What’s a Goji Berry?

by Shereen Jegtvig

It seems like every couple of years a hot new exotic superfood makes its way into the United States. One of those recent superfoods is the goji berry – usually sold in juice or you can also find dried goji berries that kind of look like small raisins.  Goji berries come from Asia where they have been used for thousands of years as an herbal medicine.  They’re rich in vitamins A and C, iron, fiber and plant sterols, which are compounds found in plants that resemble our cholesterol, except that plant sterols actually lower cholesterol in the human body.  In my opinion, Goji berries deserve to land on many superfoods lists.

What do you look for when buying goji berry products? You can buy 100% goji berry juice in some health food stores and online (wallet warning – it tends to be pretty expensive), however goji juice blends are popping on up the shelves of typical grocery stores.  These juice blends are much less expensive than 100% goji juice, but more affordable, just be sure you’re not loading up on added sugars and you want the accompanying juices to be good for you too.  You also need to know that these juice blends won’t have anywhere near as many of the plant sterols as 100% goji juice, but they will still be rich in vitamins and other phytonutrients.

We have two goji berry juice blends listed on our FoodEssentials tool.  Both sound wholesome and healthy, but take a look, the Adam & Eve Goji Berry Peach contains more high fructose corn syrup than actual fruit juice.

If you look closer, you’ll see that both products have a similar calorie count, but remember that high fructose corn syrup (or any other type of sugar) has nothing to offer aside from the calories.  While pure fruit juice is just as high in calories, along with those calories come lots of nutrients.  Always make your calories count.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Lower Cholesterol Through Diet
• Mexican Foods – Ready To Go
• Research: Orange Juice – What people are looking for
• Choosing Canned Meat
• The Goodness of Grapes