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The wolfberry is a perennial shrub with small red fruits and yellow kidney-form seeds. Its fruits are the most prised part, although the whole plant is healing. The wolfberry shrub has very strong roots and can thrive for several hundred years, standing up to various temperature conditions and does not have any preferences for climate and soil.
The medicinal properties of this herb have been known in China for thousands of years. The ancient medical book "Treatise on the herbs are their properties" (Yao Xing Lun) spares a special attention to wolfberry, and points that its fruits "replenish the supply of body fluids, calms the spirit, refreshes the skin, brightens the complexion and strengthens the eyes." In another Chinese classic, "Herbs and Nutrition" (Shi Liao Ben Cao), it is said that wolfberry "strengthens the muscles and tendons, prevents of colds and leads to longevity." The poet Liu Yuxi of Tang Dynasty (618-907) extols the marvellous effects of the herb in a poem for the wolfberry. In it, he writes that even the water from a well near the plant can help the people attain longevity.
One of the most famous doctors and herbologists in Chinese history, Li Shizhen, hi his celebrated work "Materia Medica" (Ben Can Gang Mu) of 1578, mentions that the residents of Nanqu village in China have the habit of eating wolfberry fruits and almost all of them achieve longevity.
In fact, the wolfberry contributes not only for long life, but is often connected with beauty. In the past, the women of noble families in China have drunk a wolfberry tea in order to look younger and more beautiful. On another hand, the men used wolfberry for increasing their sexual powers. It is not accident that in China there is a proverb: "Those who go faraway from home, should not take a wolfberry!"
The wolfberry fruits are rich in many healthy components, including 18 kinds of amino acids, 21 minerals, 29 kinds of fatty acids, provitamin A (as much as in carrots), vitamin C (as much as in the oranges), vitamin B, especially rich in niacin, betain, polysacharids, and etc.
The wolfberry is sold in the health food stores and the Chinese shops, as well as in some pharmacies. In dried form, the wolfbrery fruits look like raisins with red colour. Used often as a food in the Chinese cuisine, the wolfberry is added to various types of stewed, boiled, fried and baked dishes, made with vegetables, meat, sea products, in soups, porridges, tea, decoctions, cakes, etc. About 10-15 wolfberry fruits are washed and cooked together with the other ingredients. They can also be eaten directly as raisins. The overuse (more than one handful of wolfberry), however, may cause diarrhea or heat in the body.
The fruits of wolfberry posses warm Yang energy and sweet flavor. They enter in the energy meridians of lungs, liver, heart and kidneys. According to Chinese medicine and nutrition, the wolfberry is a blood and energy tonic and treats the following diseases and conditions:
- energy and blood deficiency
- poor vision and eye diseases
- fatigue, weakness
- headache
- high blood pressure
- diabetes
- high blood cholesterol
- tinnitus
- neurasthenia
- chronic hepatitis
- beri beri
- anemia
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insomnia
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weak immune system
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kidney insufficiency
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impotence, sexual weakness
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frigidity, sterility
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spermatorrhea
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osteoporosis
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arteriosclerosis
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pain in the waist and knees
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cancer
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premature aging |
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In the recent years, many Chinese and Western scientists report that wolfbery has the function to reinforce the immune system of the body, to overcome fatigue, improve vision, strengthen the liver, decrease the blood sugar, regulate the blood pressure, prevent and treat cancer and tumour formations, regulate the hard alchohol in gall bladder.
The laboratory research show that wolfberry increases the leucocytes within the body, prevents the cells of aging, stimulates the self-regulative functions of DNA and help the aged and diseased cells to transfrm and by this way, to be recovered the normal healthy state of cells.
Japanese scientists have proved that the wolfberry polysacharids stop the growth of cancer cells and that they contain compounds which prevent the cells from mutation. The polysacharids content in wolfberry is between 7 and 13%, while the overall content of sugar is between 22 and 42%.
The wolfberry is considerably helpful in liver cancer. This is because the wolfberry polysacharids have the ability to decrease the oxidation of the fatty substances in the liver cells. As the Chinese doctors say, the wolfberry is the best medicine for tonifying kidneys and liver.
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Modern & Traditional Uses - Constituents - Pharmacology
By
Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director,
Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon
ABOUT THE INSTITUTE FOR TRADITIONAL MEDICINE (ITM) - The Institute for Traditional Medicine and Preventive Health Care, Inc. (ITM), is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization established in 1979, incorporated in 1983, and moved to its current head office in 1988. ITM was founded by and is directed by Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D.
About Subhuti Dharmananda
Subhuti Dharmananda received his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California in 1980. He has been an editor, reviewer, and contributor to several journals involved with traditional medicine, including the International Journal of Oriental Medicine, the Protocol Journal of Botanical Medicine, and Herbalgram.
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Frequently Ask Questions
CAUTION: Possible Drug Interactions!!
Goji berries have anticoagulant properties, very much like the common aspirin, but without the harsh side-effects. This herb may interact with anticoagulant drugs (commonly called "blood-thinners"), such as warfarin (Coumadin®). There was one case report published in the journal Annals of Pharmacotherapy of a 61-year old woman who had an increased risk of bleeding, indicated by an elevated international normalized ratio (INR). She had been drinking 3-4 cups daily of goji berry tea. Her blood work returned to normal after discontinuing the goji berry tea. A recent report in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) indicated that the common aspirin is more effective than warfarin (Coumadin®), and far less harmful, and expensive. If you are on this harsh, chemical blood-thinner, BEFORE CONSUMING GOJI BERRIES, speak with your doctor about this JAMA report, and suggest a regimen of Goji berries instead.
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AN ANCIENT ACCOUNT OF THE WONDERFUL GOJI
Amazed at the magic of the Goji Herb, the merchant bowed to the lady with respect and asked, “May I be so bold as to ask the lady what type of magical herb do you posses?”
The lady replied, “This herb has five names. You want to take a different part of the herb each season.
In Spring you take its Leaves, which is known as the Essence of Heaven.
In Summer you take its Flowers, which is known as the Longevity of Life.
In Autumn you take its Fruits, which is known as Chinese Wolfberry.
In Winter you take the Bark of its Roots, which is known as the Skin and Bone of the Earth, or the Staff of the Almighty Creator.
Taking these Four Parts in the Four Seasons respectively, will give you a life as lofty as Heaven and Earth.”
Author Unknown
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