Goji Berries: Which Benefits Do They Really Have?

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:

• Goji berry (Lycium barbarum) inhibits the proliferation, adhesion, and migration of oral cancer cells
• A closer look at immunomodulatory properties of goji berries extract in human colon cancer cells
• Lycium barbarum polysaccharides induce apoptosis in human prostate cancer cells and inhibits prostate cancer growth
• Identification of goji berry cyclic peptides and anticervical carcinoma activity
• Antiproliferative effects of Lycium barbarum’s (goji berry) fractions on breast cancer Cell Lines

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!