Goji berry may be an effective therapeutic intervention for preventing the progression of early AMD.❞

    • MPOD = Macular Pigment Optical Density, a standard diagnostic tool for age-related macular degeneration
    • AMD = Age-related Macular Degeneration

    Source: Macular pigment and serum zeaxanthin levels with Goji berry supplement in early age-related macular degeneration

    (that whole paper is very compelling reading, if you have time)

    If you want a quicker read, we offer:

    How To Avoid Age-Related Macular Degeneration

    and also…

    Brain Food? The Eyes Have It!

    Where to get goji berries?

    You can probably find them at your local health food store, if not the supermarket. However, if you’d like to buy them online, here’s an example product on Amazon for your convenience

    Enjoy!

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