There are marked difference between the Lycium Barbarum and the Lycium Chinense, the most obvious of which is that Lycium Barbarum grows in a shrub form, while Chinense is a vine variety of the Wolfberry. However, there are also differences in the regions that they are grown. For instance, you do not find L. Chinense growing in Tibet very often but you do find a lot of Lycium Barbarum. Lycium Chinense, the vine form of the Wolfberry is often found in Australia, China and the Himalayas. However, you do find people growing both varieties in all parts of the world, even if they are not found there naturally.

History of Wolfberries

For thousands of years the Wolfberry has been used in China and other parts of the country because of the enormous health benefits that was experienced by those who took it in some form, and the effects it had on certain diseases and conditions. Use of the Wolfberry goes back at least 5000 years and some of the earliest Chinese medical texts talk about how beneficial Wolfberries are, with emphasis on treatment of conditions like problems with vision, kidney and liver diseases and strengthening the bones and muscles of the body. Also, the people of the region often attribute longevity and increased vitality with the Wolfberry.

The Wolfberry is from the Ningxia valley in China, and often the name Ningxia Wolfberry is used as a more formal titling rather than just Wolfberry. The valley is particularly well suited to the growth of the Wolfberry, because of the silt from the Himalayas that is deposited in the platoo. The weather that exists there, combined with the altitude of the valley create the perfect conditions for growing this product and has made the Wolfberry what it is today with constant adaptation of the environment, making it packed with all kinds of nutrients with the ingredients and polysaccharides that do so much good in the human body.

Where Are Wolfberries Grown

Many of the Wolfberries that make up the commercial products that are available today are grown in China especially the north central region called Ningxia Hui Autonomous, as well as Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which is in the west part of China. They are generally grown on plantations and used in local products or exported to other areas where they can be sold in nutritional supplements and other Wolfberry products in health food stores and other markets.

Every year, the harvest in China comes to about 72 million pounds of Wolfberries which make up almost half of the product that is available eon the market. There are a huge number of people behind the Wolfberry in China, from the marketing to the growing and everything in between, making it one of the top products grown in China with export totals reaching around $120 million. The Wolfberry is also grown in a few other areas in Asia like Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi and Hebei. Other varieties of Wolfberry are grown in Australia, the United Kingdom and the Himalayas.

Health Benefits of the Wolfberry

One of the main health benefits of the Wolfberry is that it slows down aging. This has been reported by many who have taken it in recent years, but has also been reported for thousands of years by those in China who take the fruit regularly. In fact, many people in the area live to be well over a hundred years old, and many consider that Wolfberry the main reason that this is the case. It works by the antioxidants in the Wolfberry fighting the free radicals that cause cell damage in combination with the production of the Human Growth Hormone, which can cause you to continue regenerating and growing, even if you are over the age of thirty, which is when most people stop.

Wolberry has also been linked to weight loss, because the polysaccharides that the Wolfberry has. These polysaccharides can help to convert the full amount of food that you take in into energy, rather than storing it into fat, which is normally what happens when you take in food that your body can’t convert into energy. The Wolfberry was used in a study with obese patients, in which they took the berry twice a day to see if there were any real results and those who used Wolfberry lost a significant amount of weight as opposed to those that didn’t.

Goji also has been linked to certain types of cancer. This is due to the antioxidants and the polysaccharides which can help to prevent the mutations of the genes which cause cancer. They also help to treat and kill tumorous cells by breaking them down in apoptosis. Of course, Wolfberries and the products containing Wolfberry are no substitute for cancer treatments like radiation therapy and cancer drugs, but Wolfberry has been said to increase the chances of recovering from cancer as much as two hundred percent when combined with conventional cancer treatments.

The Wolfberry is also thought to have a great effect on sexual desire and the human immune system. Elderly people may notice a drop in their libido and other aging symptoms, but the Wolfberry increase testosterone levels in the blood and raises the desire for sexual activity. Also, the Wolfberry has a significant impact on the immune system because the polysaccharides improve heart and liver functions and help to promote kidney health as well as lowering blood pressure, cholesterol levels and controlling diabetes in many patients.

History of the Goji Berry

Goji Berries are also often called Wolf Berries, and have been used for several thousand years, particularly in Asian medicine. One of the first people to use the Goji was the native Himalayans who were able to easily harvest the berry from the valleys where it grew in that area. They began to share the properties of the Goji Berry with those from China and India and the word spread, particular in Asia, where it was used successfully by healers. Today, the Goji Berry is used in a variety of health foods in particular stores in the western world.

Make-Up of the Goji Berry

The Goji Berry is composed of four different phytonutrient compounds that carry instructions from one group of cells to another, allowing cells to communicate with each other. They are sometimes referred to as polysaccharides or Master Molecules, because they control many different functions of the body, and the immune system in particular. Different areas where the Goji Berry grows have slightly different compositions, or different nutrient densities.

Modern History of the Goji Berry

The Goji Berry has been present in the United States and other developed countries and there has been a huge demand for these berries and what they can do as an antioxidant and for other nutritional purposes. Today, there are a huge variety of Goji Berry products on the market, putting the wolfberry in the category of super fruit and the more that find out about the health benefits of the Goji the more popular it becomes, and is expected to soon be part of a multi-billion dollar industry.

Goji Berry Culinary Uses

Goji Berry also has use in the kitchen. In Asia, dried and cooked Goji berries are added to soups and jellys along with other herbs and foods like pork, chicken or wild yams. Also, Goji are used in herbal teas in China with jujubes and chrysanthemums, boiled or sold in prepackaged tea containers. In Asia, wines are often produced that contain Goji berries sometimes blending with grape wines. Also, there has been at least a couple of types of beer produced that contains Goji Berries, one a Chinese company and the other New Belgium Brewery.

Goji Berry Medicinal Use

Goji berries are also used in medicinal products, and in fact have had some legitimate clinical trials. Goji berries have extensive effects on the health of the person taking them, because of the polysaccharides and the way that they work in the body and affect the immune system. There may also be benefits from Lycium Barbarum, a type of Goji berry, because of the antioxidant properties including protection against cardiovascular diseases, vision related problems and age-related or inflammatory diseases.

Goji Berry Products Available

There are a huge variety of Goji berry products on the market, and not just those that you would expect. For instance, in the category of personal care products, there is Goji Berry Face Cream available from Home Health for around $10 as well as Eye Cream that contains Goji Berry from the same manufacturer at the same price and Goji Berry Hand Amp Body Lotion from Home Healthy as well.

The popularity of Goji berries extends to the edible aspect as well with health and nutrition companies creating ways to formulate and preserve Goji berry products in ways that consumers of today will use such as the aforementioned face and hand creams. Goji berries are placed into products getting the same sort of critical acclaim that ginseng, ginkgo, herbal tea and astragalus has claimed. Today, you can find Goji berries in just about every health food store and supplement shop that is in the US and around the world.

Making Goji berries part of your regular diet and making sure that you use them isn’t too difficult in today’s world, given the variety of products available, but many people advocate on side or another as to whether the dried of the liquid form of the Goji Berry is more effective. This is actually not a consideration as far as the health benefits that the product provides, of which you will get the full benefit whether you use the liquid or dried form, but is simply a matter or personal preference as well as which method is more convenient for you.

If you are particularly busy then you might want to use the dried form of the Goji berry, as it is convenient for travel or to put into luggage or other travel gear. A handful of Goji berries can be taken whether you are on the road or on an airplane and you can use them to mix with a homemade smoothie or put them in your cereal. Taking the dried form of the Goji will give you the same health benefits that taking other forms of the supplement will.

However, you may also want to incorporate the liquid form as much as possible, as it can be more refreshing and tasty than simply using the dried form. Juices that incorporate the Goji berry can quench your thirst and be tastier than the other type, and can be chilled in the refrigerator or taken along to the beach or to work, and you can also get foods like jellies, coffee or alcohol that incorporate the Goji berry.

However you decide to take the Goji berry, whether through food, or as juice or the dried fruit form, the important thing is that you incorporate it into your diet somehow and get the host of health benefits of the Goji in your life.

Goji berries can do a great deal for those who want to lose weight. They can aid in preserving lean muscle mass which results in burning food that you eat as energy rather than storing it as fat and burning more calories overall, and while this helps all food that you eat be burned, Goji can also help to keep you feeling full longer by causing the food that you eat to be burned into energy more slowly, because Goji berries have an extremely low glycemic index rating, which means that they take longer to burn and keep you from needing more food longer.

Goji berries also have been linked by some to amazing prevention and treatment of some diseases including those having to do with vision, as well as helping to treat and prevent some cancers, and helping those with cancer need less radiation therapy and recover faster. While Goji berries are not regulated by the FDA or marketed by pharmaceutical companies it is quite popular among many people who have had some of these diseases, and these people have reported some incredible results. Goji berries mainly come from three different geographic regions, and differ a little bit in each region.

Tibetan Goji

Goji berries that are grown in the region of Tibet are different than other Goji berries. To some, Goji berries are known as Tibetan berries, as well as bearing the more common name of Wolfberry, but the Goji has been used for health purposes in this region for a very long time. Bhutan and Mongolia have a history of using Goji as well as a large part of China, as Tibet was a larger geographic area, and Chinese healers have a history of using Goji berries for a variety of purposes that goes back a very long time as well.

Tibet and China still hold the collection areas of the Goji berries in the same locations, even though the borders have changed over the years, and in Tibet, the Goji was used in food because it could be added as hot or cold and because it made people have more energy and feel better after eating foods with Gjoi in it. However, it was also used as a traditional medication with a huge host of benefits. It was used by the Tibetans to treat a wide variety of illnesses and Tibetan medical concoctions.

Goji is actually the name of the specific Tibetan variety of the Lycium plant that grows only in the botanical regions of Tibet and Mongolia. Doctors in Tibet used it for centuries, especially the nomads of the past, but around the mid 90′s the name Goji was used by marketers to promote another variety of Lycium, which is very similar to the Tibetan berry, but it not the same thing. The product marketed was the Chinese Wolfberry, but because of this error, many of the Lycium products on the market are known as Goji berries.

The Tibetan Lycium variety of Goji is different from other relatives of Lycium berries like the Chinese Wolfberry in that the nutritional makeup differs as well as the quality and quantity of some of the minerals contained in the berry. The region is completely different as well, and the conditions that the Goji is grown in differ from those of the Wolfberry. Many people that have tried the varies related types of the Goji or Wolfberry consider Tibetan Lycium to be superior to other types of the plant grown in other regions, but others prefer the Chinese Wolfberry or another Goji berry.

Australian Goji

The Goji berry that is in Australia is the Wolfberry and was originally indigenous to China, but is now being grown in Australia. Not only are there large growing areas that you can find commercially viable Goij berries, but there are also people Growing GoJi berries for their own personal use. Those who believe in the healing properties of the Wolfberry can buy them from stores in Australia, and they are available in a large variety of both edible products like Goji juice, and inedible health related products.

One type of Australian Goji berries is the Lycium Chnense, which his the vine variety of the Goji plant. That means that it acts more like a vine than it does a bush, and if you are growing it yourself, then you might want to read up on the specifics of taking care of a vine, because they do have slightly different needs. This variety of Goji will send branches up the wall or fence, or any other surface that will support the plant, up to a height of around 6 meters. It will then start to expand vertically, and will then come to fruition right at the very beginning of Winter, as well as some fruit in early spring. However, when it is not producing berries, it does create leaves that are great for cooking or making tea.

The vine variety of Goji seems to work best in pots, as long as there is enough room for the plant to grow. They are deciduous, but they only drop most of their leaves in Summer, and not all of them. This variety of Goji is that one that is often referred to in texts of traditional Chinese medicine, where they used the root bark to create teas and other substances that would help with breathing problems and treat vision problems experienced by those under their care.

Australia is also home to Lycium Barbarum, which is the shrub variety of the Goji plant, and while they may not reach the same height as the vine variety of the Goji, but they do grow to two and a half meters high and two and a half meters long, which can mean a lot of available fruit. You can place this variety of Goji anywhere there is some sunlight, but ensure that the soil can drain. This Goji plan requires trimming each year, and will drop its leaves. The shrub variety flowers during the Springtime and sometimes in Summer as well.

Himalayan Goji

Deciding which region you want to get your Goji berries from, or which area you would prefer that the juices, skin care products and dried Goji berries come from is a matter or personal taste, but the fact is that Himlayan Goji fruit is very popular among those who consumer Goji berries for health reasons. There are several different reasons that people give for choosing Himalayan Goji berries over Goji from other regions, such as the Wolfberries grown in China, or Tibetan Goji berries. But the bottom line is, it is truly up to you, because they all have virtually the same health benefits and nutrients that the others do.

One of the differences that people cite when it comes to choosing Goji berries from the Himalayas is taste. Although Wolfberries from China and Himalayan Goji berries have almost exactly the same nutritional content and health benefits, many people report that the berries that come from China are smaller, and have a much more bitter taste than the larger, plump berries that come from the Himalayas, which many say are very sweet tasting. Like other Goji berries, the Himalayan Goji has a host of anti aging and disease prevention benefits, and can promote a healthy liver, and other organs and aid in weight loss.

Goji plants grow almost anywhere in the Himalayas in virtually all kinds of soil. From light sand to medium dirt and clay, Goji plants are resilient and persistant, and can bear fruit no matter where it is growing. Even if the soil it is planted in is poor, the Goji fruit will adapt, and the fact is, that many areas in the Himalayas where the Goji grows is inhospitable, causing the plant to fight for its life. There are even Goji plants in the Himalayas that have survived drought and still was able to grow and bear fruit, making Goji one of the toughest little plants in the region.

Goji berries from the Himalayas are simply better than Goji grown in other regions on the planet, according to those that use berries from that area. They taste better and are packed with nutrients, and come in several different products. A company called Freelife, successfully sells Himalayan Goji juice, which is made from the berries that are gown in that region, and there are other products available as well.

Aging Benefits of Goji Berry Juice

Goji is sometimes called the longevity fruit, because it contains polysaccharides and antioxidants that combat free radicals that cause damage from aging. Also, Goji directly affects stamina and longevity which can reduce effects from aging like fatigue. Goji juice also stimulates HGH, or Human Growth Hormone, which is secreted by the pituitary gland, and is known as the youth hormone which can improve your memory, help speed up healing and restore libido as well as to give you a more youthful appearance on the outside.

Weight Loss Benefits of Goji

Goji juice can actually help you lose weight as well, because of the polysaccharides that the berry contains, and the way that they help to convert food into energy, which reduces the amount of fat that is stored. A study was done with obese patients specifically using Goji juice to determine if this supplement did anything for weight loss, with a dose of the Goji given in both the morning and the afternoon. Most patients that were involved in the study lost a significant amount of weight which was directly attributed to the Goji juice.

Benefits for Cancer Treatment and Prevention

Some results point to the fact that Goji can have enormous benefits when it comes to cancer treatment and prevention. The polysaccharides and antioxidants in the Goji berry can help to prevent genetic mutations that cause cancer and are especially useful in helping to treat and prevent liver cancer because it protects your liver separately. Also, Goji can help to kill tumor cells by breaking down cancerous cells and recycling them in a process that is known as apoptosis.
Patients who supplement their cancer treatment with Goji juice can improve their chances of recovering by up to two hundred and fifty percent. Many cancer patients have experienced some miraculous and staggering results like regression of malignant melanoma, lung cancer, colorectral or renal cell carcinoma. The remission of cancers in these patients who took Goji also lasted a great deal longer. Also, there has been some research into Goji reducing the effect of radiation therapy and chemo, especially with lung cancer, which caused a lower dose of the radiation to be used. Also, Goji may help to combat some of the side effects of chemo and radiation.

Goji’s Effects on Sexuality and Libido

When people age they may notice a significant drop in their libido and sexual desire. This can cause problems in relationships and affect happiness in general. However, there has been some significant results reported on Goji’s effect on sexuality and libido, with testosterone levels in the blood increasing with the use of Goji juice and other forms, that has increased sexual appetite and libido in both men and women.

Goji Juice for Immune System Health

Goji juice can have a significant effect on your health and immune system because of the way that the polysaccharides work and communicate with the immune system. Goj has been shown to improve your immune system as well as improve heart and liver functions and help support normal kidney function as well. Also, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and diabetes may be controlled or reduced by adding Goji juice to your diet. Goji juice can also help to improve and maintain vision, or prevent vision related diseases.

Risks and Negative Effects of Goji Juice

There have been a few reports that Goji increased bleeding in elderly women who took the supplement as tea. This was expressed as elevated INR, but was only present in two published cases. Also, there have been some reports from in-vitro testing that the tea inhibited warfarin metabolism, which has caused some concern that the Goji phytochemicals interact with warfarin. Additionally, the toxic alkaloid Atropine is found naturally in the Goji berry, but in variable amounts, with the maximum amount not expected to be toxic at 19 ppb. Overall, the health benefits of Goji juice far outweigh any negative results which are not as yet conclusive.

Goji Juice to Curb Your Appetite

One way in which weight loss with Goji juice can be achieved lies in the fruit’s way of curbing the appetite. Goji juice can help to eliminate your cravings for food, especially empty calories for junk food, because of the nutrients that the Goji berry contains. However, you do need to keep in mind that Goji berries have calories of their own. An eight ounce glass of Goji juice can contain around 110 calories, which can add up quickly if you aren’t paying attention. However, a couple of glasses of Goji juice a day can do much to curb your hunger.

Goji juice also helps control blood sugar and your appetite a few other ways. For one thing, they contain a great deal of fiber. In fact, more than a quarter of the Goji fruit is fiber, and foods that contain a high fiber content help you to feel full longer and eat less, as well as moderate your levels of blood sugar. Also, Goji berries contain Chromium, which helps control blood sugar and get rid of fat, which helps you because the more muscle mass your body has, the more calories that you will burn. This will help you keep the weight off for good.

Goji Juice Makes You Feel Full Longer

Goji juice is also extremely useful when it comes to help you stay full longer, because they have an extremely low glycemic index. The glycemic index of foods determine how quickly they convert into blood sugar for energy. Foods that have a high glycemic index, measured up to 100, convert quickly and make you feel hungry shortly afterward. These are any foods that are rated at 70 or higher. For foods that have a glycemix or GI of 55 or lower, the process is much slower to convert to energy and make you feel full longer.

The Goji berries that Goji juice is made from has a glycemic index of 29. This is lower than most of the normal fruits that you would find in the supermarket. For instance, one of the fruits that convert quickly is watermelon, which has a GI of 72. Cantaloupe and Raisins also have a fairly high glycemic index at 65 and 64 respectively and apples and oranges both have a higher GI than Goji berries. In fact, the only fruit that has a lower glycemic index than Goji berries is the banana at 25, but with the additional health and weight loss benefits Goji provides, it is easily the best choice for weight loss.

Goji Juice to Convert Food to Energy More Effectively

Goji juice also helps your body convert the food you eat to energy more effectively, which can help you lose weight. This weight loss with Goji juice is achieved because of the ingredients in Goji juice such as B1, also known as Thiamin, which converts carbs into energy and promotes a healthy thyroid. Those without a healthy thyroid can often become overweight, and in extreme cases cannot lose the weight no matter how hard they try. Also, Goji contains calcium, which not only promotes stronger bone mass, but has been linked in some studies to people with a healthier body weight.

Goji juice also contains other minerals which are essential for your body to work correctly, and your metabolism to function. Goji berries contain copper, iron, manganese, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, zinc and selenium in varying amounts. The ingredients in Goji also have the added benefit of helping your body hold onto lean muscle, and since a body that is lean and has a high muscle mass burns the calories that you eat as energy, rather than storing them, you will burn the fat faster, keep the weight off permanently, and have a much healthier lifestyle in general.

Goji juice is simply one of the healthiest substances on the market today, promoting weight loss as well as having a host of other benefits, including prevention and treatment of some cancers, vision problems and other diseases. You can find Goji juice in many health food stores, nutritional shops and of course, online. Also, if you are concerned about the safety of Goji, the truth is that no side effects or negative impact has ever been reported, other than some occasional gas, which you can get from other types of berries as well.

Safety of Acai Berries

Many who are considering taking the Acai berry in one of its various forms are concerned about how safe the Acai berry is, such as if there was any risk of liver damage from regular use. There have actually been a large number of scientific studies conducted to answer that question, and in all of them, there have been no side effects that come with regular use of the Acai Berry. The Acai berry is as safe as eating blueberries, and in fact is quite similar to the blueberry but is instead packed with antioxidants, but is completely safe and has no risk to your health and no side effects.

Benefits of the Acai Berry

Although the Acai Berry is only now going through major clinical trials in order to determine if it can cure any illness, there are great results from the Acai berry when it comes to promoting healthy blood pressure. Also, the antioxidants that are contained in the Acai Berry are extremely beneficial to the body and can help to raise the immune system which can fight off disease and viruses. These antioxidants are found in other foods as well such as cranberries and blueberries but Acai berries have a unusually high antioxidant content.

Forms of the Acai Berry

There are many ways to consume the Acai berry. One of the best ways, and most commonly advocated by those who believe in the healing power of Acai is the freeze dried form of the Acai berry. The freeze dried form locks in the highest number of nutrients and the highest content of antioxidants, and does not interact with any other substances, since the person is solely consuming the Acai berry. However, there are other ways that Acai berries can be consumed including weight loss supplements and packets or capsules as well as in teas.

Where to Get Acai Berries

Acai berries and the various forms that they come in including teas, juices and packets or dietary capsules are available in most health food stores such as the GNC. Also, many grocery stores carry products that incorporate the Acai berry and more are being added every day. You can also find a huge variety of Acai berry products online, through major and minor retailers alike. There are so many different forms and ways to take the Acai berry that you will find something that fits your schedule and lifestyle and you’ll be able to reap the benefits of this healthy little fruit.

Benefits of Goji Berries

Many health benefits have been linked to Goji berries. One of the most widely sought after benefits is anti aging. Goji berries stimulate the release of HGH, or human growth hormone, which do more than just restore youthfulness to the body. They also improve memory, help you heal faster and restore sexual desire. The polysaccharides and anti-oxidants that exist in the Goji fruit can fight the free radicals that cause premature aging and help you to fight aging on two fronts at once, by producing HGH and fighting free radicals.

Other benefits of Goji include helping to treat insomnia, with studies conducted in Asia confirming that all of the patients who took Goji experiencing better sleep. Goji also helps your liver because it contains cerebroside, an enzyme that protects liver cells. Dries Goji berries may help to improve digestion and conditions like atrophic gastritis and the polysaccharides in Goji help to even out immune response. Other benefits of Goji that have been reported have been improved memory, better kidney health and heart health, as well as helping to restore sexual function, treat depression, vision problems and inflammation and joint problems, and has even been linked in the treatment and prevention of some cancers.

How to Dry Your Own Goji Berries

First, you will need to rinse off the Goji berries that you have procured to make your dried ones. You can rinse them and them put them on a towel to dry, or use a soft cloth to dry them if you are in a hurry. Check through them for any berries that aren’t yet ripe, which differs slightly depending up on which region you got them from. Also discard any that are moldy. Next, take a cooling rack like a baker would use and put it on top of a standard baking pan. The size isn’t important as long as you can fit the cooling rack on it. Cover the cooling rack with cheese cloth.

Next, place the Goji berries on the cheese cloth and spread them around so that no berries are touching each other. If you have a lot of berries you may have to use two different pans to dry them. Place the berries inside the over on the very top rack. Your going to want to turn your ovens onto the lowest setting that you can, which is either going to be 150 degrees Fahrenheit, at the oven’s “warm” setting, or it could simply start at 200 degrees. Leave the door to the oven all the way open.

Next, let the berries dry in the oven with the door open and at the lowest setting for twelve hours maximum. However, you should check them every four hours and you will be able to tell when they are done when they are leathery and pliable. The reason that the drying time varies between four and twelve hours is because ovens have different temperatures, people place different amounts of berries on the pan and the humidity and the amount of water in the fruit are both factors as well. Finally, after the berries have dried, let them cool before you store them in a Ziploc bag. Store them long term in the pantry or the freezer.

Ideas for Using Goji Berries

There are many ways that you can use dried Goji berries. One option is to simply eat them right out of the Ziploc bag. They make a handy snack for traveling or taking a lunch to work but they can also be added to other foods. Many people add Goji to their cereal, and others use Goji berries in their own favorite home made trail mix. Some people also put their Goji berries into muffins, scones, energy bars and other baked goods. In Asia, they add Goji berries to soup, and you may want to try that as well, or you could add them to a smoothie or use them in another one of your favorite beverages.

Etymology of the Goji Plant

Wolfberry is the actually name of the Goji berry from certain areas of the globe. There are actually two different fruits that are called Goji. One is Lycium Barbarum and the other is L. Chinense. Both of these are in the genus boxthorn and in the family Solanaceae. Solanaceae including potatoes, tomatoes, chili peppers and tobacco. Both of these species of Goji are native to the south east part of Europe and Asia.

Lycium Barbarum versus Lycium Chinense

Lycium Chinense is the vine variety of the Lycium plant. This vine can get up to a height of six meters and it will need a wall or some other solid surface. The vine can reach a height of around six meters and then it will start to expand the other way as well. This variety of the Goji plant comes to fruition in the early part of spring and at the beginning of the Winter season. However, when it is not producing berries it does produce leaves that are used to make tea. Lycium Chinense is semi-deciduous and drops off most of the leaves in Summer.

Lycium Barbarum is the shrub form of the Goji plant and this shrub gets to be pretty big on its own, even if it does not reach the same height as the vine form. Most Barbarum shrubs can get no larger than two and a half meters high, and two or three meters wide. This variety of Goji will grow anywhere that there is sunlight for the plant and it flowers during the spring and summer months. Also, you will need to trim this variety of the Goji plant each year and make sure that the soil has the ability to drain.

Regions Where the Goji Berry Plant Grows

Goji berries come from different regions of the world, and they are known by many different names. People that use Goji berries often prefer fruit from one particular area or another over other regions, with factors influencing their choice ranging from the taste of the Goji berry to the amount of nutrients that the fruit contains. Also, the choice often depends upon what type of Goji berries are available to the person buying them, or how expensive one certain Goji berry product is as opposed to others.

Goji Plants From Tibet

Goji berries from Tibet are actually called Tibetan berries, but are also sometimes called the Wolfberry. Tibet and China have been using these berries for a very long time for healing and prevention, as well as the areas of the Bhutan and Mongolia. Goji is extremely popular in these areas, being added to all kinds of foods whether they are hot or cold such as soups, teas and other beverages and the effects that those who take the Goji report include increased energy, a higher desire for sexual activity, aging retardation and treatment for diseases.

Goji berries from Tibet are the berries that actually are called Goji berries. Goji berries from the other two main regions are the variety of Lycium known as Wolfberries. The name Goji was used for all of the varieties of Lycium available today, borrowed in the 1990′s by marketing companies. The Tibetan Lycium Barbarum is different in the nutritional content of the berry itself and the taste and sometimes size differs as well. Many people choose this variety of Lycium over those from other regions, regarding it as the original “Goji” and while it technically is the only berry that can truly be called Goji, the health effects and nutrients differ very little from other types marketed under the same name.

The Goji Berry Grown in Australia

The Goji plant grown in Australia is actually the Lycium Chinense species, called the Wolfberry which is not the same as the L. Barbarum but is often marketed under the name Goji berry. Australia grows the Wolfberry commercially but also has many private parties that grow their own Wolfberry plants. However, there are some private parties that do grow the variety of Lycium Barbarum that are native to Tibet, because they prefer that particular species, but they are not native to the area.

Goji Plants in the Himalayas

There are also Goji plants grown in the Himalayas, and the name of the region is used by marketing companies to market what is sometimes purported to be the most effective and nutritious variety of Goji, but in fact, the Goji berries from the Himalayas are the same species Lycium Chinense that is grown in China, and is commonly called the Wolfberry. These plants grow all over in the Himalayas, and are very resilient. They grow in the Himalayas in all kinds of soil and in extreme weather conditions.

While there are not actually that many differences in the nutritional content between Goji plants from Australia and the Goji plants from other areas, whether they are Barbarum or Chinense species, there is a difference in taste. Many people say that they prefer the Goji berry from the Himalayas because it is sweeter than Goji from other regions. However, as far as the health benefits and the nutrients that the Goji provides, it is nearly the same as the other species of Lycium that you can find growing in Australia, Tibet and other parts of the country. There is one difference that is important. Because of the difference in taste, it is often Himalayan Goji berries that are used to make Goji juice.

You can instantly tell the Lycium Barbarum from other varieties of Goji because the Barbarum is the shrub form of the plant. This plant can reach a height and width of about 2 and a half meters and produces quite a bit of fruit. This type of Goji is very resilient and can grow anywhere, having survived extreme weather conditions and poor soil for thousands of years in the areas that it is native to. All this plant needs to be able to survive is to be exposed to sunlight, be trimmed once a year or so and for the soil to have the ability to drain.

The Lycium Chinense is the other variety of Goji that is often confused with the Barbarum plant. However, it is quite easy to tell the difference. While the Lycium Barbarum is a shrub, the Lycium Chinense is a vine plant, which gets up to six meters high. Also, this variety of Goji produces fruit in the Spring and the Winter seasons, as opposed to Lycium Barbarum, which only produces fruit during the summer months. However, the berries that are produced are quite similar to Barbarum, but may taste different depending upon which area they are coming from.

Where Lycium Barbarum is Found

Most people think that China is the home of the Lycium Barbarum plant, but in fact, this is again a case of mistaken identity. Goji berries that are grown in China and other areas nearby are the Lycium Chinense variety of the Goji. Also, the Goji berries that are grown in the Himalayas and in Australia are Lycium Chinense.

The Lycium Barbarum is found mostly in Tibet. Healers in this area have been using this species of Goji for thousands of years, and have found that the Lycium Barbarum, much like its cousin, promotes health and longevity and helps to boost the immune system and help to promote heart, kidney and liver health and treat vision problems and lowered libido. Sometimes this variety of Goji is called Tibetan berries, but they are also called Wolfberries, as are Lycium Chinense and Barbarum from pretty much any region.

Lycium Barbarum Products

Lycium Barbarum is available in a huge variety of products that you can find in nutrition stores and on health food websites. Probably the two most common forms of the Goji are dried Goji berries, either eaten by themselves much like raisins are, or in foods like trail mix or cereal, and Goji juice, which is one of the favorite ways to get the healing power of Lycium Barbarum. However, Goji is also used in health bars, smoothies, nutritional supplements and in some parts of the country is even sold in alcohol and coffee products. In Tibet, they often use Lycium Barbarum in baked goods and use the leaves of the plant for making teas when the berries are not in bloom.

Benefits of Lycium Barbarum

There are many health benefits of the Lycium Barbarum plant. Goji helps with weight loss because it help you to convert all of the food that you eat into energy instead of storing the excess as fat. Also, one of the main benefits is that it helps to stop aging and promote youthfulness. It does this two ways. First, Goji promotes excretion of the Human Growth Hormone and second, it fights free radicals which cause aging. Also, Goji has benefits related to vision, helps to treat and prevent some types of cancer and promotes a healthy liver, heart and kidneys as well as increasing sexual desire and giving the person taking it energy and vitality.

Side Effects of Lycium Barbarum

There have as yet been no reported side effects from using Lycium Barbarum or its cousin, Lycium Chinense. Some people report gas, but this is quite common when you eat berries. However, those with an allergy to fruits like blueberries may want to use caution and consult with their physician before they take the Lycium Barbarum berry.