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Decontextualised Chinese medicines
Published in Vivienne Lo, Michael Stanley-Baker, Dolly Yang, Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine, 2022
Michael Heinrich, Ka Yui Kum, Ruyu Yao
Known as goji or 枸杞 (Gouqi, in Chinese, the fruit of Lycium barbarum L.), goji berry has been used as a traditional medicine and food for over 2000 years in China and other Asian countries (Yao et al. 2018a). In some regions, such as Japan and South Korea, the fruit of L. chinense Mill. is also used, although these two species have obvious differences in their metabolomic profiles (Yao et al. 2018b). While the plant was introduced into the global North in the eighteenth century, it was not a popular health food until the twenty-first century.
Plant Source Foods
Published in Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy, Food and Lifestyle in Health and Disease, 2022
Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy
Goji berry or wolfberry has two main species: Lycium barbarum and Lychium chinense, both belonging to the Solanaceae family. The species L. barbarum is widely cultivated for food and traditional medicine in China. Goji berry is native to Northwest China. The fruit has an ovoid shape with about 0.6–2 cm in length and 0.3–1 cm in diameter with deep orange-red waxy skin. The fruit contains 20–50 seeds and has a sweet and fruity taste and a creamy-white flesh (85). Harvested fresh goji berries are sun-dried for several days before marketing for culinary or medicinal uses. Dried goji can store well for up to one year. Dried goji berries are an excellent source of energy and essential nutrients (sugars, proteins, dietary fibers, vitamins). They contain several potentially bioactive components arabinogalactanproteins (AGPs), the carotenoid zeaxanthin, and the vitamin C precursor: β-D-glucopyranosyl ascorbic acid (85). AGPs are soluble glycoconjugates or soluble polysaccharides or a type of glycans. The main biological properties of AGPs are: modulation of the immune system, antitumor activity, and antioxidant activity (85).
Lycium chinense Mill improves hypogonadism via anti-oxidative stress and anti-apoptotic effect in old aged rat model
Published in The Aging Male, 2020
Hyun Cheol Jeong, Seung Hwan Jeon, Zhu Guan Qun, Fahad Bashraheel, Sae Woong Choi, Su Jin Kim, Woong Jin Bae, Hyuk Jin Cho, U-Syn Ha, Sung Hoo Hong, Ji Youl Lee, Seong Bin Hong, Sae Woong Kim
Goji berry, a herbal medicine widely consumed by oriental people, has been shown to exhibit anti-cancer and immuno-enhancing activity [9]. Goji berry has become more popular over the last decade because of public acceptance of goji berry as a “super food” with highly advantageous nutritive and antioxidant properties [10]. It contains various compounds such as betaine, beta-sitosterol, scopoletin, β-carotenes, phenolic compounds, and polysaccharides [11,12]. Outstandingly among them, betaine, which is an alkaloid, is well known as a beneficial compound to prevent chronic disease including diabetes, and it is also positively effective on the endurance and resistance for exercise [13,14]. In addition, the anti-aging property of goji berry has been attributed to polysaccharides isolated from the red-colored fruits and has been investigated in various animal models. However, to our knowledge, the effects of goji berry on LOH have not previously been investigated.